Factors affecting condom use among adolescents in Uganda a case study of Soroti district

Abstract

The study aimed at identifying the factors associated with condom use among adolescent from Soroti district. In order to identify these factors, specific objectives which included determining the adolescent`s knowledge on condom usage, assessing the socio-economic factors in regards to condom use among adolescents and even examining the association between demographic factors and condom use among adolescents in Uganda. Data were analyzed at three levels. Univariate and bivariate levels where frequency distributions of the respondents were computed. At multivariate level, risk factors of condom usage among adolescents were determined. Study findings indicated that majority of the respondents had never used a condom by 85.1%, 65.8% of the respondents had ever seen a condom, more than a half of the respondents (52.8%) were in the age bracket of 15-19 years, gender of the respondents was dominated by the male at 57.1%, almost three quarters of the respondents had attained primary as their highest level of education at 73.4%, respondents whose mother were catholic were the majority at 54.7%, respondents whose father were catholic were the majority at 62%, more than three quarters of the respondents (89.6%) were never married and majority of the respondents had never had sex before at 67.9%. Using the Chi-square test, bivariate analysis indicated respondent ever seen a condom, age of the respondent, sex of the respondent, marital status and age at first sex were statistically associated with condom use since their respective p-values were less than 0.05 at 95% level of significance. From the Logistic (model), it can be inferred that adolescent who have never had sex were less likely to use condoms compared to adolescents who have ever had sex. Therefore, the researcher recommends the government rally more resources for supporting girl-child/women education and even to encourage young men to always use a condom with all their partners.