PARENTS' RELIGION AS A DETERMINANT OFCOMMUNICATION ON ADOLESCENTS' SEXUALITYIN SOUTHWEST NIGERIA

Abstract

There has been an increasing level of perverted sexual activities among teenagers. This has resulted in early sexual debut of the young ones, engagement with multiple partners and adolescent pregnancy in Nigeria and her neighbouring countries. Theseis often associated with total lack and uni-directional, weak and autocratic communication channels about sexuality within thefamily. Adolescents may seek information about sexuality from distorted, incomplete and unreliable information sources, such as the social media, peers, novels, music and magazines. This behaviour has resulted in gaps in communication, which have had long-term consequences on their health and wellbeing. This research work investigated influence of parent's religion as a determinant on communication on sexuality by parents and their children in their teen years. The study utilized a descriptive research design. Atotal of 721 parents of adolescents were chosen through a multistage sampling technique from three (3Southwest States in Nigeria. Data were collected, using an instrument titled “Parent's Religion and Communication on Adolescents' Sexuality” (PRCAS). Facial, content and construct relevance of the instrument was ensured. It was also subjected to assessment for reliability, using test re-test reliability method and a coefficient of 0.87 was realized. Statistics such as Frequency count, percentage and Chi-square were employed in analysing the data. Results revealed 16.7% of parents had poor level of communication on sexuality with their adolescents, while 23.1% averagely communicate on sexuality. It also showed that a reasonable percentage (60.2%) of parents had relatively good level of communication on sexuality with their teenage childresn. Also, the parents' religion essentially shaped exchange of information on adolescents' sexuality. It was suggested that parents must be made to give sexual health information to adolescents. They should communicate with their teenage children on essential sexuality issues. They should be mentally and emotionally ready to serve as their children sexuality educator right from the early stage of their lives.