Assessing students’ unwanted early sexual experiences

Abstract

The study assessed the prevalence of unwanted early sexual experiences (UESE) of university students in East London, South Africa. Of the participants, 65 (31%), (male, 42.5%; female 25.2%) indicated that they had been exposed to some form of non-contact (56.9%) or contact (22.3%) UESE before the age of 16 years. Most participants reported that they were only exposed to the UESE once (55.6%). The UESE bothered female participants significantly more than males both at the time of the UESE and at the time of completing the questionnaire. Both male and female participants were more bothered by the UESE at the time of the event than they were at the time of completing the questionnaire, indicating an abatement of symptoms over time. At the time of the event 27.7% of the participants indicated that they were not at all bothered by the UESE. This percentage increased to 43.1% at the time of completing the questionnaire. At the time of the UESE 30.8% of the respondents indicated that they were extremely bothered by the UESE. This percentage had decreased to 16.9% at the time of completing the questionnaire. The results indicated that not all respondents were bothered by the UESE and that there was an abatement of symptoms over time.

Keywords: Early unwanted sexual experience, students

African Journal for Physical, Health Education, Recreation and Dance (AJPHERD) Vol. 18, No. 2 (June) 2012, pp. 353-364