Self- Reported Sexual Engagement of Ethiopian Undergraduate Students in the Context of HIV/AIDS Pandemic

Abstract

This study is part of a broader investigation that explored the sexual experiences, sexual conduct and safer- unsafe sex practices of Ethiopian male and female undergraduate students in the context of the HIV/AIDS pandemic conducted using a mixed methodology: qualitative and quantitative methods. Explored in this paper are college students’ narrated sexual engagements and their perceptions to their sexual relations and experiences. The bulk of the data for the current study was generated from focus group discussions (FGDs) conducted with 20 college students of a diverse profile (10 female and 10 male students). The data generated from the FGD were also supplemented by ethnographic observations, field notes and documentary information. Part of the data was also gathered from a 43-item survey questionnaire administered among randomly chosen undergraduate students (N = 575) in Addis Ababa University. Data collected through the survey questionnaire revealed that 40% of the students were sexually active. Empirical materials garnered largely from the FGDs revealed that Ethiopian undergraduate students were sexually engaged dominantly with one another and less dominantly with non-college people. Students’ sexual engagement with people outside included female students’ sexual relations with “sugar daddies” and male students’ sexual experience with high school students, and less commonly with commercial sex workers. Despite critiquing each other’s motives, female and male students had generally positive perceptions towards the sexual relations existing amongst themselves. They were, however, critical of relations female students had with “sugar daddies”, and sexual affairs between male students and commercial sex workers. For a richer understanding of college students’ sexual engagements, the study called for additional investigations among students studying in regional universities and colleges situated in small towns as well as in private higher institutes that might have different dynamics.