Research into Expressions of Adolescent Sexuality: A Case Study of Kenyan Males from Getathuru National Reception,Assessment and Classification Center

Abstract

This case study focused on how marginalized Kenyan male adolescents express their sexuality. The respondents in this study come from challenging backgrounds that include the dropping out of school due to the lack of school fees, high unemployment rates amongst their parents, absence of one or both parents due to death e.g. HIV/AIDS deaths and accidents or abandonment of one spouse by the other, as well as polygamy which sometimes leads to the neglect of parent and/or the children. The research study focused on the study population's sexuality-related knowledge, perceptions and attitudes, and their impact on this population's sexual behavior. Fifty teenage boys were drawn from the student population at Getathuru National Reception, Assessment and Classification Center (GNRACC) in Lower Kabete, Kenya. The adolescents at the center are court mandated to attend the rehabilitation school as a result of being neglected, and/or as a result of being in conflict with the law. The center, which serves as the only intake center nationwide, receives the adolescents for a period of three months during which they are assessed and classified according to their chronological age, health and academic abilities. At the end of their three month stay, they are referred to any of the other government-run institutions countrywide for the remainder of their mandated stay. The respondents were interviewed using a pre-coded self-administered and structured questionnaire which was administered to collect information on demographic, independent and dependent variables. The quantitative data generated was entered in the computer using the Statistical Package for Social Scientist (SPSS) computer software. cleaned, processed (which sometimes required re-coding of certain variables and the development of index variables appropriately) and finally analyzed statistically. The study addressed three research questions. The study first sought to determine what the adolescent males at GNRACC knew about human sexuality. The researcher also sought to know the perceptions and attitudes towards sexuality that the adolescents at GNRACC held. Finally, the study sought to discover how the adolescents at GNRACC expressed their sexuality. The study hypothesized that the sexual behavior and expressions of marginalized Kenyan adolescent males is not significantly influenced by the adolescents' knowledge about human sexuality. The study also hypothesized that there was no significant relationship between the sexuality-related attitudes of marginalized Kenyan adolescents at GNRCC and their sexual behaviors. The results of the case study showed that all boys with the exception of one had been sexually active, and that their sexual debut had taken place at a relatively early age. In addition, the study found that majority were not adequately protecting themselves or their partners from unwanted pregnancies or STI infection, including HIV. The study concluded that not only are majority of the respondents sexually active, they are beginning sexual activity too early in their development. In addition, adolescent males are not adequately protecting themselves and their partners from pregnancy or STI infection. This was shown to be as a result of misconceptions that they have about conception, pregnancy and the prevalence or impact of STI infection. The study therefore concluded that sex education is urgently needed in order to curb the current trend of early sexual activity and risky sexual behavior amongst adolescent males. Additional research is needed in order to get a clearer picture of the sexual behavior of adolescent males, especially those from marginalized populations.