Sexual Risk Behavior among College Youth: Do Friends Play a Role?

Ramesh Adhikari, Mahendra Ratna Campus, Tribhuvan University

The main objectives of this paper are to explore prevalence of risky sexual behavior and investigate whether peer has role to increase sexual risk behavior among college students. A self-administered questionnaire was completed by 1276 (636 male and 640 female) students in 2010. A composite index of risky sexual behavior was constructed and analyzed using Chi-square and multivariate logistic analysis. This study found that sex of the respondents, marital status, level of education, alcohol consumption, exposure to pornography, and peer's sexual behavior are the main predictors of risky sexual behavior. Notably, students whose close unmarried friends with experience of sexual intercourse were more likely (aOR=9.4) to be involved in risky sexual behavior than their comparison group. Students are exposed to health hazards through their peer sexual behavior. This problem should be addressed early by targeting these groups of high risk students.