Tammary Esho¹, Arun Datta², Samuel Muniu¹

1. Technical University of Kenya, Community and Public Health
2. Technical University of Kenya, Centre for Science and Technology Studies

Abstract

Background: Adolescence is a phase where one is inquisitive about sex and sexuality. It is but natural to exchange the half-baked feelings and experiences with peers. These days the environment that includes public media has sexually suggestive flavors.

Objective: This study was conducted to find out the sexual experiences of a selected, few school going adolescents.

Methods: A cross-sectional study utilizing stratified sampling to enroll 200 students from secondary schools in Nakuru County, Kenya. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data. The data was entered and analyzed in SPSS® version 22. Chisquare test of independence and Fisher’s Exact Test were performed to test for associations.

Results: The study found that a large number have had sexual experiences of varying type. It was interesting to learn from the survey that a large number of older adolescents wish that their parents should have talked to them about sexual matters. There is a general conservative outlook that the students had. Although a small percentage had sexual experiences at a very young age, many of them valued ethics and morality.

Conclusion: There is urgency for intervention by the parents and the church in filing the gap in sexual knowledge. Keywords: Sexuality experiences, secondary school students, Nakuru, Kenya.

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/ahs.v18i2.3

Cite as: Esho T, Datta A, Muniu S. Sexuality experiences of secondary school students in Nakuru, Kenya: a cross-sectional study. Afri Health Sci. 2018;18(2): 209-217. https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/ahs.v18i2.3

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