INFLUENCE OF SOCIAL RELATION ON CONTRACEPTIVE UTILIZATION AMONG UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

Studies have shown that frequency of contraceptive use during college and parental involvement during adolescents indicated a positive correlation between contraceptive use frequency among youth and their parent's involvement (Purvis et al., 2014). This article established the respondent's social relation and contraceptives uptake in public universities. Social factors that were compared with utilization included discussing sexuality with parents, partner, peers and university employees. The data used in analysis was based on stratified probability sample of 453 respondents interviewed in 2017 from Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology (MMUST). Quantitative and qualitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics. The study revealed that there was significant association between male respondents who discussed sexuality with their father (p=0.027), and with peers (p=0.003) and use of contraceptives. Similarly, female respondents who discussed sexuality with their mother (p=0.032), their peers ((p=0.042), and their partners (p=0.049) were more likely to use contraceptives. Likewise, the probability of using contraceptives for female students who discussed sexuality with their peers increased. The article recommends freedom of discussing sexuality between youth and same gender parent, peers and sexual partners to encourage use of contraceptives among them.