Prevalence of premarital sexual practice and associated factors among Goba town high school students, South East-Ethiopia

Background: Premarital sexual practice significantly attributes for increase adolescent’s risk of unintended pregnancy, early marriage, abortion and STIs. In Ethiopia adolescents were intended to engage at early initiation to sexual intercourse without having proper protection has been one of the concerns. Study aimed to assess the prevalence of premarital sexual practice and associated factors among high school students. Method: A facilities based study design was employed. Data were collected from 291 randomly selected Negade and Finca Bamo high school students using structured questionnaire from June 1-30, 2018. Bi-variate logistic regression used to identify variables that crudely associated and variables with p - value < = 0.05 fitted to multiple logistic regression. Odds ratio with 95% confidence interval was estimated using multivariable logistic regression to identify independent predictors of premarital sex. Result: Among high school students, 31.2% reported had experienced premarital sexual practices. This shows that premarital sexual practices among high school adolescent’s students were high. Drinking alcohol [AOR = 4.06, 95%CI, (2.06 - 7.99)]. Watching pornographic video [AOR: 2.78, 95%CI, (1.45 - 5.3)] and educational status of mothers [AOR: 0.33; 95% CI (0.13, -0.84)] were significantly associated factors. Conclusion: Drinking alcohol, watching pornography and mother education were predominantly significantly associated. Therefore, an integrated effort needs to be highlighted to deter the health behavioral problems of school adolescents at the early stages.