Premarital sexual practice and its associated factors among high school adolescents in Kolfe Keraniyo sub city, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: A cross sectio

Back ground: Adolescents comprise of individuals between the age group of 10–19 years. In Ethiopia, adolescents in the age range of 15-24 comprise 30% of the population that represent a huge segment of potentially vulnerable population. They are at high risk for practicing risky sexual behaviors which result in STIs including HIV, unplanned pregnancy and abortion which can lead them to death, disability, high girls dropping rate of schools.
Objective: To assess the premarital sexual practice and its associated factors among high school adolescents in Kolfe Keraniyo sub city, Addis Ababa from January to February, 2014.
Methods: Kolfe Keraniyo is a sub city of Addis Ababa. There are 30 high schools in the sub city. A cross-sectional study design was used. The study subjects were adolescents of five High schools in the sub city by using simple random sampling technique.   All students enrolled in the regular day program and aged 15-19 years were included. The total sample size was 631.
Result: The premarital sexual practice among high school adolescents was 19.8% and 84(70%) of them had practiced sex in past 12 months. The main reason reported for initiation of premarital sexual practice was peer pressure which accounted 37 (30.8%). Premarital sexual practice was strongly associated with having pocket money [AOR= 3.035 95% CI (1.594-5.781)], watching pornography [AOR=2.385 95% CI (1.262-4.509)], having close friends experienced in premarital sex [AOR=4.524; 95% CI (2.505-8.509)], alcohol drinking [AOR=4.069; 95% CI (2.070-7.998)] and having boy or girl friend [ARO=2.341 95%CI (1.355-4.044)].
Conclusion and Recommendations: According to the findings of this study, the practice of premarital sex among high school adolescents was 19.8%, hence its  associated factors were  peer pressure,  having  pocket money, watching pornography, drinking alcohol, having boy or girl friend and students whose  close friends experienced in premarital sex. Therefore, to halt this problem, school peer reproductive education should be strengthened and should provide comprehensive, accurate and timely information on sexual issues and sexually explicated materials, and parents should monitor how they are utilizing their pocket money.