GENDER DIFFERENCES IN RELATION TO SELECTED FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO RISKY SEXUAL BEHAVIOUR AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN MOLO CENTRAL DIVISION, KENYA

Abstract

The consequences of these risky sexual behaviours are manifested by rise in unintended teenage pregnancies that result in unsafe abortions and school dropout, HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs). The purpose of this study was to investigate on the aspect of gender that contribute to risky sexual behaviours among secondary school students. Gender was used as the basis for comparison on the effect of the factors. This study adopted a descriptive survey research design. The target population was 2079 Form Three and Four students in all the 16 secondary schools in Molo Central Division. A stratified random sample of 324 Form Three and Form Four students was selected. Data was collected through administration of a self-scoring student’s questionnaire to the selected respondents. The collected data was processed and analyzed using both descriptive statistics (frequencies, percentages and means) and inferential statistics (t-test) with the aid of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 17 for Windows. Overall, there were significant gender differences in selected factors contributing to risky sexual behaviour. The boys score was significantly higher than that of the girls (p<0.05). This means that the boys were more likely to engage in risky sexual behaviour than the girls. The study also found out that students were aware of the danger posed by risky sexual behaviour. The study recommends that since boys are likely to engage in risky sexual behaviour more than girls, they should be exposed more to guidance and counselling services to help them be more knowledgeable on the dangers of risky sexual behaviour.