Abstract:
Risky sexual behaviour among in-school adolescent all over the world has assumed an alarming dimension. It has become so worrisome that it has gained prominence in social discourse. The prevalence rate of risky sexual behaviour among in-school adolescents gives room for concern. This study therefore investigated the parental negligence and peer pressure as correlates of risky sexual behaviour among in-school adolescents in Lagos state. A descriptive survey research design was adopted in the study. Three hundred participants were selected from six secondary schools in Lagos state through simple random sampling. Their ages ranged between 12 and 19 years with mean of 17.38 years (SD= 9.90). Three research questions were tested using multiple regression analysis and Pearson Product Moment Correlation. The findings revealed that there was significant positive relationships between parental negligence (r= .121, p< 0.05), peer pressure (r= .174, p< 0.05), and risky sexual behaviour among the participants. The two variables jointly accounted for 0.58% variance in predicting risky sexual behaviour among the participants. The independent variables made positive relative contribution to risky sexual behaviour in the following order: Peer pressure contributed most to the prediction of risky sexual behaviour among in-school adolescents in Lagos state (Beta = .216, t= 3.719, P<0.05), followed by parental negligence (Beta = .134, t= 2.311, P=0.05). Based on this finding, it is recommended that youth-friendly centres to positively engage the adolescents both in-school and out-of-school youths on risky sexual behaviour and sexual awareness boosting training as a strategy for curbing risky sexual behaviour.
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