Risky sexual behavior and associated factors among oda bultum university students, eastern Ethiopia, 2021

Background: Early sexual debut, having multiple sex partners, alcohol abuse, and non-use of condoms are risky sexual behaviors among young people that make them vulnerable to many health problems. This study aimed to assess the magnitude of risky sexual behaviors and predictors among undergraduate regular students of Oda Bultum University.

Materials and Methods: An Institutional based quantitative cross-sectional was conducted from January 3, 2021 to February 15, 2021, by using a pre-tested self-administer questionnaire among randomly selected 371 students. Data were entered into Epi data version 3.02 and then exported to SPSS Ver.25 for analysis. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression was performed. Then, the level of statistical significance was declared at a p-value less than 0.05.

Results: Overall findings showed that 145(61.7%), 95% confidence Interval (55.5%-67.9%) students ever practice risky sexual behaviors. This finding of this study indicated that those students aged 19 to 22 years old (adjusted odds ratio = 3.59, 95% confidence interval: 1.61, 8.02), who attended on video, pornography, and entertainment (adjusted odds ratio = 4.68; 95% confidence interval: 2.02, 10.85), who had intercourse after drunken alcohol (adjusted odds ratio =7.86; 95% confidence interval: 3.46-17.86) and had information on Sexuality and Reproductive Health (adjusted odds ratio =0.05; confidence interval: 0.02-0.16) 95% were significantly associated with risky sexual behaviour.

Conclusion: This study disclosed high-risk sexual behaviour among the study population. Risky sexual behaviours were statistically associated with group age, academic year; viewing the video, pornography and entertainment, drunken alcohol and information on sexuality and reproductive health.