Abstract

Background: Violence against girls takes many forms including rape, sexual harassment, intimidation, teasing and threats. It affects all girls, regardless of age, race, class, caste or location. Poverty, war and long journeys to school put girls at additional risk. The causes are rooted in male-dominated cultures which belittle or condone violence against girls and women. Therefore; this study aimed to assess the prevalence and associated factors of sexual violence against women among high school students in Dilla town.

Methodology: Institutional based Cross-sectional study was conducted high school female students at Dilla town, Gedeo zone. Also total sample size of this study was 280 participants. The data was collected by using selfadministered questionnaires. Data was coded and entered in to EPi data software and was exported to SPSS version 20. Crude and adjusted OR were analyzed using logistic regression and the level of significance of association was determined at P- value<0.05.

Results: The Findings of this study indicated that the prevalence of sexual violence was 13.2%. The minimum age of the study subject was 14 years and the maximum age was 21 years. From the respondents who encountered sexual violence, majority of the respondents are victimized by unknown person and much older than their age. Using chat, alcohol drinking and using drugs or substances was the main associated factors of sexual violence.

Conclusion: The study indicates that female high school students in Dilla town are at high risk of sexual violence. Unwelcome touching of body part, facing sexual attempt, having boyfriend, and a habit of taking alcohol and chat are associated with life time experience of sexual violence.

Keywords: Prevalence; Sexual violence; Female students; Ethiopia