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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
The insertion and pushing of a male’s penis, generally when erect, into a female’s vagina for the goal of sexual pleasure or reproduction is known as sexual intercourse, coitus, or copulation; sometimes known as vaginal intercourse or vaginal sex (Kar, 2010). Penetration of the anus by the penis (anal sex), penetration of the mouth by the penis or oral penetration of the vulva or vagina (oral sex), sexual penetration by the fingers (fingering), and penetration by use of a strap-on dildo are all examples of penetrative sexual intercourse (Steinberg, 2004). These activities entail physical intimacy between two or more people and are typically performed primarily for physical or emotional enjoyment among humans, and they frequently contribute to human bonding (Fedwa, 2007). There are many different perspectives on what constitutes sexual intercourse or other sexual activities (Douglas & Nancy, 2008), which might influence attitudes toward sexual health (O’leary, 2002). The term sex, which is frequently used as a shorthand for sexual intercourse, can refer to any type of sexual activity (Randall & Byers, 2003). Because people can contract sexually transmitted infections while engaging in these activities (Randall, 2007), even though the risk of transmission is significantly reduced during non-penetrative sex (Nilamadhab, 2005), safe sex practice is advised (Dianne, 2008). Various jurisdictions have enacted restrictive laws against certain sexual acts, such as incest, sexual activity with minors, extramarital sex, prostitution, sodomy, rape, and zoophili Religious views also influence personal decisions about sexual intercourse and other sexual activities, such as virginity decisions (Ann, 2007), as well as legal and public policy issues. Though there are certain similar elements, such as the ban of adultery, religious perspectives on sexuality range substantially amongst religions and groups within the same religion. Copulation is the word for non-human animal reproductive sexual intercourse in which sperm is transferred into the female’s reproductive system by non-vaginal methods such as cloacal copulation. Mating and copulation occur during the moment of estrus (the most fertile phase in the female’s reproductive cycle) in most nonhuman animals, increasing the odds of successful impregnation (Jared, 2005). However, bonobos, dolphins, and chimps are known to engage in sexual intercourse regardless of whether the female is in estrus, and to engage in sex act with some sex partners (Weiner, 2010). Just as humans engage in sexual activity primarily for pleasure (Carpenter, 2005), this behavior in the aforementioned animals is also presumed to be for pleasure (Fawcett, 2008). (Laura, 2005). The rate of sexual engagement among young teenagers is rising. By the age of 15, 20% of males who turned 20 between 1970 and 1972 had had sexual intercourse, compared to 27% of those who aged 20 between 1985 and 1987. By the age of 15, 10% of girls turning 20 between 1985 and 1987 had begun sexual intercourse. Those who turned 20 between 1970 and 1972 accounted for 14% of the population (Mott, 1998). African Americans are more likely than whites to engage in sexual activity at a young age. By the age of 15, more than half of African American boys have had sexual intercourse. White and Hispanic guys do not reach comparable levels of sexual activity until they are 17 years old. By the age of 15, around 25% of African American females and 15% of Hispanic and white females had had sexual intercourse in 1992. (Marsigli, 1998). The incidence of pregnancy among girls aged 14 and under increased from 13.5 (per 1,000 females aged 14) in 1973 to 17.1 (per 1,000 females aged 14) in 1992. Each year, around 9% of sexually experienced girls aged 14 and younger become pregnant (Glei, 1995). In 1973, the abortion rate among all girls aged 14 and under was 5.6 (per 1,000 females aged 14) compared to 8.4 (per 1,000 females aged 14) in 1980 and 7.9 (per 1,000 females aged 14) in 1990. There were 12,901 births to teenagers under the age of 15 in 1994. (Morrison, 1992). Adolescent girls, in particular, may be more vulnerable to STDs than older women. Teenage females are less likely to be treated with antibiotics for STDs and may be at a higher risk of cervical infections (Moore, 1995). Teenagers under the age of 15 had a two-and-a-half times higher maternal mortality rate than moms aged 20 to 24. (Moore, Myers & Morrison, 1993). Kids born to teenagers under the age of 15 are more than twice as likely to be born weighing less than 2,500 grams (about 5.5 pounds) and are three times more likely to die during the first 28 days of life than babies born to older moms (Harlow, 1994). Because of the multiple risk factors connected with being young, such as insufficient prenatal care and nutrition, there is a link between early childbearing and poor health outcomes (Fine, 1992). The younger a woman is when she becomes pregnant, the less likely she is to get prenatal care throughout the first trimester (Miller, 1995). At the age of 27, 72 percent of African American adolescent moms who were less than 16 years old when they gave birth were still poor. 67 percent of Hispanic women and 32 percent of White women, respectively, live in poverty (Boyer & Fine, 1992). Sexual abstinence has been viewed as the only way to avoid various sexually transmitted diseases, and it has made significant efforts to educate school students, civil servants, private sector workers, and self-employed individuals about the benefits of avoiding sexual intercourse before marriage. Due to the discovery of the widespread killer illness known as Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS), which has an onset of Human Immune Virus (HIV), sexual activities have been reduced to the bare minimum. Though some people continue to engage in commercial sexual activities, it is not as prevalent as it once was. In Uganda, the first cases of AIDS were discovered in the early 1990s (Kagimu, 1996). The pandemic has grown since then, with an estimated 15–20 million Ugandans HIV-positive out of a total population of 18 million (STD/ACP Programme, 1995). Several studies on sexual abstinence have been conducted across the world, and a variety of factors have been employed to quantify sexual abstinence. In-laws, literacy level, peer influence, and a variety of other factors are among them, but all of them need that additional variables be used to evaluate sexual absence. A study of the features of teenage sexual behavior identified disparities by gender and socioeconomic class, with men becoming sexually active at younger ages than girls. Some studies looked at the impact of schooling on adolescent sexual behavior and found that teens who are still in school are more likely to exercise autonomy when it comes to determining whether or not to participate in sexual relationships. The family’s role as a socializing agent has also been investigated (Nord, 2000). Meeker discovered that, as a result of modernization and westernization, community elders’ social influence over the fertility and sexuality of young females has weakened. According to the 2007 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey, the median age of first sexual intercourse for girls is little over 16 years. By the ages of 18 and 20, 63 percent and 80 percent of people had had sexual intercourse, respectively (Moore, 2004). According to the second phase of the poll, half of the female respondents had sexual intercourse by the age of 18 and roughly a quarter had sex before the age of 15. The report’s most intriguing finding is that men are exposed to sexual intercourse later than women. Men have a median age of 20 when they have their first sexual encounter, whereas women have a median age of 18. While the HIV/AIDS epidemic has had a catastrophic influence on many aspects of life, one of the most significant barriers to prevention is societal stigma (Adeniyi, 2001). Stigma is described as a severely disparaging quality that associates a person with bad characteristics, lowering that person’s social position (Clifford, 2004). It has been suggested that stigmatized people have specific characteristics that communicate a social identity that is undervalued in a particular social setting. In stigma, one group views the other as aberrant and despises them. People distinguishing and labeling human differences; dominant groups linking labeled persons to undesirable characteristics; labeled persons are placed in distinct categories to achieve some degree of separation of ‘us’ from ‘them,’ and labeled persons experience status loss and discrimination that leads to unequal outcomes are some of its components (Dorothy, 2003). Self-stigma presents itself in avoidance, social distance, compulsion, and non-supportiveness, resulting in low or low self-esteem. Individuals and groups can be stigmatized, which can lead to biased beliefs, behaviors, and actions (Adelini, 2004). Promiscuity was frowned upon in the ancient world for both health and social grounds (Joseph, 2003). According to Pythagoras (6th century BCE), sex should be conducted in the winter but not in the summer since the loss of sperm was risky, difficult to regulate, and both physically and spiritually draining, but had no impact on females (Robert, 2005). This concept may have been combined with the Zoroastrian concept of good and evil in Gnosticism, a doctrine that impacted Christian and Islamic views on sexual behavior (Emery, 2005). There have always been people who believe that sexual abstinence has several health benefits, especially prior to the twentieth century. Lack of abstinence was thought to cause a loss of vitality in males. In contemporary times, the argument has been rephrased in biological terms, saying that ejaculation causes a depletion of important nutrients like lecithin and phosphorus, which are also present at higher amounts in the brain. Walter Siegmeister, also known as Raymond and Bernard, an early 20th century American alternative health, esoteric writer, novelist, and mystic who was a part of the alternative reality subculture, asserted several advantages in favor of sexual abstinence. “It is clear that there is an important internal physiological relation between the secretion of the sex glands and the central nervous system, that the loss of these secretions, voluntarily or involuntarily, has a detrimental effect on the nutrition and vitality of the nerves and brain, while, on the other hand, the conservation of these secretions has a vitalizing effect,” he writes in his essay Science Discovers the Physiological Value of Continence (1957). Considering the above statement based on what is experienced among youths in the Nigeria setting, there are beliefs that refraining from sex causes scrotal pains, which has caused many youths to engage in sex, while others believe that having sex reduces one’s life longevity by twenty one days depending on the number of times he/she has sex, which is also preventing youths from having sexual intercourse, while some youths are not eve having sexual intercourse (Vee, 2003). The widely feared HIV/AIDS is another source of concern among young, since victims have been seen and the disease’s news is widely circulated; nonetheless, some youth are unable to refrain from having sex and utilize contraceptives/protectives such as condoms. As a result, parents, the government, non-governmental organizations, associations, and others have a lot to do when it comes to the issue of sexual abstinence among youngsters. According to 1st Thessalonians 4:2-4, “because this is the desire of God, your sanctification: that you refrain from sexual immorality; that everyone of you know how to manage his own body in holiness and honour,” sexual abstinence has been practiced at all levels by people of all cultural backgrounds (Scrutni, 2000). In the African cultural setting, it is common for parents to keep tabs on their children, such as knowing where and when they will leave a specific location and, most importantly, the types of friends that they keep, because it is taboo in the African cultural setting for a young man to marry a disvirgin lady, even if it is a disgrace to the entire family of such a lady. “Let marriage be maintained in honor among everyone, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will condemn the sexually immoral and unfaithful,” says Hebrew 13:4. As adolescents themselves reveal, parents have the greatest influence on their children’s sexual decisions. Indeed, two-thirds of all teenagers value this in the same way as their parents do. Nearly all parents (90%) report having had an useful chat with their adolescent children about postponing sex and preventing pregnancy, compared to just 71 percent of adolescents who claim having had such a conversation with their parents (Edgars, 2000). Meanwhile, adolescent sexual intercourse has been linked to a number of negative outcomes, particularly for those who do not have parental supervision, including a lack of wages and career opportunities, increased welfare dependency, interrupted education, single parenthood, psychological distress, increased medical complications during childbirth, and a high likelihood of further unintended pregnancies (Chilman, 1988). In addition to a drop in abstinence, religion may play an important role in educating teenagers about the dangers of having sexual relations before marriage. In all community, religion plays a crucial part in the lives of individuals. Its importance as a moral edifier has been recognized in numerous ways, but one issue that has received less attention in Nigeria, particularly among teenagers, is the role of religion in sexuality. Although several studies have found a link between adolescent sexual behavior and religious commitment (Cullen, 2003), no serious attempt has been made in Nigeria to confirm the underlying mechanism by which religion influences sexual behavior. Religious values are the source of moral proscriptions for many people, and the teachings of churches and mosques are likely to play a role in the formation of individual attitudes, values, and decisions (Larma, 2001). Individual attitudes and behavior are influenced to varying degrees by religious beliefs and religious organizations, as well as the degree of integration and commitment of individuals to their own religious institutions (Iyod, 1999). Premarital sex is strongly opposed by Christian religious groups, while Pentecostal and evangelical religious movements are more radical in their condemnation. While the latter can excommunicate its members, the former can tolerate the misbehaving members in the hopes that they would change their ways (Odimegwu, 2005). Because of their differing institutional commitments to premarital sexual abstinence, Catholics and evangelical Protestants are expected to be less permissive of premarital sex than non-fundamentalist Protestants. Those who do not follow any religion are the most likely to tolerate and engage in premarital intercourse (Beckly, 2000). Because most religious organizations condemn premarital sex, religious commitment may be a more relevant predictor of premarital sex and abstinence attitudes and behavior than religious affiliation. Individuals who attend religious services may be exposed to more religious messages on abstinence, and their higher religious commitment may lead them to adopt their religious institutions’ teachings on abstinence and against premarital sex. As a result, people who regularly attend religious services and place a high importance on religion are more likely than others to acquire sexual attitudes and behaviors that are congruent with their religious beliefs. As a result, young people who are involved in religious organizations are more likely to be committed to sexual abstinence until marriage or to value sexual maturity in partnerships than young people who are not involved in religious organizations (Peter, 2001). It is often assumed that charity begins at home. As a result, as a parent, constant supervision of your children is critical, as is the teaching of moral precepts, so that even if a peer influences such a child, the impact will be minor at best, and such a child will have built a filter to differentiate between shaft and powder. Many policymakers, health professionals, and “safe sex” advocates demand more comprehensive sex education and broader access to contraception for minors in response to parental influence and adolescent sex (Odimegwu, 2004). They believe that adolescents are unable to postpone sexual behavior and that a combination of contraceptive information and access will effectively lead to protected sex, preventing any harm to adolescents. These beliefs are not only incorrect, but they also tend to overlook significant elements that have been associated to a decrease in teenage sexual activity (Odim, 2001). Parental influence is an especially obvious absence. As a result, in certain secondary schools, this study chose to evaluate sexual abstinence in teenagers utilizing the combination of parental supervision and religious influence as correlates of sexual abstinence.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Sexual activities have found a foothold among Nigerian in-school adolescents, polluting the academic environment by reducing the number of female adolescents who achieve in terms of education; due to unintended pregnancies, contracting deadly diseases such as HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, which will prevent them from finishing their education alongside their peers; eventually leading to them becoming dropouts (Micklin, 1983). The issue of sexual abstinence, which cannot be adopted by adolescents, has had a number of negative consequences, including teenage pregnancy, HIV/AIDS infection, abortion, which destroys the womb, maternal death due to child delivery at an unripe age, and rapid school drop-out due to unplanned pregnancies (Beckly, 2000). All of this has resulted in low teenage self-esteem and a decrease in a country’s manpower. As a result, it is a big embarrassment to the family from which they come (Zabin, 1987) Peer influence frequently changes an individual’s viewpoint from acceptable to unacceptable; role in teenagers in that some parents have time to care for their children, but their children return with an entirely new perspective. Most of the time, acquired attitudes are kept hidden at home but exposed in the company of friends. As a result, while addressing variables that influence sexual activity among in-school teenagers, the role or impact of peers should not be overlooked (Hayward, 1993). Furthermore, while some adolescents are adapting, the majority of them are adamant that they have tasted sex and are unwilling to change. As a result, the government should equip schools with counsellors and reinstate the life planning foundation programs that were abolished to complement the effective work of counsellors in reducing sexual activities and promoting sexual abstinence. Sexuality in the teenage stage is poorly managed in Nigeria since most parents regard sex education as contrary to the Koran and Bible’s teachings, hence they neglect to enlighten the adolescents (Larma, 2001). When these teenagers are mingled with their peers, they learn a lot about sex and they pick it up in the incorrect way; a circumstance that has resulted in numerous unplanned pregnancies, several lives lost to abortion, and several innocent bystanders lost to HIV/AIDS.
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The overall goal of this study is to see how parental supervision and religious activities affect sexual abstinence in some chosen secondary schools in Delta State’s Udu local government. The following research questions are used to guide the investigation.
i. How well does parental monitoring predict sexual abstinence among in-school teenagers in Delta State’s Udu Local Government.
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ii. Is there a link between the independent factors (parental supervision and religious influence) and the dependent variable (sexual abstinence) among in-school teenagers in Delta State’s Udu Local Government.
iii. In the Udu Local Government of Delta State, what is the relative importance of parental supervision and religious influence on sexual abstinence among in-school adolescents.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
i. In Delta State’s Udu Local Government, how well does parental monitoring predict sexual abstinence among in-school teenagers?
ii. Is there a link between the independent variables (parental supervision and religious influence) and the dependent variable (sexual abstinence) among in-school teens in Udu Local Government, Delta State?
iii. What is the relative impact of parental supervision and religious influence on sexual abstinence among in-school teenagers in the Udu Local Government of Delta State?
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
This study will benefit students, particularly female students, because it addresses some of the negative effects of school activities, as well as the advantages that await those who refrain from sexual activities, such as those who engage in it jeopardize their future career opportunities by dropping out of school due to unintended pregnancy and abortion, as well as the loss of lives, whereas those who refrain will reach for the stars in academia. Those who engage in sexual activities will eventually get the deadly endemic disease HIV/AIDS and other STDs, whilst those who do not will be able to enjoy their God-given life. Parents have a variety of opportunities to benefit from this study in that those who are unaware of the existence of HIV/AIDS and other SIDs, as well as those who are aware, will be able to use the knowledge gained from this study to protect their wards through words of advice and motivation, particularly educating them on the dangers of sex before marriage and the shame it can bring to the family. It will allow parents to educate their children about current cultural, Biblical, and Koranic ideas on sex before marriage in order to limit sexual activity among teenagers. Schools will profit from this research by implementing sexual abstinence programs for students, similar to those implemented by the Federal Government of Nigeria in 1997, which benefited a large number of kids. Important knowledge on sexual abstinence might aid students in their health management. The results of a study of comprehensive sex education programs demonstrate that they can help youngsters delay sexual activity, lower sexual activity frequency, reduce the number of sexual partners, and boost condom and contraceptive usage. Importantly, research suggests that adolescents who get comprehensive sex education are not more likely to become sexually active, increase sexual activity, or have bad sexual health outcomes. Counselors should step up their efforts, thinking that kids who got an abstinence-focused behavioral intervention were more likely to postpone their first sexual encounter than teens who received a control intervention. Behavioral therapies have been proven in studies to decrease HIV/AIDS and STI-related behaviors. Strengthening beliefs, promoting abstinence, preventing pregnancy and STIs, fostering the achievement of future objectives, and increasing abilities for resisting pressure to have sex would be the focus of intervention programs. Religious leaders should make efforts to educate teenagers about sexual behaviors, ensuring that they realize that the religious community does not support such adolescent actions. This could be effective during modrast lessons (for Muslims) and Sunday Schools and Bible Studies (for Christians) where topics relating to sexual activities are discussed and adolescents are taught to see the negative consequences of sexual activities as a way of distracting their minds from those activities.
Because the neighborhood is made up of parents of teenagers, the community should consider the betterment of their children by enacting some laws and regulations that will rigorously prohibit sexual activities and indecent attire in the area. The community can propose ethics that will prevent teenagers from engaging in sexual activities, and this can be addressed at a community meeting where various ethical codes can be implemented. There is clear evidence, including compelling recent evidence from a long-awaited, congressionally mandated report on federally funded abstinence-only-until-marriage programs that are effective in stopping and delaying adolescent sex, that policymakers have continued to support these campaigns on sexual abstinence. In fact, since 1992, policymakers have been supporting and evaluating single-purpose abstinence promotion programs through the Federal Government, and there is evidence that the programs are effective, such as Life Planning Education Programs.
SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The scope of this study is confined to parental supervision and religious activities as they relate to sexual abstinence. Only a few secondary schools in Delta State’s Udu Local Government will be utilised.
DEFINITION OF TERMS
The following notions have been operationalized for the purposes of this study.
Parental Monitoring refers to how parents monitor their children’s movements, academics, social, and religious activities.
Religion: This refers to the belief in a Supreme Being, such as Allah in Islam, God (Jesus) in Christianity, and Deities in traditional religions.
Adolescent: A person between the ages of ten and nineteen, particularly those who are still in school.
Sexual Abstinence: This is the act of refraining from sexual activity until one has reached society standards of physical and emotional maturity.
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