KNOWLEDGE AND PRACTICE OF PREMARITAL SEX AND USE OF CONDOM AMONG SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN IBADAN, OYO STATE

Abstract

The study examined knowledge and practice of premarital sex and use of condom among secondary school students in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria. Descriptive research survey method was adopted for the study. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to select two hundred and. seventy (270) respondents that participated in the study. A structured questionnaire tagged save the youths' future (SYF) that was duly validated by expert in the field of health social work and health education was used to collect data. A reliability coefficient of 0.76 was obtained through test-retest methods with the use of Pearson product moment correlation coefficient. Six research hyptheses were formulated. The hypotheses tested and the results were analysed with the use of chi-square at 0.05 alpha levels. The result of the study showed that, senior secondary students in Ibadan had in-depth knowledge about premarital sex because they are actively involved in it. Their ages (between 12-20) does not in any way hinder their involvement in premarital sex. In the same vein, it was alarming to find out that 146 out of 170 (more than half) respondents could not associate premarital sex without the use of condom to exposure to risks of HOV/AIDS, secual Transmitted Diseases and unwanted pregnancy. However, the result revealed that gender influenced knwoledge about premarital sex because 92 females against 52 males knew the association between premarital sex and HIV/AIDS. Finally, the result also revealed that, there was significant association between students class and knowledge about HIV/AIDS. Based on these findings, the researchers recommend that the government should expand the frontier of knowledge about premarital sex. HIV/AIDS and sexually Transmitted Diseases in Nigerian secondary schools. The school and health social workers, health educators and health care providers also have serious roles to play in educating the youths on how to save their previous lives through protected sex