IMPACT OF SEXUALITY EDUCATION IN REDUCING UNPROTECTED INTERCOURSE AMONG ADOLESCENTS IN OVIA LOCAL GOVERNMENT OF EDO STATE
TABLE OF CONTENT
Title Page………………..i
Certification……………ii
Dedication………………iii
Acknowledgment……….iv
Abstract…………………vi
Table of content………vii
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the study
Statement of the problem
1.3 Objectives of the study
1.4 Research questions
1.5 Research hypotheses
1.6 Significance of the study
1.7 Scope/Limitations of the study
Limitations of study
1.8 Definition of terms
REFERENCES
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
1.0 INTRODUCTION
2.1 Overview
1.2 Conceptual framework
Sex Education
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 INTRODUCTION
3.2 POPULATION OF STUDY
3.3 SOURCES OF DATA
3.4 METHOD OF DATA COLLECTION
3.5 METHOD OF DATA ANALYSIS
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS, AND INTERPRETATION
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
5.1 SUMMARY OF FINDINGS
5.2 Conclusion and Recommendation
References
Appendix
QUESTIONNAIRE ADMINISTRATION
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the study
Sex education is enlightenment on issues to human sexuality which includes emotional relations and responsibilities, human sexual anatomy, sexual activity, sexual reproduction, reproductive health, reproductive rights, safe sex, birth control ad sexual abstinence.
According to the English Dictionary, unprotected sex is an act of sexual intercourse or sodomy performed without the use of a condom, thus involving the risk of sexually transmitted diseases. It was discovered that teenage girls are 35% more likely than boys to have unprotected sex the first time they have sexual intercourse regardless of any previous sex education instruction. Boys generally have been thought to be more liable to risky behaviors, such as engaging in unprotected sex. In Nigeria, problems linked with adolescents’ sexual health comprise high rates of teenage pregnancy; a rising event of sexually transmitted diseases, high rates of abortion mortality, and more. Medical problems associated with adolescents' sexual behavior are a major health burden to Nigerians. Problems are not limited to pregnancy, it includes secondary infertility and development of cervical abnormalities in adolescents. Early and unprotected sexual activity has negative consequences for young people, adolescents precisely. Adolescents who become sexually active often fall victim to high-risk behavior that leads to physical and emotional damage. Each year, influenced by a combination of a youthful assumption of invincibility, and a lack of guidance, millions of adolescents ignore those risks and suffer the consequences. Young men who have sex with men are liable to HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. It was discovered that individuals infected with an STD are at least two to five times more likely than uninfected individuals to acquire HIV if exposed to the virus through sexual contact. One study found that among gay male clinic patients screened for STDs, those 15 to 20 years old had the highest age-specific rates of rectal Chlamydia and gonorrhea. Sexual activity has consequences. Though the teen birth rate has declined to its lowest levels since data collection began, the United States still has the highest teen birth rate in the industrialized world. Roughly one in four girls will become pregnant at least once by their 20th birthday. Teenage mothers are less likely to finish high school and are more likely than their peers to live in poverty, depend on public assistance, and be in poor health. Their children are more likely to suffer health and cognitive disadvantages, come in contact with the child welfare and correctional systems, live in poverty, drop out of high school and become teen parents themselves. These costs add up, according to The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, which estimates that teen childbearing costs taxpayers at least $9.4 billion annually.
Comprehensive sex education programs show that these programs can help youth delay the onset of sexual activity, reduce the frequency of sexual activity, reduce the number of sexual partners, and increase condom and contraceptive use. Importantly, the evidence shows youth who receive comprehensive sex education are NOT more likely to become sexually active, increase sexual activity, or experience negative sexual health outcomes.
Statement of the problem
The following are the problems of the study:
35% of teenage girls have unprotected sex the first time they have sexual intercourse regardless of any sex education instruction. Youth who do not receive comprehensive sex education are more likely to become sexually active, increase sexual activity, or experience negative sexual health outcomes.
1.3 Objectives of the study
The following are the objectives of the study:
To determine whether Sex Education Intervention Programme would reduce at-risk sexual behaviors of school-going adolescents. To suggest the need for effective sex education for the young ones. To know if youth who receive comprehensive sex education are more likely to become sexually active, increase sexual activity, experience negative sexual health outcomes or not.
1.4 Research questions
1. How can the sex Education Intervention Programme reduce at-risk sexual behaviors of school-going adolescents in the Ovia local government of Edo state?
1.5 Research hypotheses
Ho:
Hi:
Ho:
Hi:
1.6 Significance of the study
1. This research work will encourage young people to tell the truth, using computers instead of face-to-face interviews.
2. Comprehensive sex education programs show that these programs can help youth delay onset of sexual activity, reduce the frequency of sexual activity, reduce the number of sexual partners, and increase condom and contraceptive use.
1.7 Scope/Limitations of the study
The scope of this study centers on the impact of sexuality education in reducing unprotected intercourse among adolescents in the Ovia local government of Edo state.
Limitations of study
1. Financial constraint- Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature, or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire, and interview). 2. Time constraint- The researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. This consequently will cut down on the time devoted to the research work.
1.8 Definition of terms
Sex education: is enlightenment on issues to human sexuality which includes emotional relations and responsibilities, human sexual anatomy, sexual activity, sexual reproduction, reproductive health, reproductive rights, safe sex, birth control ad sexual abstinence.
Education: is the process of facilitating learning, or the acquisition of knowledge, skills, values, beliefs, and habits. Educational methods include storytelling, discussion, teaching, training, and directed research
Sexuality: Sexuality includes our sexual orientation (heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual).
Intercourse: the act carried out for procreation or for pleasure in which, typically, the insertion of the male's erect penis into the female's vagina is followed by rhythmic thrusting usually culminating in orgasm; copulation; coitus related adjective venereal
Unprotected intercourse: unprotected sex is an act of sexual intercourse or sodomy performed without the use of a condom, thus involving the risk of sexually transmitted diseases.
Adolescents: the period between the onset of puberty and the cessation of physical growth; roughly from 11 to 19 years of age.
REFERENCES
Abogunrin AJ. Sexual behaviour, condom use and attitude towards HIV/AIDS among adolescents in Nigeria. Nigeria: University of Ilorin; 2003. An Unpublished Ph.D thesis.
Adegoke AA. Adolescents in Africa: Revealing the problems of teenagers in contemporary African society. Ibadan: Hadassah Publishing; 2003.
Esere MO. HIV/AIDS awareness of in-school adolescents in Nigeria: Implications for adolescence sexuality. Journal of Psychology in Africa. 2006;16(2):255–258. 4.
Esu AEO. Sex education in Nigerian schools: Issues facing adolescents and Nigerian educators. In: Nwachukwu IDN, editor. Cotemporary Issues in Nigerian Education and Development. Enugu: Sam Star & Company; 1999. pp. 291–301.
Kirby D. School-based programmes to reduce sexual risk-taking behavious.Journal of School Health. 1999;62:559–563.
Remafedi G. Predictors of unprotected intercourse among gay and bisexual youth: Knowledge, beliefs and behaviour. Pediatrics. 1999;94:163–168.
Adegoke AA. Adolescents in Africa: Revealing the problems of teenagers in contemporary African society. Ibadan: Hadassah Publishing; 2003.
Kirby D. School-based programmes to reduce sexual risk-taking behavious.Journal of School Health. 1999;62:559–63.
Mellanby A, Phelps F, Tripp J. British Medical Journal. 1999;307:25. 11. Johnson AM, Wadsworth J, Wellings K, Field J. Sexual attitudes and lifestyles. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications; 1999.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
1.0 INTRODUCTION
The way in which we, as a society, talk to our young people about sex and intimate relationships can significantly influence the way they see themselves as individuals, as partners, and as sexual human beings. Sex education can influence adolescents’ perception of the risks associated with sexual behavior, and the precautions they can and should take to reduce that risk. Sexual risk taking behaviors among adolescents, and its unfortunate consequences, are major contemporary policy concerns. Research has shown that many American teenagers are sexually active and because they do not always make safe choices when it comes to sexual behavior and they face consequences which result in increased governmental spending and negative social and health outcomes. Although rates of teen sexual activity have declined over the past 15 years, nearly two-thirds of high school youth still report having had sex and more than one in five report having had four or more sexual partners by the time they graduate high school. One-quarter of sexually active adolescents nationwide have an STI, and some of these STIs are lifelong viral infections without any cure (Trenholm et al 2007). Two in three adolescents are sexually active by the age of eighteen. Currently, in America, thirty-one percent of young women become pregnant at least once before they reach the age of 20, and 8 in 10 of these pregnancies are unintended. In 2000, the U.S. rate of teen pregnancy was almost twice that of Great Britain, four times the rate of France and Germany, and almost ten times the rate of Japan (National Teen Pregnancy Prevention Campaign, 2006). My thesis hopes to offer a unique and nuanced perspective on the highly controversial issue of sex education policy. My final conclusions are based on both my qualitative findings as well as my quantitative findings. In considering both results, I am able to discuss the most realistic and effective ways of reducing adolescent sexual risk taking behavior while simultaneously helping to shape conversations about sexuality and intimate relationships in a way that will leave teenagers feeling confident and self-assured. Sex education is a policy tool, which can reduce the future costs (to the government and to the individual) of teenage sexual risk-taking behavior and its outcomes, namely pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. Teenage mothers are significantly less likely than their peers to finish high school and only 1.5 percent earns a college degree by the age of 30. Adolescent mothers are at greater risk for obesity, sexually transmitted infections and hypertension. Moreover, the children of teens often suffer from chronic health problems, have insufficient access to health care, and experience poor school performance. Lastly, teen pregnancy costs Americans billions of dollars each year. Almost 500,000 children are born to teenage mothers annually and the government spends about $9.1 billion a year to help these families through social welfare programs. These reasons help explain why many policy experts believe that by reducing teen pregnancy, the government will be able to improve the educational attainment levels of Americans and in doing so, minimize poverty, and improve the economy (National Teen Pregnancy Prevention Campaign, 2006). There are clear economic, health, education, and safety concerns guiding the need for a policy that will effectively and efficiently educate the majority of teenagers to help them make healthy sexual decisions and prevent teenage pregnancy and the spread of sexually transmitted infections. I argue that American adolescents need an educational curriculum that will teach them values of self-worth, assertiveness, comfort with their body and their sexuality, and empowerment. All of these qualities are likely to contribute to healthy intimate relationships. My results indicate that sex education curriculum does not influence rates of sexual activity among adolescents. Given that curriculum does not play a large role in the adolescent’s decision to have sex, in order to reduce teen pregnancy and STI rates, the curriculum must increase riskaltering behavior. I have found that self-efficacy curriculum is associated with increased condom use rates while abstinence-only education is associated with decreased birth control use rates, increased pregnancy rates, and increased STI rates. I also found that factors such as race, income level, and religious belief are more influential in determining risk-altering behavior, pregnancy rates, and STI rates than curriculum components. Based on these findings, I recommend that future policy regarding sex education be considered at a state level so as to better account for demographic differences and that curriculum include self-efficacy components and do not include abstinence-only education. Schools and local community centers are the necessary place to implement these programs. First, sex education fits very well into the philosophy behind American public schools. In particular, we believe in “the idea that if young people are given all the facts, they will make the right decisions [and] the idea that young people are innately good and valuable citizens in the making and need only the proper environment in which to flourish… (Luker 2006).” Secondly, schools are an institution in American society regularly attended by most youth. Therefore, teaching sex education in school is the most effective way of reaching the majority of young people. Moreover, because the vast majority of teenagers are enrolled in school for several years before they are sexually active, sex education in school is preventative and can successfully educate adolescents before they are at risk for teen pregnancy or sexually transmitted infections. Unfortunately 5 out of every 100 American adolescents dropout of school before they finish high school and so, in order to reach those populations, programs would need to be implemented in community and outreach centers as well (Kaufman 2001). Sex education is a difficult topic for the United States because there is passionate disagreement regarding how best to teach adolescents to reduce sexual risk taking behaviors.
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