Early sexual debut and associated factors among adolescents in Kasawo Sub-county, Mukono district, Uganda

Abstract

: Early sexual debut is defined as having had first sexual intercourse at or before age 14 years of age. By 19 years, nearly 70% of both males and females are reported to have ever had sexual intercourse. Notably, sexual debut occurring at an earlier age than 19 years, especially less than 15 years, is found to be associated with engagement in risky sexual behaviours in adolescence. The objective of this study was to determine the factors associated with early sexual debut among adolescents in Kasawo Sub-county, Mukono district. Analytical cross-sectional study design, both qualitative and quantitative methods, was used. Focus group discussion guide and semi-structured questionnaire were administered to a sample of 385 adolescents. Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS) version 25 was used for analysis. The prevalence of early sexual debut was 22.6% among female and 22.1% among male, respectively. Age was associated with early sexual debut (X2(1) = 5.992, p = 0.018), with more of the adolescents (37.4%) older than 14 year found to have had sexual intercourse at or before 14 years. Gender was associated with early sexual debut among adolescents (X2(1) = 22.898, p = 0.000). Schooling status of adolescents was associated with early sexual debut (p = 0.000). Respondents who drink alcohol were three times more likely to have early sexual debut (COR = 3.28, at 95% CI (1.530–7.031)) and there was a strong association between drinking alcohol and early sexual debut (p = 0.000). Having ever had peer influence (p = 0.03) was associated with early sexual debut. So, conclusively, the proportion of girls who delay sex is slightly higher as compared with that of boys.

Keywords:

• Sexual debut
• Adolescents
• Kasawo Sub-County
• Uganda

PUBLIC INTEREST STATEMENT

Early sexual debut is defined as having had first sexual intercourse at or before age 14 years of age. By 19 years, nearly 70% of both males and females are reported to have ever had sexual intercourse. Globally, early adolescent sexual debut remains a recurring public health issue. Early sexual debut among adolescents has a lot of consequences. The consequences may range from increased risk for sexually transmitted diseases including HIV/AIDs, unwanted and teenage pregnancies, unsafe abortions, school dropout, injuries and depression, among others. Whereas there may be no definite age for sexual debut, under normal circumstances, most societies encourage initiation of sex at adulthood, usually above 18 years. Therefore, by encouraging initiation of sex at adulthood the community rids itself of all or most of the consequences of early sexual debut.

Acknowledgements

The authors do acknowledge the support of the all the academic staff of Uganda Martyrs University, Department of Health Sciences for being proactive to research and publications. We are indebted to all our respondents who gave us valuable information to help us complete this study. God bless them all.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data sharing

The dataset related to this article is available (Omona & Ssuka, 2021) in Harvard Dataverse. It can be accessed anytime through https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/YK672K.

Declaration

The authors declare no conflict of interest and also declare that there was no specific or external funding for this study.

Correction

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported that there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.

Notes on contributors

Kizito Omona

Kizito Omona is a Medical Doctor and Lecturer in the Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS) of Uganda Martyrs University, Kampala. He holds a PhD in Mgt [Healthcare Mgt], Master of Science in Health Services Management, Master of Science in Monitoring and Evaluation, Post Graduate Diploma in Project Planning and Management, Post Graduate Certificate in Project Monitoring and Evaluation and Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBChB) degree. He is currently engaged in teaching Public Health and Health Services Management at graduate and post-graduate levels and Research Supervision in the said areas and levels and community engagement. Research areas: Clinical Research, Public Health, Maternal and Child health Research and Child focused research.

Jonathan Kizito Ssuka

Jonathan Kizito Ssuka is a Public Health specialist and independent researcher, with primary interest in Maternal Child Health. He is a practicing social worker and a Public health practitioner at VODA-Uganda. He serves as a National Trainer on Adolescent health under the Ministry of health.