Self esteem, risky sexual beaviours and psychological wellbeing in school going adolescents

Abstract

Many school going adolescents in Uganda engage in sexual risk behaviors as a way of exploring their body demands and during identity searching, this is affected by their self-esteem and leaves most of their psychological wellbeing compromised. This study sought to examine the relationship between Self-esteem, sexual risk behaviors and psychological wellbeing among school going adolescents. A correlational study design that is quantitative and descriptive in nature was used in the study. A sample of 100 (N=100) school going adolescents both male and female, aged between 12-21 years was selected by use of simple random sampling strategy. Results were analyzed by use of statistical package for social scientists (SPSS, Version 23). The findings of the study revealed that there was non-significant negative relationship between risky sexual behavior and self-esteem among adolescents (rs= 0.041, p>0.05), the study also found shows that there is a significant relationship between self-esteem and Psychological wellbeing among adolescents (rs= -0.045, p<0.05). Additionally, results also revealed negative non-significant relationship between Risky sexual behavior and psychological wellbeing among adolescents (rs= 0.074, P>0.05).