Hierarchical Multiple Regression Modelling on Predictors of Behavior and Sexual Practices at Takoradi Polytechnic, Ghana

Abstract

Introduction:Various psychosocial studies on health related lifestyles lay emphasis on the fact that the perception one has of himself as being at risk of HIV/AIDS infection was a necessary condition for preventive behaviors to be adopted. Hierarchical Multiple Regression models was used to examine the relationship between eight independent variables and one dependent variable to isolate predictors which have significant influence on behavior and sexual practices.Methods:A Cross-sectional design was used for the study. Structured close-ended interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to collect primary data. Multistage stratified technique was used to sample views from 380 students from Takoradi Polytechnic, Ghana. A Hierarchical multiple regression model was used to ascertain the significance of certain predictors of sexual behavior and practices.Results:The variables that were extracted from the multiple regression were; for the constant; β=14.202, t=2.279, p=0.023, variable is significant; for the marital status; β=0.092, t=1.996, p<0.05, variable is significant; for the knowledge on AIDs; β= 0.090, t=1.996, p<0.05, variable is significant; for the attitude towards HIV/AIDs; β=0.486, t=10.575, p<0.001, variable is highly significant. Thus, the best fitting model for predicting behavior and sexual practices was a linear combination of the constant, one’s marital status, knowledge on HIV/AIDs and Attitude towards HIV/AIDs.,Y (Behavior and sexual practices) = β0 + β1 (Marital status) + β2 (Knowledge on HIV AIDs issues) + β3 (Attitude towards HIV AIDs issues)β0, β1, β2 and β3 are respectively 14.201, 2.038, 0.148 and 0.486; the higher the better.Conclusions:Attitude and behavior change education on HIV/AIDs should be intensified in the institution so that students could adopt better lifestyles.

Sexual Behaviour, Knowledge and Use of Contraceptives Among Undergraduate Students

“…For instance, oral sex is associated with risk of preventable infections 29 ; including HIV per se. Adopting the knowledge is attitudinal vis-à-vis a behavioural change wheel [30][31][32] .Hence the required healthy sexual behaviour is adopting a HIV prevention consciousness that being sexually healthy enough to engage in oral sex requires having a healthy oral cavity 33 , as well as the HIV-negative and/or positive partner taking medicine 34 . Other educational characteristics of healthy sexual behaviour include comprehending the impact of media messages and understanding that the drive for sex is powerful and can be integrated into one's life in positive and healthy ways 20 .…”

Cognitive, Affective and Psycomotoric Aspects Related Risky Sexual Behavior Among Adolescents at the University Level

“…Research on a group of Polytechnic students in Ghana shows that attitudes towards the impact of disease and practical approaches for adolescents are the dominant factors influencing risky sexual behavior. 18 Increasing attitudes in adolescents can be done in several ways, including by changing the perspective of adolescents, for example by not dating multiple partners. and eliminate the view that there is no risk of disease if you engage in sexual behavior.…”

“…The pattern of education and good communication between parents and teenagers becomes a barrier for teenagers to commit juvenile delinquency, including a strict prohibition from parents to have sex before marriage. 18,19 However, this is a bit difficult to implement if teenagers do not live with their parents such as in a study where 2/5 of the respondents did not live with their parents because they studied far from their hometown. Furthermore, parents need to be more open and not taboo to convey sexual education from an early age so that teenagers are not interested in trying to have sex before marriage.…”

Drive better, feel better: Examining associations between well-being and driving behaviour in students

“…The dependent variable was normally distributed. Collinearity statistics (Tolerance and VIF) were all within accepted limits, meeting the assumption of multicollinearity (Turkson & Otchey, 2015) [19]. Finally, residual and scatter plots indicated assumptions of normality, linearity and homoscedasticity were satisfied (Pallant, 2010) [20].…”