Attitude towards premarital sex among secondary school adolescents in Ibadan metropolis, Nigeria

Abstract

This paper explored the adolescents’ attitude towards premarital sex. The influence of age, gender and religious affiliation of adolescents on the variable was examined. Participants for this study were drawn from a survey of 1902 secondary school adolescents in Ibadan, South west Nigeria. The students whose ages ranged between 12-20 years (=16; SD = 1.46) were selected from public and private owned schools. On gender, male respondents constitute 48.2% while 51.8% were females. All the participants were in the Senior Secondary School (SSS) classes one to three. The results obtained revealed a conservative attitude towards premarital sex. A non significant difference was observed between male and female adolescents on attitude toward premarital sex, but age of adolescent and their religious affiliation has significant influence on attitude toward premarital sex.