Prevalence, Preventive Methods, Health-related Outcomes, and Correlates of Sexual Behaviours among Adolescents in Malinyi District Council, Morogoro region, Tanzania

Abstract

Background: Social media, peers, teachers, parents, religious leaders, and close family members are just a few of the many sources of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) information, education, related healthcare services, and rights that teens are inundated with for reproductive health, including safe sexual behaviors. This study evaluated the prevalence, preventive methods, health-related outcomes, and correlates of sexual behaviors among adolescents in the Malinyi district council, Morogoro region, Tanzania.
Methods: An analytical cross-sectional study was conducted on 331 randomly selected in-school adolescents. The major data-gathering tool was interviewer-administered structured questions from prior studies. The data were analyzed using version 25 of the IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), with a 95% confidence interval and a 5% significance level.
Results: The average age of respondents was 13 years ± 0.91, with 54.1% being female. 86.0% of respondents were sexually active before the age of 19 years, of which 48.0% of them had sex with friends, 11.1% with mobile phone salespeople, 9.1% with motorcycle drivers, and 1.7% with their biological parents. 44.0% of adolescents reported using no any type of contraception during sexual activity, while 8.7% and 13.3% reported using plastic bags and Vaseline jelly, respectively. Adolescents who experienced verbal sexual jokes (AOR = 2.009; p<.05; 95%CI: 1.1.012-4.912), physical/tactile sexual jokes (AOR = 1.905, p<.05; 95%CI: 1.011-3.397), owning smartphones (AOR = 1.310; p<.05; 95%CI: 1.022-3.365), discussing family planning with friends (AOR = 2.300; p<.05; 95%CI: 1.013-3.321), and using social media platforms (AOR = 1.708; p<.05; 95%CI: 1.030-3.431) were at significant risk of early onset of unsafe sexual behaviors than others (p<.05).
Conclusion: Early onset of sexual behaviors among adolescents is still prevalent. Engaging in sexual activities with individuals closest to them, as well as others who were their blood family, utilising medically unapproved means such as plastic bags and Vaseline jelly during sexual activities, are common among adolescents. The study suggests system-wide school-based interventions to provide adolescents with age-appropriate and comprehensive SRH education and information for the delayed onset of sexual activities.