Sexual behaviors and its association with life skills among school adolescents of Mettu town, South West Ethiopia: A school-based cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: Adolescents need to have adequate life skills along with personal and social competencies to build responsible adults for healthy behavior. Works of literature agree that life skills improve adolescent’s cognitive, social, and emotional skills; however, there is a paucity of evidence on the association of life skills with sexual behaviors. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the association of life skills with sexual behavior among school adolescents aged 15–19 years in Mettu Town, South West Ethiopia. METHODS: School-based cross-sectional study was employed among 372 school adolescents from 15 to 25 April 2016. A list of school adolescents aged 15–19 years old from students’ register was taken as a sampling frame. Then, simple random sampling was employed using computer-generated random numbers for final study participants’ selection. A pretested self-administered questionnaire was used. The data were entered into Epidata version 4.1 and analyzed using SPSS version 20. A bivariable and multivariable logistic regression analysis was carried out. RESULTS: Ninety-one (24.5%) adolescents ever practiced sexual intercourse, of which 19.1% of them were exposed to risky sexual behaviors. Unfavorable life skill dimensions, that is, social (adjusted odds ratio = 3.71; 95% confidence interval = 1.64, 8.38), coping with emotions (adjusted odds ratio = 3.114; 95% confidence interval = 1.286, 7.542), and cognitive (adjusted odds ratio = 2.835; 95% confidence interval = 1.288, 6.239), were found to be statistically significant associations with risky sexual behaviors, after controlling for confounders, that is, use of psychoactive substance (adjusted odds ratio = 6.73; 95% confidence interval = 2.27, 19.87) and urban adolescents who dwell in a rental house (adjusted odds ratio = 4.05; 95% confidence interval = 1.59, 10.33) as compared to those living with families. CONCLUSION: Developing life skills helps adolescents make more reasoned and intentional choices sexually, which will result in fewer unwanted pregnancies, less sexually transmitted disease, and stronger relationships.