SEXUAL PRACTICES AND THEIR DEVELOPMENT PATTERN AMONG JIMMA UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Traditional views of sexual behaviors are frequently changing a s the factorsinfluencing them are changing. Therefore, assessing sexual practices that are not part of the traditionwould be necessary. The objective of this study was to identify the types of sexual practices, theirdevelopment pattern and how these development patterns expose students to sexually transmittedinfections and unplanned pregnancy.METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted on a sample of 1986 (1612 males, 365 females, andwith 9 subjects’ gender not indicated) Jimma university students in August 2009 with their age rangingfrom 17-45 years (median = 20). Quantitative data was collected using a piloted, precoded questionnaireand qualitative data was collected from six focus group discussions. Logistic regression and descriptivestatistics were computed and qualitative findings were triangulated with quantitative findings. P-valueless than 0.05 was considered significant.RESULTS: Practice of penile to vaginal intercourse, masturbation, kissing, oral sex, and anal sex werereported by 567 (28.9%), 688 (36.7%), 840 (42.4%), 179 (9.2%) and 83 (4.3%) of the respondents,respectively. Respondents had two years (one year with and one year without condom) of sexualexperience before marriage. Sixty percent of those who had sexual experience w ere exposed to sexuallytransmitted infections and 46.6% were exposed to both unplanned pregnancy and sexually transmittedinfections. Forty seven percent of those who practiced oral sex and 29% of those who practiced anal sexdid not consider their acts as sexual intercourse.Conclusions: University st udents are high risk groups that need more focused research and concertedhealth care. The term ‘sexual intercourse’ should be consciously defined for its future use in Ethiopia.Furthermore, Service providers and researchers should address all types of sexual practices.