American Journal of Biomedical and Life Sciences

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Assessment of Substance Use and Risky Sexual Behaviour Among Public College Students in Bonga Town, Southwest Ethiopia

Received: 31 July 2015    Accepted: 26 August 2015    Published: 24 September 2015
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Abstract

Background: Substance use and problems arising from it are increasing all over the world, and currently together with HIV/AIDS epidemic, become one of the most threatening and challenging social and public health problems. College students are more vulnerable to wider sexual and reproductive health and HIV/AIDS problems due to new environment with poor protection, age and the need to explore life, peer pressure and absence of proactive programs. Objective: The main objective of this study was to assess the magnitude of risky sexual behavior and its association with substance use among Bonga town public college students. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 396 Bonga town public college students from March 2014 to April 2014 using stratified sampling technique and a self-administered questionnaire was used. Descriptive statistics was used to describe the study population, prevalence, and to check the missing values, outliers, and inconsistencies. Logistic regressions to determine independent predictors of risky sexual behaviors and the p- value of 0.05 was used as cut off point for the presence of statistical significance. Results: Among 396 participants 72.7% reported having used at least one substance in their life time. Commonly used substances were: alcohol (51.3%) followed by khat (15.4%), cigarette (3.6%) and other illicit substances (2.5%). From total respondents 38.1% admitted having sexual experience. Among sexually experienced males 4.6% have had sexual intercourse with commercial sex workers and 4.6% had sexual intercourse with more than one person. Condom use rate was 64.9% but, its consistency was 58.3%. Sex, educational status, income and ever use of khat were statistically associated with risky sexual behavior with AOR (95%CI) of 4.5 (1.7, 12), 4.7 (1.6, 12.9), 3.7 (1.4, 10), 2.5 (1.1, 6.5) respectively. Conclusion: The prevalence of substance use among Bonga college students was high. The study also showed that many of the students who were sexually active engaged in unsafe and risky sexual practices. Awareness rising about safer sex and consequences of substance use for college students is necessary measure that should be taken.

DOI 10.11648/j.ajbls.20150305.11
Published in American Journal of Biomedical and Life Sciences (Volume 3, Issue 5, October 2015)
Page(s) 91-97
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Risky Sezxual Behavior, Reproductive Health, Substance Use, College Students, Ethiopia

References
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Author Information
  • Department of Biomedical Sciences, Jimma University, Jimma, Ethiopia

  • Department of Biomedical Sciences, Jimma University, Jimma, Ethiopia; Department of Nursing, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Arba Minch University, Arba Minch, Ethiopia

  • Department of Biomedical Sciences, Jimma University, Jimma, Ethiopia; Department of Epidemiology Sciences, Jimma University, Jimma, Ethiopia

  • Department of Biomedical Sciences, Jimma University, Jimma, Ethiopia; Department of Epidemiology Sciences, Jimma University, Jimma, Ethiopia

  • Department of Midwifery, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Arba Minch University, Arba Minch, Ethiopia

  • Department of Biomedical Sciences, Jimma University, Jimma, Ethiopia; Department of Epidemiology Sciences, Jimma University, Jimma, Ethiopia

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    Agegnehu Alemu, Muluegta Shegaze, Teshome Gobena, Hailay Abraha, Gebremaryam Temesgen, et al. (2015). Assessment of Substance Use and Risky Sexual Behaviour Among Public College Students in Bonga Town, Southwest Ethiopia. American Journal of Biomedical and Life Sciences, 3(5), 91-97. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajbls.20150305.11

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    Agegnehu Alemu; Muluegta Shegaze; Teshome Gobena; Hailay Abraha; Gebremaryam Temesgen, et al. Assessment of Substance Use and Risky Sexual Behaviour Among Public College Students in Bonga Town, Southwest Ethiopia. Am. J. Biomed. Life Sci. 2015, 3(5), 91-97. doi: 10.11648/j.ajbls.20150305.11

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    AMA Style

    Agegnehu Alemu, Muluegta Shegaze, Teshome Gobena, Hailay Abraha, Gebremaryam Temesgen, et al. Assessment of Substance Use and Risky Sexual Behaviour Among Public College Students in Bonga Town, Southwest Ethiopia. Am J Biomed Life Sci. 2015;3(5):91-97. doi: 10.11648/j.ajbls.20150305.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ajbls.20150305.11,
      author = {Agegnehu Alemu and Muluegta Shegaze and Teshome Gobena and Hailay Abraha and Gebremaryam Temesgen and Yohannes Markos},
      title = {Assessment of Substance Use and Risky Sexual Behaviour Among Public College Students in Bonga Town, Southwest Ethiopia},
      journal = {American Journal of Biomedical and Life Sciences},
      volume = {3},
      number = {5},
      pages = {91-97},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ajbls.20150305.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajbls.20150305.11},
      eprint = {https://download.sciencepg.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajbls.20150305.11},
      abstract = {Background: Substance use and problems arising from it are increasing all over the world, and currently together with HIV/AIDS epidemic, become one of the most threatening and challenging social and public health problems. College students are more vulnerable to wider sexual and reproductive health and HIV/AIDS problems due to new environment with poor protection, age and the need to explore life, peer pressure and absence of proactive programs. Objective: The main objective of this study was to assess the magnitude of risky sexual behavior and its association with substance use among Bonga town public college students. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 396 Bonga town public college students from March 2014 to April 2014 using stratified sampling technique and a self-administered questionnaire was used. Descriptive statistics was used to describe the study population, prevalence, and to check the missing values, outliers, and inconsistencies. Logistic regressions to determine independent predictors of risky sexual behaviors and the p- value of 0.05 was used as cut off point for the presence of statistical significance. Results: Among 396 participants 72.7% reported having used at least one substance in their life time. Commonly used substances were: alcohol (51.3%) followed by khat (15.4%), cigarette (3.6%) and other illicit substances (2.5%). From total respondents 38.1% admitted having sexual experience. Among sexually experienced males 4.6% have had sexual intercourse with commercial sex workers and 4.6% had sexual intercourse with more than one person. Condom use rate was 64.9% but, its consistency was 58.3%. Sex, educational status, income and ever use of khat were statistically associated with risky sexual behavior with AOR (95%CI) of 4.5 (1.7, 12), 4.7 (1.6, 12.9), 3.7 (1.4, 10), 2.5 (1.1, 6.5) respectively. Conclusion: The prevalence of substance use among Bonga college students was high. The study also showed that many of the students who were sexually active engaged in unsafe and risky sexual practices. Awareness rising about safer sex and consequences of substance use for college students is necessary measure that should be taken.},
     year = {2015}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Assessment of Substance Use and Risky Sexual Behaviour Among Public College Students in Bonga Town, Southwest Ethiopia
    AU  - Agegnehu Alemu
    AU  - Muluegta Shegaze
    AU  - Teshome Gobena
    AU  - Hailay Abraha
    AU  - Gebremaryam Temesgen
    AU  - Yohannes Markos
    Y1  - 2015/09/24
    PY  - 2015
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajbls.20150305.11
    DO  - 10.11648/j.ajbls.20150305.11
    T2  - American Journal of Biomedical and Life Sciences
    JF  - American Journal of Biomedical and Life Sciences
    JO  - American Journal of Biomedical and Life Sciences
    SP  - 91
    EP  - 97
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2330-880X
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajbls.20150305.11
    AB  - Background: Substance use and problems arising from it are increasing all over the world, and currently together with HIV/AIDS epidemic, become one of the most threatening and challenging social and public health problems. College students are more vulnerable to wider sexual and reproductive health and HIV/AIDS problems due to new environment with poor protection, age and the need to explore life, peer pressure and absence of proactive programs. Objective: The main objective of this study was to assess the magnitude of risky sexual behavior and its association with substance use among Bonga town public college students. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 396 Bonga town public college students from March 2014 to April 2014 using stratified sampling technique and a self-administered questionnaire was used. Descriptive statistics was used to describe the study population, prevalence, and to check the missing values, outliers, and inconsistencies. Logistic regressions to determine independent predictors of risky sexual behaviors and the p- value of 0.05 was used as cut off point for the presence of statistical significance. Results: Among 396 participants 72.7% reported having used at least one substance in their life time. Commonly used substances were: alcohol (51.3%) followed by khat (15.4%), cigarette (3.6%) and other illicit substances (2.5%). From total respondents 38.1% admitted having sexual experience. Among sexually experienced males 4.6% have had sexual intercourse with commercial sex workers and 4.6% had sexual intercourse with more than one person. Condom use rate was 64.9% but, its consistency was 58.3%. Sex, educational status, income and ever use of khat were statistically associated with risky sexual behavior with AOR (95%CI) of 4.5 (1.7, 12), 4.7 (1.6, 12.9), 3.7 (1.4, 10), 2.5 (1.1, 6.5) respectively. Conclusion: The prevalence of substance use among Bonga college students was high. The study also showed that many of the students who were sexually active engaged in unsafe and risky sexual practices. Awareness rising about safer sex and consequences of substance use for college students is necessary measure that should be taken.
    VL  - 3
    IS  - 5
    ER  - 

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