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Sexual Coercion and Associated Factors among College Female Students

Tsegaye Benti and Elias Teferi

Background: Sexual coercion lies on the continuum of sexually aggressive behavior. This continuum includes many harmful and aggressive acts we hear frequently, such as rape and sexual harassment. Rape is the most severe form of non-consensual sex. Reproductive health and HIV prevention programs for youth rarely address the reality of coercive sex that many youth face. Therefore, the study was proposed to assess the prevalence and associated factors of sexual coercion among college female students in Nekemte town. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from February to April 2013 among college female students. A self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection. Descriptive and logistic regression analyses were performed using SPSS software. Results: This study showed that the lifetime prevalence of completed rape, attempted rape and sexual harassment was 20.8%, 23.1% and 41.3% respectively. The independent predictors of sexual coercion were the presence of two or more sexual partners in lifetime (AOR=7.24, 95% CI, 3.10, 13.12), sexual intercourse at early age (AOR=9.51, 95% CI, 2.29, 39.56), receiving low monthly pocket money (AOR=6.95, 95% CI, 3.01, 16.05), consuming alcohol sometimes (AOR=2.31, 95% CI, 1.13, 4.71) by the victims and presence of divorced guardian (AOR=3.04, 95% CI, 1.16, 7.95). Conclusion: The magnitude of completed rape was significant (20.8%) among college female students. Therefore, the colleges should arrange and provide sexual education for both male and female students. The colleges and broad community should be aware of reproductive health as a human right and this issue should be addressed in community meetings by administrators at all levels.