Risky Drinking And Sexual Risk Behaviours: A Cross-Sectional Study Among Young Adults In The La-Nkwantanang Municipality Of The Greater Accra Region

ABSTRACT Background Risky alcohol use and sexual risk behaviours co-occur, particularly among young people. However, little is known about how these are related, particularly in low and middle income settings where increasing trends are reported. The main objective of the study was to determine the association between risky drinking and sexual risk behaviour (SRB) among in-education young adults aged 14years to 24 years in La-Nkwantanang. Methods: A cross-sectional study among in-education young adults within the La Nkwantanang Municipality of the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. Multi-stage random sampling was applied in selecting participants from three junior high schools, one senior high school, and college students. The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) and a structured questionnaire were used to screen participants for alcohol use and SRB respectively. Simple chi-square statistic was used to examine descriptive relationships between variables, and logistic regression used to examine associations between potential determinants and SRB; effect sizes are reported as odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals. Data analysis was conducted with the Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 15.  Results: 340 in-school young people were screened, of whom 308 had complete data on all measures .The prevalence of risky drinking and SRB was 15.9%, and 21.8% respectively. Risky drinking was the strongest determinant of SRB (adjusted Odds Ratio [aOR], 4.70 (2.25-9.84)).   Conclusions/recommendations: Risky alcohol consumption is both prevalent and associated with sexual risk behaviours among in-education young adults in Ghana.  It is thus important to provide help in the form of interventions to help reduce or stop risky drinking among young people in Ghana.