Risky sexual behavior, stress and health related quality of life among Makerere University students

Abstract

The study aimed at establishing the relationships between risky sexual behavior, stress and health related quality of life among Makerere University students. A quantitative correlation study design was adopted to determine the relationship between the variables. The study targeted 200 respondents, (77 females and 123 males), between the ages of 20-25 years. Data was collected using self-administered questionnaires and analyzed using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS). The study findings indicated that there was no significant relationship between risky sexual behavior and health related quality of life, (r = 0.005, p = 0.939 > 0.05). There was also no significant relationship between risky sexual behavior and stress, (r = 0.120, p = 0.089 > 0.05), and between stress and health related quality of life, (r = -0.044, p = 0.532 > 0.05) among Makerere University students. These unexpected results might be because the students did not disclose accurate information due the sensitive nature of the topic, or did not perceive the healthrelated threat associated with involvement in risk sexual behavior. We recommend further research to investigate the student population characteristics, and other confounding factors that explain those unexpected weak and non-significant relationships. Further research could also examine whether there might be polynomial or other types of non-linear relationships between these variables.