Consequences Of Premarital Sexual Activities Among Secondary School Students
[A CASE STUDY OF ILORIN WEST LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, KWARA STATE]

CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Introduction
    This chapter considered the review of various related literatures on factors influencing premarital sexual activities among secondary school students. Literature thus was reviewed under the following sub-headings:
•    Concept of Premarital Sex
•    Causes of Premarital Sexual Activities Among Students
•    Prevalence of Premarital Sex
•    Adolescents Sexual Development
•    Effects of Premarital Sex
•    Solutions to premarital Sex
•    Summary of the Review of Related Literature.
Concept of Premarital Sex
    According to Adelaya (1986) the Modern Day Nigerian have made sex one of the most discussed subjects. She noted that our forefathers pretended as if sex does not exist by placing some taboos on it. Increasing rate of teenage sexual activity can be substantiated by numerous reports of unintended pregnancies, illegal abortions and dumping of unwanted babies.
    Chiwuzie (1990) asserted that premarital sex has no more sanity and it is no more a big deal. This is why it happens any where in the office, in the classroom, under the tree among others. The tragedy of adolescent sexuality is that young people engage in premarital sexual activities indiscriminately. Most of these young ones according to Chiwuzie (1990) get exposed to sexual activities through Western lifestyle more than ever which they regard as a mark of civilization. Premarital sexual behaviour could then be defined as involvement of the unmarried teenagers especially the female ones in premature sex. According to Cross (2000) premarital sex is sexual activities among the young against the expectation of such society. However, sexual activities are only expected among the marriageable people or with married people.
    In the study of unmarried college women as emphasized by Cross (2000), reasons for the decision to engage in varying premarital sexual behaviour is based partly on an individual’s moral judgement and consent. The decision has also been influenced by other personality factor like sexual philosophy and inhibiting situation of the mind. Sexual activity encompasses all the elements of interpersonal relationship such as struggle, conflict and the satisfaction of tenderness and human closeness and every manoever technique and dynamism of human behaviour. It embraces all sexual activities that can lead to actual sexual activity. Onwuamanan (1999).
Causes of Premarital Sexual Activities among Students
    There are many causes of premarital sexual menace in the life of young females in Nigeria. These causes include:
Child Abuse: Bakare (2006) child abuse point of view includes all activities that are against the basic right of children. These rights include: right to life, right of shelter and protection from all those things militating against the proper growth of a child. Adelaja (1986) confirmed that child abuse has a great negative impact in the life of our youngsters and their academic achievement. Fniezu (1999) emphasized that some parents operate beer parlours and allow their children to participate in the business, there by exposing the children to immoral acts that would not help such children acquire education and maintain good behaviour. Some parents beyond reasonable bounds exposed their children (teenagers) to child traffickers in order to make money rather than allowing them to go to school.
    Blair (1995) reinstated that, while the male child is used for hard labour the female ones are lured into prostitution because they are not under the supervision of their parents as such, they are denied their right to education.
Less Awareness of Changes of the Body: Many female teenagers are ignorant of the body changes that is associated with puberty and what sex is all about. Sex education is obviously what adolescents lack in terms of social relationship and sexual relationship. According to Olaegun (2003), Teenagers should be exposed to the knowledge: Birth control and sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD), menstrual cycle, wet dreams and other signs of masturbation and their consequences. This has led to rapid increase of premarital sexual activities among Nigerian youths.
    The changes accompanying puberty normally occurs in a well defined sequence such as development of breast, growth of public hair, growth of auxiliary hair and finally menstruation. Unfortunately most adolescents are not aware of these changes that occur in the developmental stages of their lives, so they are into immoral sexual relationship not realizing that they may become pregnant and contact venereal diseases because they have become sexually mature and their productive organs have become functional and any sexual relationship can lead to unwanted pregnancy which may lead to the inability to further education.