FACTORS AFFECTING SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH OF ADOLESCENTS IN THE EGYPTIAN SOCIETY

Abstract

Methods:. A pre-tested, semi-structured questionnaire was administered to 23 school going adolescents who were selected by stratified random sampling from two sectors of middle and secondary school students. The descriptive survey research design was used for the study. The survey was aimed for total of 5250 from september2007 – June 2008 education years (Upper Egypt 23.2 ,Middle Egypt& Delta76.8% were included for the study. Questionnaire was the main instrument for data collection. The descriptive statistics of mean was use to analyze the data with a criterion mean at 2.50. Result:. Majority (81%) of the adolescents reported having some health problem during last three months prior to the survey; predominant (60%) problems were psychological and behavioral in nature. To resolve these problems boys consulted mainly friends/peers (48%) while girls consulted their mothers (63%). Compared to the dispensary-based adolescent health clinic, utilization was significantly higher in a school-based clinic where proportion of psychological or behavioral problems reported was also significantly higher (p<0.01) The results show that factors which were significantly associated to the outcomes were primarily related to the adolescents themselves. In fact, very few factors outside the individual were found to be related to sexual risk behaviors.