Sexual behaviour among Kenyan adolescents enrolled in an efficacy trial of a smartphone game to prevent HIV: a cross-sectional analysis of baseline data

Figures & data

Table 1. Demographics characteristic and biological testing by adolescent gender (n = 996).

Characteristics	Total (n = 996)	Female (n = 499)	Male (n = 497)
Age (years), mean (SD)	14.0 (0.6)	14.0 (0.5)	14.0 (0.6)
Attending school, n (%)	992 (99.6)	498 (99.8)	494 (99.4)
Socio-economic status, n (%)
Higher	507 (51.1)	254 (51.1)	253 (51.1)
Lower	398 (48.9)	243 (48.9)	242 (48.9)
Missing	4 (–)	2 (–)	2 (–)
Household overnight hunger due to lack of food, n (%)
Never	647 (65.0)	322 (64.5)	325 (65.4)
Rarely	190 (19.1)	95 (19.0)	95 (19.1)
Sometimes	132 (13.3)	65 (13.0)	67 (13.5)
Often	27 (2.7)	17 (3.4)	10 (2.0)
Household full day and night hunger due to lack of food, n (%)
Never	584 (58.6)	290 (58.1)	294 (59.2)
Rarely	220 (22.1)	110 (22.0)	110 (22.1)
Sometimes	155 (15.6)	77 (15.4)	78 (15.7)
Often	15 (3.0)	22 (4.4)	15 (3.0)
Living situation, n (%)
Both parents	547 (54.9)	263 (52.7)	284 (57.1)
Mother only	276 (27.7)	148 (29.7)	128 (25.8)
Father only	60 (6.0)	34 (6.8)	26 (5.2)
Grandparents	72 (7.2)	31 (6.2)	41 (8.3)
Other living situation	41 (4.1)	23 (4.6)	18 (3.6)
Religion, n (%)
Catholic	356 (35.7)	169 (34.1)	187 (37.9)
Protestant/ Anglican	293 (29.4)	164 (33.1)	129 (26.2)
Seventh Day Adventist	243 (24.4)	117 (23.6)	126 (25.6)
Muslim	31 (3.1)	14 (2.8)	17 (3.5)
Other local religion	21 (2.1)	11 (2.2)	10 (2.0)
No religion	33 (3.3)	14 (2.8)	19 (3.9)
Missing	19 (–)	10 (–)	9 (–)
Attendance at religious services, n (%)
Once per week	777 (78.0)	401 (80.4)	376 (75.7)
1–2 times per month	77 (7.7)	30 (6.0)	47 (9.5)
A few times per year	83 (8.3)	37 (7.4)	46 (9.3)
Once per year or less	22 (2.2)	13 (2.6)	9 (1.8)
Never	37 (3.7)	18 (3.6)	19 (3.8)
Circumcised, n (%) [N = 480]
Yes	419 (87.3)		419 (87.3)
No	56 (11.9)		56 (11.9)
I don’t know	4 (0.8)		4 (0.8)
Reached menarche, n (%) [N = 479]	205 (42.8)	205 (42.8)
Living with HIV, n (%)	16 (1.6)	10 (2.0)	6 (1.2)
HSV-2 results, n (%)
Positive	22 (2.2)	7 (1.4)	15 (3.0)
Indeterminate	23 (2.3)	7 (1.4)	16 (3.2)
Negative	951 (95.5)	491 (97.2)	466 (93.8)

Table 2. Characteristics of adolescents and associations with self-reported prior sexual activity (n = 991)

Characteristics	Previous sex (n = 152)	No previous sex (n = 839)	p-value
Age (years), mean (SD)	13.6 (0.54)	13.5 (0.53)
Socio-economic status, n (%)			0.01^a
Higher	63 (41.4)	441 (52.8)
Lower	89 (58.6)	394 (47.2)
Missing		4 (–)
Household overnight hunger due to lack of food, n (%)
Never	78 (51.3)	505 (60.2)
Rarely	40 (26.3)	178 (21.2)
Sometimes	24 (15.8)	129 (15.4)
Often	10 (6.6)	27 (3.2)
Household full day and night hunger due to lack of food, n (%)
Never	84 (55.3)	561 (66.9)	0.02^a
Rarely	33 (21.7)	156 (18.6)
Sometimes	28 (18.4)	102 (12.2)
Often	7 (4.6)	20 (2.4)
Living situation, n (%)			0.01^b
Both parents	67 (44.1)	477 (56.9)
Mother only	49 (32.2)	225 (26.8)
Father only	11 (7.2)	49 (5.8)
Grandparents	13 (8.6)	59 (7.0)
Other living situation	12 (7.9)	29 (3.4)
Religion, n (%)
Catholic	60 (39.7)	295 (35.2)
Protestant/Anglican	40 (26.5)	251 (29.9)
Seventh Day Adventist	35 (23.2)	207 (24.7)
Muslim	4 (2.7)	27 (3.2)
Other local religion	4 (2.7)	17 (2.0)
No religion	4 (2.7)	28 (3.3)
Missing	5 (–)	14 (–)
Attendance at religious services, n (%)
Once per week	110 (72.4)	663 (79.0)
1–2 times per month	11 (7.2)	66 (7.9)
A few times per year	15 (9.9)	67 (8.0)
Once per year or less	6 (4.0)	16 (1.9)
Never	10 (6.6)	27 (3.2)
Parental monitoring, n (%)			0.032^a
Never	48 (31.6)	196 (23.4)
Rarely	23 (15.1)	103 (12.3)
Sometimes	31 (20.4)	172 (20.5)
Often	48 (31.6)	365 (43.5)
Missing	2 (–)	3 (–)
Any previous alcohol or drug use, n (%)	12 (7.9)	32 (3.8)	0.02^a
Living with HIV, n (%)	0 (0.0)	16 (1.9)
HSV-2 results, n (%)
Positive	5 (3.3)	17 (2.0)
Indeterminate	3 (2.0)	20 (2.4)
Negative	144 (94.7)	802 (95.6)

Note: p-values reported where p < 0.05. χ² or Fisher’s exact tests used to assess the association between categorical variables; the specific test is denoted for each value as indicated in the legend.

^a p-value for χ² test.

^b p-value for Fisher’s exact test.

Table 3. Reported prior discussion of a range of topics with an adult by previous experience of sex (n = 991).

Discussion topic	Total (n = 991)	Previous sex (n = 152)	No previous sex (n = 839)	p-value
Goals for the future, n (%)	803 (81.1)	110 (72.4)	693 (82.6)	0.003^a
Alcohol and drugs, n (%)	364 (36.7)	53 (34.9)	311 (37.1)
How to avoid pregnancy, n (%)	540 (54.5)	78 (51.3)	462 (55.1)
How to avoid HIV/AIDS, n (%)	643 (64.9)	95 (62.5)	548 (65.3)
Condoms, n (%)	132 (13.3)	30 (19.7)	102 (12.2)	0.01^a
Deciding when to have sex, n (%)	176 (17.8)	36 (23.7)	140 (16.7)	0.04^a
Romantic relationships, n (%)	196 (19.8)	42 (27.6)	154 (18.4)	0.008^a

^a p-value for χ² test.

Table 4. Reported sexual activity among adolescents indicating previous willing sexual experience or refusing the gate question (n = 64).

Characteristics	Total (n = 64)	Female (n = 25)	Male (n = 39)	p-value
First sexual experience was willing, n (%)	37 (57.8)	12 (48.0)	25 (64.1)
Age at first willing sex, median (IQR)	11 (9-13)	11 (8-13)	11 (9-12)
Condom use at first willing sex, n (%)
Yes	16 (25.0)	6 (24.0)	10 (25.6)
No	39 (60.9)	15 (60.0)	24 (61.5)
Unsure	9 (14.1)	4 (16.0)	5 (12.8)
Age of partner at first willing sex, n (%)
Younger than me	6 (9.4)	1 (4.0)	5 (12.8)
About the same age	35 (54.7)	12 (48.0)	23 (59.0)
3–5 years older	4 (6.3)	3 (12.0)	1 (2.6)
5–10 years older	8 (12.5)	2 (8.0)	6 (15.4)
More than 10 years older	11 (17.2)	7 (28.0)	4 (10.3)
Any previous partner >5 years older, n (%)	16 (25.0)	9 (36.0)	7 (18.0)
Number of previous partners, median (IQR)	1 (1-3)	1 (1-3)	2 (1-3)
Recent sexual activity^a, n (%)	15 (23.4)	6 (24.0)	9 (23.1)
Planned condom use during next sexual encounter, n (%)				0.04^b
Definitely yes	43 (67.2)	17 (68.0)	26 (66.7)
Maybe yes	10 (15.6)	1 (4.0)	9 (23.1)
Maybe no	1 (1.6)	1 (4.0)	0 (0.0)
Definitely no	10 (15.6)	6 (24.0)	4 (10.3)
Experience of transactional sex, n (%)	11 (17.5)	6 (24.0)	5 (13.2)

^a In the past 6 weeks.

^b p-value for Fisher’s exact test.

Table 5. Readiness to engage in sexual activity among adolescents indicating no previous sexual experience by gender (n = 839).

	Total (n = 839)	Female (n = 427)	Male (n = 412)	p-value
Expected age at first sex, median (IQR)	25 (20-30)	25 (21-30)	24 (20-29)
Planned condom use during first sexual encounter, n (%)
Definitely yes	508 (62.3)	232 (56.5)	276 (68.3)	0.006^a
Maybe yes	141 (17.3)	80 (19.5)	61 (15.1)
Maybe no	48 (5.9)	28 (6.8)	20 (5.0)
Definitely no	118 (14.5)	71 (17.3)	47 (11.6)
I think I am mature enough to have sex				0.03^a
Definitely yes	102 (12.2)	41 (9.6)	61 (14.8)
Maybe yes	92 (11.0)	40 (9.4)	52 (12.6)
Maybe no	210 (25.0)	112 (26.2)	98 (23.8)
Definitely no	431 (51.4)	232 (54.3)	199 (48.3)

^a p-value for χ² test.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, VM, upon reasonable request after study completion.