Abstract

Background: Premarital sex is a sexual activity practiced by persons who are unmarried. This has been recognized a taboo in Nepalese culture. Despite this fact, unmarried Nepalese students, in higher-level secondary schools, are increasingly reporting being engaged in sexual activities. Unprotected Premarital sex among adolescents and youths predispose them to unwanted pregnancies, unsafe abortions, pregnancy-related complications, and sexually transmitted infections (STI) including HIV/AIDS.

Objective: The objective of this survey was to assess the attitude of higher secondary school adolescents in the Pokhara sub-metropolitan city.

Methodology: This survey adopted a design of an institution-based descriptive cross-sectional study. A pretested structured questionnaire sealed in an envelope was distributed among all consenting 522 higher secondary school adolescent students.

Result: The study shows that more than eighty percent of the respondents affirmed premarital sex while the rest of the twenty percent of the respondents reported that engaging in premarital sex is inappropriate. Nearly twenty-five percent (24.6%) of study respondent have had premarital sex. Respondents who had discussed sexual matters with friends had a 2.62 times higher chance of having premarital sex than those who had not.

Conclusion: Though Nepalese society doesn’t accept the sexual activities outside marriage young people are challenging these social norms and values. However, young men and women in Nepal have a different perspective and feel more comfortable in each other’s company and also initiate sexual relations before marriage.

Keywords: Sexual behavior; Premarital sex; Adolescents