Sources of Premarital Sex Knowledge among Seventh Day Adventist Youth in Gachuba Ward, Nyamira County, Kenya

Abstract

The focus of this study was to find out sources of knowledge on youth's premarital sex awareness among Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) youth in Gachuba Ward, Nyamira County Kenya. Both the Bible and the writings of Ellen G. White formed the source of premarital sex information for the SDA youth. The study adopted a descriptive survey design and targeted two hundred and thirty five youth, ten first-church elders, four hundred and six parents and three district pastors. Using stratified sampling and purposive sampling techniques the researcher based the study on seventy eight respondents comprising of at least 30% of the total population. Questionnaires for youth were used to collect data. The researcher used the test-re- test method to assess reliability and validity of the instruments during the pretesting study before actual administration in the study. The researcher fulfilled the logistical and ethical considerations in research before embarking in data collection. The study adopted both qualitative and qualitative data analysis techniques. Qualitative data was categorized into various themes and was presented in narrative form. The findings were presented in tables, percentages and frequency distribution. Statistical data in tables were supplemented with explanations. Study findings indicated that 57% of the youth received information on premarital sex from parents whereby only 19.2% had received the information regularly. The conclusion out of the above statement is that only a few youths received information on premarital sex from their parents. In the absence of this information therefore, youth were likely to get wrong or misleading premarital sex information from peers and Internet.