Factors influencing early sexual debut among 15-24 year old female youth in coast province, Kenya

Abstract

This study set out to investigate the factors associated with age at first sex among female youth in Coast province by using the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2008/9.The main objective of the study was to establish factor s that were closely associated with sexual debut among female youth aged 15-24 years. The dependent variable was age at first sex and the independent variables included; education, type and place of residence, age, literacy, religion, wealth index, and exposure to mass media i.e. newspapers, magazines, radio. The study sample was 487 female youth aged 15-24 years obtained from the overall survey sample of 8,444 women aged 15-49 years. The study used descriptive statistics and Cox regression analysis. The results showed that 61.8% of the 487 female youth aged 15-24 were already sexually experienced as at the time of the survey. The age at first sex ranges between age 10 and 23 years among the study population. The average age at sexual debut was 16.14 years. Bivariate results showed that education, age and readership of newspapers and magazines were significantly associated with age at first sexual debut. However the results of Cox regression analysis indicated that only education and age had statistically significant effects on early sexual debut. Female youths who reported t o have no education were at the greatest risk of initiate sexual activity early and those with at least secondary education had the least risk..Adolescents aged 15-19 were significantly more likely to initiate sexual activity than the older adolescents (20-24). In view of the study findings, there is a need for the government to implement the life skills curriculum targeting female youths in schools and t hose out of school. Programmes targeting the out of school youth should also be initiated to also facilitate in delaying age at sexual debut among the youth who have no education. More emphasis on youth friendly health services should be encourage to help expose the youth to more reproductive health information that will enable them to make informed decisions. Newspaper pullouts and magazine articles on reproductive health should be made available to the youth and a reading culture be captivating among the youth to increase their awareness on reproductive health matters, captivating puzzles on reproductive health and competitions may be included to capture their interest