Predictors of Risky Sexual Practice among Undergraduates Using Social Media in Osun State University, Osogbo

Abstract

Social media has become part of students' lives with most undergraduates spending at least more than an hour on social media with various kinds of misuse including accessing adult materials. This study sought to determine the predictive powers of students' socio-demographic characteristics on involvement in risky sexual practices when using social media. The study was a cross-sectional descriptive survey including 400 undergraduates selected from the Departments of English Language and Education & History in the Ikire Campus; Community Medicine and Physiology in the Osogbo campus; and Animal Science and Agricultural Economics in the Ejigbo Campus through a multi-stage sampling procedure. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire consisting of five sections with both univariate and bivariate analyses conducted using the SPSS software version 20.0. The mean age of the respondents was 16.4±3.7years, 65.2% were female, 26.5% were 100L students, 95.5% were single, 93.5% belonged to the Yoruba ethnic group, and 67.0% were Christians. Similarly, 97.2% of the respondents had access to social media, and 87.8% accessed social media frequently. Facebook (82.5%), WhatsApp (79.9%), and Twitter (73.3%) were the most used social media platforms. The majority (60%) were exposed to sexual risks, and 59% had a poor attitude towards risky sexual behaviour. Online dating without prior knowledge of the partner (58.8%) and viewing porn (37.3%) were the major risky sexual practices among the students. While the socio-demographic variables were associated with sexual practice, attitude, and sexual exposure since using social media, only age and gender were significantly associated with sexual practice and attitude respectively at P<0.05. With the consequences of unhindered access to social media among undergraduates especially on sexuality, the study therefore recommends a health education intervention to include a comprehensive sexual health education to all stakeholders in the parenting journey to produce morally upright youths in the society. Keywords: Social Media, Risky Sexual Practices, Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Undergraduate students