Assessment of Time of Sexual Initiation and Its Associated Factors among Students in Northwest Ethiopia

Introduction: As many evidences showed, commencing sex at younger age was risk for acquiring HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and of experiencing unplanned Pregnancy due to practicing of it without plan/ not using protective materials. In North East Ethiopia, of half (51.3%) of youths initiated sex at median age of 17 years, 39.1% of them were practicing without plan, three quarter (73.1%) were not discussing about contraception and half of them were having more than one sexual partner. In northwest Ethiopian students, the prevalence of HIV infection, and other STIs was 1.1%, and 10.7% respectively and a quarter (24.3%) of students was experiencing pregnancy that was ended with abortion (89%). In parallel, about half of students in similar area was commencing sex at mean age of about 17 years and about half (47.2%) students were having more than one sexual partner though less than half (45.2%) of them were using condom during sexual practice. In the presence of earlier sexual onset and its consequences, there is no prior local evidence. Therefore the current study is aimed to calculate time of sexual debut and to determine its associated factors. Methodology: The study was conducted among 326 systematically selected day time regular Debre Markos preparatory (grade 11-12th) students. Data was collected by pretested Amharic (local language) version self-administered questionnaire. A coded questionnaire was entered by EpiData version 3.1 and analyzed by SPSS version 20. Time of sexual onset was estimated using the actuarial life table and Kaplan Meier survival. Log rank test was used to compare age of sexual debut across categories of categorical variable. Cox proportional-hazard model was used to calculate hazard rate and to determine independent predictors of outcome. Result: Above one third (37.7%) participants were commencing sex. The median time of sexual initiation was 16 years. Of those beginning sex, about 40.7% were not using condom during sex. In multivariate Cox proportional hazard model, predictors that are risk for younger age sexual onset were being female, rural resident, smoker, alcohol drinker, and watching pornography movies. Thus organizations working on school youths should further work to enhance age of sexual onset by giving especial attention for risk groups.