Pattern of Sexual Behavior of Hawass a University Students, Ethiopia: A Qualitative Study

B ackground : The body of quantitative literature that described risky sexual behavior as a predisposing factor for HIV and o ther sexually transmitted infection are plenty. However, little is known how risky the sexual practices of university students are in this era, particularly in Ethiopia. M ethods : A qualitative research method was employed to explore the sexual behavior of undergraduate university students. Ten students’ focus group discussions and twenty three in - depth interviews were conducted. The study participants were purposively selected students, night time taxi drivers, nightclub owners, abortion service providers, members of campus police and addictive substance sellers. R esults : Both the focus group discussants and key informants emphasized that the sexual practices of some of Hawassa University female students were more risky than their counterpart male student s. Some of the evidence the discussants pointed out were: the high number of female students competing with commercial sex workers in the night clubs; being the majority among women coming for abortion service; several local businessmen coming to the unive rsity campus to pick female students at night; and some female students being observed working in hotels as bar lady. B eing away from family, academically poor, watching a sex film, peer pressure, attending night clubs, lack of