The relatioship between television viewing and sexual initiation among Kenya Youth

Abstract

Youth in Kenya are increasingly accessing television which has become more saturated with sexual content and sexual initiation is an important social and health issue in Kenya. Early sexual initiation is likely to involve sexual risk-taking and expose young people to unwanted pregnancy. This study sought to establish the relationship between television viewing and sexual initiation among the youth in Kenya by addressing the following four fundamental concerns,1)What is the nature of television sexual content the youth are exposed to and how is it associated with sexual initiation among the Kenyan youth? 2) What is the association between the amount of time spent in viewing television sexual content and sexual initiation among the Kenyan youth, 3) What is the association between parental television co-viewing of sexual content and sexual initiation among the Kenyan youth? 4) What consequences are portrayed on television as resulting from sexual activities and how are they related to sexual initiation among the Kenyan youth? This study employed a mixed-methods research design. The target population of this study were students in public secondary schools in Lang’ata Sub-County, Nairobi County in Kenya. A sample size consisting of 325 respondents of 200 boys and 125 girls was determined. An additional 15 respondents were sampled in order to guard against drop out and attrition. A self-administered questionnaire was used to obtain quantitative data from the respondents. Multi-stage sampling design was used to select the sample for the survey. Focus group discussions and key informant interviews were also conducted to collect the qualitative data. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to aid in the analysis of quantitative data. The themes in the qualitative data were interpreted using thematic analysis. From the study findings, it was established that majority of the youth were sexually active and that there exists a relationship between television viewing and sexual initiation of the youth. Reducing the amount of sexual content in TV programmes, reducing the number of hours adolescents get exposed to this content, or increasing portrayals of possible negative consequences of sexual activity could delay the initiation of early sexual intercourse. The study also recommends that media literacy as a skill needs to be improved to enable the youth to interpret media content correctly in order to avoid the possible effects that are sometimes not intended by the media practitioners. Alternatively parents could also reduce the effects of sexual content by watching TV with their teenage children and discussing their own beliefs about sex and the behaviours portrayed. It is also hoped that findings of this study will be used to design public policy and interventions designed to help youth. The information and findings attained in this study could also help in understanding sexual decisions that are made by youths and encourage parents to monitor the type of TV programmes their children are exposed to and advise them to adopt healthy life style.