Risky sexual behaviours among Ugandan university students: a pilot study exploring the role of adverse childhood experiences, substance use history, and family environment

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Kaggwa, MM, Muwanguzi, M, Najjuka, SM, Nduhuura, E, Kajjimu, J, Mamun, MA, Arinaitwe, I, Ashaba, S and Griffiths, MD ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8880-6524, 2022. Risky sexual behaviours among Ugandan university students: a pilot study exploring the role of adverse childhood experiences, substance use history, and family environment. PLoS ONE, 17 (11): e0277129. ISSN 1932-6203

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0277129

Abstract

Background: University students are known to have risky sexual behaviours (RSBs). The severity of the RSB is influenced by many factors, including the family environment, exposure to adverse childhood events (ACEs), and the use of addictive substances. However, there is limited information about the influence of ACEs and the family environment of these students in low-and medium-income countries (LMICs). Therefore, a pilot study was conducted among university students from a LMIC, Uganda.

Methods: The present study comprised a cross-sectional online survey among Ugandan students at a public university (N = 316; 75% male; 52.2% aged between 18–22 years). The survey included questions relating to socio-demographic information, family environmental information, the Sexual Risk Survey (SRS), and the Adverse Childhood Experiences-International Questionnaire (ACE-IQ).

Results: Over half (53.8%) reported having had sexual intercourse. Males reported over two times higher mean total SRS score compared to females (χ2 = 4.06, p = 0.044). Approximately one-sixth of the sample had drunk alcohol or used illicit psychoactive substances in the past six months (16.1%). Among four regression analysis models, sociodemographic variables predicted the highest variance (13%), followed by family environment variables (10%), and both psychoactive substance use history (past six months) and ACEs individually explained approximately 5% variance in total SRS score, with the final model predicting 33% of the variance in RSB.

Conclusions: The present study demonstrated a gender disparity with males involved in more RSB than females, as has been reported in most previous RSB studies. Family environment, sociodemographic factors, substance use, and ACEs all appear to contribute to RSB among university students. These findings will benefit other researchers exploring factors associated with RSB among university students and will help develop interventions to reduce RSB to protect students from unwanted pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases, and HIV/AIDS.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	PLoS ONE
Creators:	Kaggwa, M.M., Muwanguzi, M., Najjuka, S.M., Nduhuura, E., Kajjimu, J., Mamun, M.A., Arinaitwe, I., Ashaba, S. and Griffiths, M.D.
Publisher:	Public Library of Science
Date:	16 November 2022
Volume:	17
Number:	11
ISSN:	1932-6203
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1371/journal.pone.0277129 DOI 1619893 Other
Rights:	©2022 Kaggwa et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Divisions:	Schools > School of Social Sciences
Record created by:	Laura Ward
Date Added:	18 Nov 2022 14:25
Last Modified:	18 Nov 2022 14:25
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/47432