Sex Education, Family Background and Religiosity as Predictors of Adolescents’ Sex Attitude in Ikeja, Lagos
Sex is one of the most sensitive issues during adolescence and several factors work together to
influence the attitude that adolescents form towards such. This study sought to assess the influence of sex education, family background and religiosity on the attitude adolescents form towards sex. The study adopted an ex-post facto research design that used purposive and accidental sampling to administer200 adolescents from 2 secondary schools in Ikeja, Lagos
using structured questionnaires that contained validated scales measuring sexual attitude, religiosity and sex-education. Four hypotheses were stated and tested at.05 level of significance. Results show that sex education, religiosity and age significantly jointly account for 33.9% of the sexual attitude of adolescents [(R2=.339, F(3,197)=34.022,p<.01)]; the independent
contribution of religiosity and age was significant. There is a significant gender difference in adolescents’ sexual attitude (t(195)=2.550,p<.05), with male adolescents ( X =52.48,S.D=8.5) having more positive sexual attitude than female adolescents ( X =49.86,S.D=5.9). Also, the sexual attitude of adolescents differ by family background (t(195)=2.573,p<.01), with
adolescents from polygamous background ( X =55.88,S.D=3.7) having more positive sexual attitude compared to adolescents from monogamous background ( X =50.91,S.D=7.4). Mother’s education and father’s education both have a significant influence on adolescent’s sexual attitude [(F(5,181)=2.818,p<.05) and (F(4,181)=3.982,p<.01)]. Parents of adolescents were advised to expose and motivate their children and wards towards religious commitment early in life such that it may serve as a sought of inoculation for the child against views of early sexual engagement in their adolescence, this is especially important for adolescents with parents that
are not highly educated.