ABSTRACT

The study examined impacts of sex education in preventing unwanted pregnancy among teenagers in Osisioma Ngwa Local Government Area of Abia State. It is a survey with four (4) research questions. A sample size of four hundred (400) teachers and students (SS2) out of a population of five thousand, six hundred and seventy six (5,676) (200 teachers and 200 students) used for the study. A twenty seven (27) structured questionnaire titled “Impact of sex education in preventing unwanted pregnancy” (ISEPTUP) validated by experts was used for data collection. Pool items mean, total granted mean and standard deviations were used to answer the research questions. Findings of the study among others include that teachers and students agreed that sources (agents) of sex education programme include parents, school, teachers, church, peers, mass media; it was also found that practices involved in sex education to prevent unwanted pregnancy were abstinence, surgical methods and female sterilization, impact of sex education in preventing unwanted pregnancy include avoidance of dating violence, help teens develop healthy relationships, delay sexual initiation etc. However, stages (ages) sex education should be introduced to children as agreed by teachers and students were older children (7-12), adolescent (13-18) and adult (19yrs and above). Based on the findings, the researcher recommended that there shall be more stations in television (TV), Radio and other accessible media to increase the accessibility of knowledge of sex education to teenagers, also parents should seriously embark on sex education programme to catch these teenagers early etc. The researcher also noted some limitations to the study.