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Research question: What is the level of sexual health among male adolescents and comparison between urban and rural areas? Settings:30 rural villages and 30 urban localities in Amritsar district. Study Design: A cross sectional study Participants:male adolescents between 18 – 19 years. Methodology: 300 male adolescents from ruraland urban area each were administered a pretested proforma to know the knowledge regarding reproductive and sexual health of adolescents after taking their informed consent. Results: It can be concluded from the present study that the majority of adolescents 518(86.3%) had knowledge about growth of sexual organs. Majority 481(80.8%) adolescents received information regarding sexual changes from their friends and 249(41.5%) received information from media. Introduction The word adolescence is Latin in origin, derived from the verb adolescere, which means “to grow into adulthood.” 1 There is no single event or boundary line that denotes the end of childhood or the beginning of adolescence. The adolescents constitute perhaps the healthiest group in the population, having lowest mortality and morbidity compared with other population age groups, but a number of physical, cognitive and social emotional changes take place in the body during this period.This presents not only opportunities for progress but also risks to health and well-being.2 Neglect of this population has major implications for the future, since reproductive and sexual behaviours during adolescence have far-reaching consequences for people’s lives as they develop into adulthood. 3 We have reached a stage when this group has become a priority group for us. The lives of millions of adolescents worldwide are at risk because they do not have the information, skills, health services and support they need to go through sexual development during adolescence and postpone sex until they are physically and socially mature, and able to make well-informed, responsible decisions. 4Adolescents are susceptible to unhealthy and risk taking behaviours like unsafe sex, substance abuse and violence. 5 There is enormous diversity among adolescents, regardless of where they live. At the lower end of the age range, they consist of girls and boys, most of whom are not yet sexually active. At the upper end, they consist of physically mature young women and men, most of whom are sexually active and in many cases have children of their own. There is also a great diversity among adolescents of the same age, depending on the individual’s sex, level of physical, psychological and social development, and on the factors in the individual’s immediate environment and within the culture of the wider society.4 Adolescents are not only in large numbers but are the future citizens and work force of tomorrow. Our knowledge about health profile of adolescent males is limited as most of the studies are of western countries, urban areas or done in schools. So, most of the rural and school dropouts have been mostly left out. There is lack of community based study of health profile and problems in rural and urban areas in this age group. MATERIAL AND METHODS The proposed study was carried out among the adolescent males born between 1st January1991 to 31st December 1992 in rural and urban areas of district Amritsar during a period from 1st Oct 2010 to 31st Oct 2010. 30 cluster sampling technique was used.After serializing all the villages/wards, the total population was divided by the total number of clusters i.e. 30. This gives the sampling interval Sampling Interval = Total Population / 30 To select the first cluster, a random number from a currency note was chosen and the last four digits of this random number were taken and the first cluster was that village/ward whose cumulative population corresponds with this number. Subsequently, to this four digit number obtained from a currency note, the sampling interval was added and village/ward whose population corresponds with this number was taken as next cluster. This procedure was repeated to select next 29 clusters respectively.So the total 600 male adolescents participated in the study. The consent of each male adolescent was taken to participate in the study. The male adolescent was interviewed and physical parameters were measured and were recorded on the proforma. The data was compiled, analised and the valid conclusions were drawn. OBSERVATIONS AND DISCUSSION Adolescents account for nearly one fifth of worlds’ population. Adolescents constitute 22.8% of total population in India. There are approximately 230 million adolescents in India in the age group 10-19 years (2001). The sex ratio of adolescent girls has declined from 897 in 1981 to 880 in 2001. |
