Abstract

The study was designed to determine the socio-demographic correlates of sexual behaviours of the adolescents in Imo State secondary schools. The objectives are to determine the influence of peer pressure on sexual behaviours of the adolescents, the levels of sexual behaviours of the adolescents with various ages at first sexual intercourse and the levels of the sexual behaviours of the older and younger adolescents in Imo State secondary schools. A cross sectional survey design was used and sample size was 3360 (2.2%) of 153,586 adolescents. A structured, validated and reliable questionnaire (r = 0.79) as well as focus group discussions were used as the instruments for data collection. Data analysis was done using mean, z-test and ANOVA statistics. The result showed that in Imo State secondary schools, peer pressure significantly influenced the sexual behaviours of the adolescents (Z- cal. 9.51, Z-tab. 1.96; p < 0.05). Various ages at first sexual intercourse significantly influenced their sexual behaviours (F- cal. 437.92, F-tab. 2.60; p<0.05) and various age groups of the adolescents influenced the adolescents sexual behaviours significantly (Z- cal. 6.19, Z-tab. 1.96; p<0.05). The older adolescents (µ = 1.49) were more involved in sexual behaviours than the younger adolescents (µ = 1.40). The study concluded that unrestricted and uncontrolled adolescents sexual behaviour may expose the adolescents to sexually transmitted infections/HIV/AIDS, unwanted pregnancies, illegal abortion and dropping out of school. Thus comprehensive sex education including assertiveness skill acquisition was recommended among others.

Key words: Socio-demographic, correlates, sexual, behaviour, adolescents.