ISSN: 2578-5001
Authors: Myitzu TO*, Thida, Khaing NT, Kyaw TS, Yadanar A and Theingi M
Increase in proportion of sexually active adolescents and insufficient use of effective contraceptive methods contributed to an increase in unintended teenage pregnancy, abortion and STI among adolescents in Myanmar. The study investigated the sexual behavior and contraceptive use among unmarried adolescent university students. A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted using an anonymized, self-administered questionnaire with adolescents who were attending at universities situated in Mandalay District. The six universities were randomly selected, from which 960 students were recruited using a probability proportional to size (PPS) sampling method. After excluding cases with missing background information, 850 students were included in the analysis. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the findings. Among 850 students, 12.4% were from health-related universities and the remaining was from other universities. A total of 135 unmarried students (16%) responded that they had sexual experience. The mean age of their first sexual exposure was 17.9 years (17.6 years for girls and 18.1 years for boys). Their contraceptive use was high (more than 75%) and was higher when they had sex with persons who were not their regular partners (more than 90%). Among them, approximately 50% used contraception consistently and the commonly used method was the male condom. The mostly cited reasons for not using contraception consistently were unaware of contraceptive methods, unplanned sex, forced sex, unwillingness to use contraception by the partner and fear of contraceptive side effects. The higher percentage of students with better contraceptive and STI knowledge and those with more permissive attitudes towards men’s and women’s premarital sex used contraception more consistently. About 11% of students or their partners who had had sexual exposure in the past (12 out of 110) had an experience of pregnancy, and 10 out of 12 pregnancies were unwanted and nine ended with miscarriage. The findings indicated the need for improving knowledge of contraception and sexually transmitted infections among adolescent students to promote consistent contraceptive use and effective prevention of unwanted pregnancy, abortion and sexually transmitted infections.
Keywords: Sexual behavior; Contraceptive use; Adolescents; University students
