The center of efforts to decrease the incidence and prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases accounts for raising awareness of condom use. In Nigeria and neighboring countries, this has been a tricky endeavor as public stigma often prevents men and women from being open about their sex life. Purchasing a box of condoms isn’t such an easy task for many, but things are changing. The latest study explored and identified different reasons that gave confidence to Nigerian students to adopt healthier sex practices and use condoms. Below, you can learn more.
Attitudes about condom use
Condoms are widely promoted to encourage sexually active men and women to practice safe sex. This has become incredibly important for students i.e. people who have started with sexual activity and need to be safe and cautious to avoid potentially negative scenarios (STDs and unwanted pregnancy) down the road. That being said, there were no studies that aimed to inspect the efficacy of those efforts to promote condom use and determine whether they had any impact.
A study whose findings were published in the journal PLoS One aimed to change that. The main objective of the study was to assess the predictors of self-efficacy for condom use among university students in Nigeria. For the study, researchers enrolled 755 students in Nigeria who were interviewed in a period between February and April 2018. The results of the study are interesting and contribute to knowledge about the sexual behavior and health of healthy young adults in sub-Saharan Africa.
Over 70% of students were between 20 and 34 years old and 80% of subjects were sexually experienced. Moreover, 78% of students stated that religion was a significant part of their lives. Interestingly, 53% of students have never discussed sex-related subjects with their mother and 84% confessed they never talked about this topic with their father.
The study revealed that sexually experienced students were most confident about buying and using condoms. This finding clearly shows that confidence in condom use stems from sexual experience. Scientists confirmed that self-belief is developed through personal experience, but other important factors played a role. Age, sex, and parental factors also contributed to a person’s confidence in condom use.
Importance of the study
Findings from the study can serve health agencies and regulatory bodies to update their campaigns and target high-risk groups such as sexually inexperienced people who are less confident about condom use. These results also show there is a lot that has to be done to encourage young people in sub-Saharan Africa to use condoms and practice safe sex, be open about their sexual experiences, and thereby protecting themselves and others.
Conclusion
Sexually experienced students are more confident in condom use than their inexperienced counterparts. Other factors such as age also play a role. These findings could shape up efforts to promote safe sex practices by targeting those who are at the least likely to use condoms.
References
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0221804
https://theconversation.com/what-gives-nigerian-students-the-confidence-to-use-condoms-130331