Sexual behaviors, substance use and mental well being among university students

Abstract

The study aimed at examining the relationship between sexual behaviors, substance use and mental wellbeing among university students. The study was quantitative in nature and in particular a correlational study design was adopted for this study. The targeted population were university students from the various universities in Uganda and using simple random sampling method, a sample size of 200 was determined for the study using the Krecjie and Morgan (1970) sampling table and data was collected using self-administered questionnaires 199 questionnaires were filled and returned for data analysis. The findings from the study revealed that sexual behaviors have a significant effect on substance abuse among university students since p – value (.000) is less than the significance level and the correlation coefficient (0.396) There was a negative correlation between sexual behaviors and mental wellbeing at (r=-0.051 p=0.477 N=199) and the relationship was not statistically significant at 95% confidence level since p-value (Sig.) was 0.477 more than (=0.050) There was a negative relationship between mental wellbeing and substance use among university students, (r=-0.176 p=0.013 N=199) but the relationship was statistically significant at 95% confidence level since p-value (Sig.) was less than 0.050 (=0.013).The researchers concluded that there is a relationship between, sexual behaviors, substance use and mental wellbeing among university students. The recommendations made in this study included education aimed at preventing drug abuse and risky sexual behaviors, involving substance use being involved sexuality education in universities and avoiding risky behaviors among others.