Factors Associated with Sexual Behaviour among Adolescents in Chipata District, Zambia

Abstract

Of late, Zambia has been experiencing a situation where a lot of adolescents have fallen pregnant and has seen a rise in sexual activities among them. This has greatly been noticed in Chipata of the Eastern Zambia. It is for this this reason Chipata was chosen as a place for conducting this research. The purpose of this study was to determine factors associated with sexual behaviour among adolescents.  The study used the quantitative research method using a cross-sectional study design.  Participants in this study included 225 adolescents comprising 113 females and 112 males aged 15 -19 years.  The study was conducted in Chipata. Participants were selected by using Convenient Sampling. A structured interview questionnaire was used to collect data from participants. The data collected was analyzed with the help of SPSS version 25. The findings showed overwhelming involvement of adolescents in sexual activity (93%).  The study found that there where 16% girls compared to 14.7% boys that said they had sex before the age of 16. The study found that initiation into sexual activity was a major factor, with 33.3% of respondents giving it as a reason. This was followed by curiosity (27.7%), a need for goods and services (5.6%), intoxication (7.1%) and accidental indulgence after experimenting with touching (4.7%). The logistic regression analysis at 95% Confidence Interval showed that age predicted a strong likelihood of having one sexual partner. And respondents who were 19 years were negatively associated with likelihood of having one partner.  It was recommended that future research with a bigger and more comprehensive participant base is recommended to assess the socio- economic and cultural factors affecting adolescents in their sexual behaviours.