Browsing by Author "Ongara, Suzan"

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    Premarital Sexual Relationships and Academic Performance among University Students: A Case of Ardhi University, Tanzania
    (The Mwalimu Nyerere Memorial Academy, 2020-06-01) Jesse, Angela M.; Ongara, Suzan
    Engaging in premarital sexual relationship is found to have effect such as HIV/AIDS infection, STDs/STIs, early and unplanned pregnancies and stress to most youth worldwide. Despite the mentioned effects, most of the youth including university students are still engaging in premarital sexual relationships.This being the case, it was necessary to conduct a study on premarital sexual relationships and academic performance among university students in the study area. The aim was to find out why University students engage in premarital sexual relationship. And how engaging in premarital sexual relationship affect students’ academic performance in the study areas? The Social Exchange Theory (SET) was used to guide the study. In addition, a Cross-sectional research design was used in this study whereby both probability and non-probability sampling procedures were employed. The study found courtship, peer pressure, poverty, mass media and curiosity as the drivers for students’ engagement in premarital sexual relationship. The study concludes that, although there are positive impacts of engaging in premarital sexual relationship among university students, negative effects outweigh positive impacts; and these include stress, which results from fear of being cheated upon or losing a partner, poor performance, and unwanted pregnancies leading to abortion. The study recommends that, the youth specifically university students should be educated on the impact of engaging in premarital sexual relationships on academic performance. Moreover, different programs should be established within universities to expose first-year students to what may happen if they engage in premarital sexual relationship.