Association Between Religious Index and Risky Sexual Behaviours among Adolescents

Abstract

“Adolescence” is a transition period where individuals experience various physiological changes, such as pubertal changes, brain structure changes, and sexual interest. The research intended to ascertain the association between the religious index and risky sexual behaviors among adolescents of the University of Bohol in School Year 2018-2019. The study utilized the descriptive normative survey method. There were 378 respondents included in this study within the age range of 18-21, taking a 95% confidence interval with 4.88 degrees of error. The research study used a tool modified from the national survey on the University of the Philippines Population Institute’s (U.P.P.I.) research on Young Adult Fertility Study (Y.A.F.S.). The researchers ensured the utmost confidentiality of the data. The overall religious index of the respondents is relatively high (3.06). Results revealed that the age and sex of the respondents are directly proportional to premarital sex. Premarital sex also increases with age. In particular, results showed an inverse association between the sex of the respondents and premarital sex, sex of the respondents and unprotected sex, sex of the respondents, and multiple sexual partnerships. It also showed that the overall religiosity index was not significantly correlated with premarital sex, unprotected sex, multiple sex partners. There is a need to establish a concrete connection between religious beliefs and religious practices in coming up with the respondents’ sound decisions on their sexual behaviors. Still, sound decision-making needs to be anchored on firmed-up distillation between religious beliefs and religious practices.