Sexual practices and risky sexual behaviours among public secondary school adolescents in a local government area in Ekiti State, Nigeria

Background: Sexual practices and risky sexual behaviours among adolescents have great consequences on their health, well-being, and career prospects. We assessed sexual practices and risky sexual behaviours among public secondary school adolescents in Ido/Osi Local Government Area, Ekiti State, Nigeria. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 400 in-school adolescents selected using multistage sampling. Data was obtained using semi-structured self-administered questionnaires developed by the researchers after consulting several literatures. Data was analyzed using IBM SPSS software version 25.0. Results: The mean age ± standard deviation of the respondents was 14.5 ± 2.0 years and 55.5% of them were females. About one-third, 31.3% of respondents have had a boyfriend/girlfriend. Out of these, 41.2% and 5.0% had 2 and 3 boys/girlfriends respectively. About one-quarter, 23.2% had ever touched someone’s genitals (vagina or penis) while 22.6% had ever masturbated. About one-fifth, 22.1% of the respondents had been exposed to sexual intercourse, during their first sexual intercourse, 75.0% had it willingly, 17.9% were self-persuaded and 7.1% had forced sex. Out of the sexually exposed, 9.5% had their first sexual experience with a stranger, 16.7% had multiple sexual partners, 25.0% inconsistently made use of condoms and 46.4% had engaged in sex in exchange for material/ financial gains. Conclusion: About a third of the adolescents have had a partner while one-fifth have been exposed sexually with a huge proportion (25%) at risk of sexually transmitted infections and unwanted pregnancy due to their inconsistent use of condoms. We recommend sex education in secondary schools as well as strategies that will encourage safe sexual practices among adolescents.