Sexual health behavior of adolescents: A school based study conducted in Kathmandu district of Nepal

Adolescent (10-19 years) is a transitional phase of life marked by vulnerability to various risky sexual behaviors. The main aim of this study was to assess the sexual health behaviors of adolescent studying at grade nine and ten in a school of Kathmandu district, Nepal. A school based, descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out among all students (n=133 adolescents) aged 14 to 18 years studying at grade nine and ten. A structured self-administered questionnaire was adopted as a data collection technique. The data was entered into Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 16 and analysis was done by using simple descriptive and inferential statistics. The p-value less than 0.05 (5% level of significance) was considered to be statistically significant. Almost 66.9% of adolescents were aware about the concept of safer sex and 9% adolescents had done sexual intercourse. The median age at first sexual exposure was found to be 15.0 years. Majority (88.7%) of the respondents had no parent-child communication at home on matters related to risky sexual behavior. The late aged adolescents were more sexually exposed than the middle aged adolescents but condom use at first sexual exposure was found more among middle aged adolescents. Almost 91.66% of sexually exposed adolescents were male. The sex of the respondents, peer pressure to have risky sexual behavior, age categories were found as important factors for the sexual initiation of the adolescent groups. Therefore, peer groups approach should be designed and implemented for bringing desirable change in adolescents’ sexual practice