Social networks and sexual behaviour amongst adolescent females in one secondary school in Eastern Cape, South Africa
Reproductive Health
31
Issue: 2
(11 - 2017)
This paper explores the impact of social network sites on the group of adolescent females’ sexual
behaviour attending one secondary school in Fort Beaufort, Eastern Cape, South Africa. It aims at
identifying the risks involved in online dating and deleterious effects on the psychological well-being
among twelve adolescent females, aged 15 -20 years. This study adopts Spence’s Signaling Theory,
Emmerson’ Sexual Exchange Theory and Ajzen and Fishbein’s Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB)
owing to their successful application in numerous studies on online communication and risky sexual
behaviour. A qualitative approach was used in this study and ethical principles were adhered to, during
data collection. The findings showed that dating strangers online by adolescents contributed towards
being vulnerable to depression, cyberbullying, physical abuse, and sexually transmitted infections. Based
on the findings, this study recommends parental emotional support and collaborative approach from the
educators and government to curb online dating among female youth.
Keywords: Communication, Cyberbullying, Dating, Harassment, Rape.
0