Abstract:
Background: Sexual violence is not limited to certain parts of the world rather it is the dominant
problem both in developed as well developing countries. Although it is largely hidden by the
victims, it is estimated that 12 million people around the world face sexual violence every year.
Even though the national policy of Ethiopia prioritizes violence against girls; still it is not
possible to address those who are suffering from violence at school and there is limited research
on sexual violence of female students at high school and again there was no previous study
conducted particularly in Jarso Woreda.
Objective: To assess magnitude of sexual violence and associated factors among female high
school students in Jarso Woreda, East Hararghe zone, Eastern Ethiopia
Methods: School based cross-sectional study design was conducted on 582 female high school
students in Jarso Woreda from March 11 to 14, 2019. All female high school students of the
woreda were included in the study. Data were collected using structured self-administered
questionnaire. The data were entered into Epi data version 3.1 and exported to Statistical
Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 20.0 and descriptive, binary and multiple logistic
regression analyses were carried out. Level of statistical significance was declared at p-value
<0.05.Assumptions of the analysis, such as the multi-collinearity and model fitness were
checked.
Results: A total of 559(96%) female students were participated in this study. The prevalence of
sexual violence was 160 (28.6%) 95% CI (25, 32). The prevalence of completed and attempted
rape were 40 (7.2%) and 76(13.6%) respectively. Ever had married [AOR=2.8, 95% CI (1.4,
5.8)], substance use like cocaine, shisha [AOR=2.6, 95% CI (1.02, 6.5)], and had ever started
sexual intercourse [AOR=5.9, 95%CI :( 3.3, 10.7)], ever drink alcohol [AOR=3.38, 95% CI (1.1,
10.4)] were factors significantly associated with sexual violence.
Conclusion: Prevalence of sexual violence is still high among female high school students in
Jarso Woreda. Findings of the study indicated that interventions should aim to reduce or prevent
sexual violence by focusing on awareness creation to female students in schools on how to
xiii
protect themselves from sexual violence and substance use and further studies to dig deeper
factors of sexual violence
