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

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.

Prevalence of sexually transmitted infections and associated factors among the University of Gondar students, Northwest Ethiopia: a cross-sectional study

“…In this study, students with poor knowledge of STIs were more likely to develop STIs than students with good knowledge. This finding agrees with those of other studies conducted in Mekelle [25], Wolaita Sodo University [27], and Bahir Dar town [33].…”

“…The finding from this study was higher when compared with Ethiopian Demography and Health Survey (EDHS) 2011 report, among the youth (4%) [19], Bonga college students (13.9%) [27], Bahir Dar University students (6.4%) [28] and high school students in Gondar (10.7%) [29]. The possible difference from the EDHS report might be due to that EDHS survey was a population-based survey which included youth who are living with, and are under the control of the family.…”

Sexual behaviors and its association with life skills among school adolescents of Mettu town, South West Ethiopia: A school-based cross-sectional study

“…However, recent studies indicated very few youth contacts dealt with life skills and service utilization is still lagging to 12% in Addis Ababa, where high service utilization is expected. 7 , 9 – 14 Schools were a good place where adolescents can share their life experiences and abilities both positively and negatively. Hence, understanding the association between the life skills and sexual behavior of adolescents is decisive in designing adolescent-centered sexual and reproductive health and provide an insight on whether to include the life skills in school health activities.…”

What Factors Encourage Young People to Engage in Substance Use? Substance Use and Associated Factors Among Youth in Southwest Ethiopia: A Community-Based Study

“…The current prevalence of chewing khat is 259 (45.7%). These findings are higher than the study conducted on Jimma university internship medical student 13.4% (20), Jimma town high school students 14.2% (14), Bonga public college student 11.4% (15), Woreta high school adolescents 13.8%, Bale preparatory school students 5.6% (12), Debre Berhan university student 5.7% (19) and Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey report (8). The current study finding was higher than previous study conducted in different parts of Ethiopia due to difference study population, design and setting.…”

“…The Town has 17 Kebeles with a total population of 205,163 of whom women account for 102,007, male, 103,156, and a total household of 42,742 according to the 2019 Jimma zone health bureau projection population report. Of the total population, around 40,539 (21%) populations are youth (age found [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24].…”