The risk of sexually transmitted infections, unwanted pregnancy and emotional distress among sexually active University students.

Abstract

The majority of today’s university students engage in sexual intercourse and many of these sexually active students engage in risky sexual behaviors such as unprotected sex, intercourse with multiple partners, and sex under the influence of alcohol or drugs. This puts them at risk of contracting sexually transmitted infections and unwanted pregnancies, which have an impact on their emotional well-being. This study sought to establish the relationships among sexually transmitted infections, unwanted pregnancy and emotional distress among sexually active university students. The study was conducted at Makerere University in Kawempe division, in Kampala district. We employed a quantitative cross sectional research design that was correlational in nature. The sample comprised of 199 (102 male; 97 female) adult sexually active Makerere University students. We used random sampling techniques and adopted standardized self-administered questionnaires in nature. Data was analyzed with the aid of IBM SPSS Statistics Software, and we used Pearson (r) product correlation coefficient to test the hypotheses. The results revealed significant positive relationships between the risk of sexually transmitted infections and concern over unwanted pregnancy (r = .178, p = .012), between concern over unwanted pregnancy and emotional distress (r = .152, p = .033), and between risk of sexually transmitted infections and emotional distress (r = .150, p = .034). These results suggest that as the risk of sexually transmitted infections increased, there was a corresponding increase in concern over unwanted pregnancy, and emotional distress. This could imply that the students who were worried about the risk of sexually transmitted infections, were also concerned about unwanted pregnancy, and experienced higher levels emotional distress. However, further research is needed to ascertain whether this worry and concern over the risk of sexually transmitted infections, and unwanted pregnancy, is due to involvement in and /or contributes to a reduction in risky sexual behavior.