Socio-Demographic Inequalities in the Prevalence of Sexual Intercourse among School Going Adolescents in the Central Region of Ghana

Abstract

Given that adolescents’ sexual behaviours have brought increasing burden on the development agenda of the Central Region of Ghana, it is remarkable that research on related issues such as the adolescents’ onset of sexual debut and its associated consequences is limited. The purpose of this study was to examine the relative influence of socio-demographic determinants and prevailing inequalities of sexual intercourse engagement among adolescents in selected junior high schools. Sexual Intercourse; Prevalence; Socio-Demographic Predictors; Ghana; Central Region. Descriptive cross-sectional design was employed with multistage sampling procedures to sample 1,400 school going adolescents in junior high schools. Simple percentages and binary logistic regression results revealed that 26% (n = 342) of school adolescents were sexually active, of which majority 63% (n = 215) had their first sexual intercourse between 14-15 years while 37% (n = 127) had theirs between 11-13 years when they were in the primary school, with sexual intercourse being attributed to forced experience, 21% (n = 75). Other findings showed multiple sexual relationships, with 31% (n = 106) having sexual intercourse with more than two persons whereas the rest 69% (n = 236) had sexual relations with one partner. High prevalence 61% (n = 207) of unprotected sexual intercourse was also found among the school going adolescents, with 39% (n = 135) using condom. Additionally, age (OR = 1.483, 95% CI = 1.07-2.05, p = .017), gender (OR = 0.65, 95% CI = 0.50-0.84, p = .001), parental communication (OR = 0.69, 95% CI = 0.54-0.90, p = .006), and academic performance (OR = 0.67, 95% CI = 0.46-0.97, p = .035) significantly explained causal relationship with lifetime sexual intercourse. These findings suggest that older boys with difficult parental communication and below average academic performance were at a higher risk of having sexual intercourse. School based sex education should be gender sensitive with parental involvement in the process within the region. Condom usage and perhaps abstinence should be vigorously promoted among the high risk group to prevent the occurrence of teenage pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections and other related consequences.