Background: In developing, countries young women have little awareness about safe sex practice and do casual sexual activities. The consequences such as teenage and unplanned pregnancy and birth, unsafe abortion, miscarriages, and maternal deaths due to unsafe sex practice make youth sexuality much more serious and common in developing countries. Therefore, this study aimed to assess family planning, utilization at first sexual initiation, and associated factors among high school youth female students in Alamata, Tigray, Northern Ethiopia.
Methods: An institution-based cross-sectional study was employed in Alamata town, south Tigray region, Ethiopia from June 01-30, 2019. A Self-administered structured questionnaire was used to collect the data. Data were entered and analyzed using SPSS statistical package version 22. Descriptive statistics, bivariate and multivariable logistic regressions were used to assess the factor associated with family planning utilization at first sexual initiations.
Results: A total of 538 youths female who initiated sexual activities with an average age of 18.2+1. 6 years participated in this study. More than half of youths 297 (55.2%) were grades 9-10 and 283 (52.6 %) were living with both their mother and father. About 122 (22.7%) of youths used family planning methods at their sexual debut. The most common methods used were emergency contraceptive pills 90 (73.8%) and male condom 32 (26.2%). For those who start sexual activities without using family planning, 42 (7.8%) experienced unwanted pregnancy. Students those who got >100birr monthly pocket money were 88% less likely to use a family planning method at first sex [AOR 0.124CI 95% (0.05-0.32)] and regards to religion students categorized as other religions were more likely to use family planning methods [AOR 1.67 CI 95% (1.17-2.57)].
Conclusions: Most youth females are not using family planning at first sexual debut. This might expose them to different reproductive health problems. Therefore, an active effort to promote sexuality education and family planning use is recommended at the high school level.