CONTRACEPTIVE USE AMONG HIGH-SCHOOL-STUDENTS IN KENYA

Data from a 1989 survey of 2,059 secondary students in Nakuru District of Kenya show that 69% of the males and 27% of the females were sexually experienced. Among the sexually experienced students 49% of the males and 42% of the females had ever used a contraceptive. Only 25% of the males and 28% of the females had used a method the first time they had sex, and similar percentages had done so the last time they had sex (31% and 29%, respectively). The condom was the method most frequently used at last intercourse (55% males, 43% females), followed by the ''safe period'' (29% males, 43% females) and the pill (6% males, 10% females). To obtain contraceptives, 33% of males and 46% of females visited clinics, and 36% of males and 25% of females relied on friends. Logistic regression analysis shows that for females, high socioeconomic status, high academic achievement and a favorable attitude toward contraception were the most important factors predicting use of a contraceptive method at first sex and use at last sex. None of these factors predicted male contraceptive use. Males who said their partner approved of contraception were twice as likely to have used a method at last sex.