THE INFLUENCE OF PERSONALITY TRAITS ON RISKY SEXUAL BEHAVIOUR AMONG EMERGING ADULTS IN UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN

Abstract

The study investigated personality traits (Extra-version, neuroticism, openness to experience,
agreeableness and conscientiousness) as predictors of risky sexual behaviour among
emerging adults in University of Ibadan. This study identified that there exists series of
studies on risky sexual behaviour, with scarcity of such studies on emerging adults. Most of
the previous studies have focused solely on adolescents, hence this study sets out to unravel
risky sexual behaviour among emerging adults.
Cross-sectional survey research design was adopted and data was gathered from 341
emerging adults. More of the respondents 192 (56.3%) were males, while the other 149
(43.7%) were females. Data was gathered using standardised scales of measurement on risky
sexual behaviour and personality traits. Three hypotheses were tested using multiple
regression and t-test for independent samples.
Findings revealed that personality traits (Extra-version, neuroticism, openness to experience,
agreeableness and conscientiousness) jointly accounted for about 45% variance in risky
sexual behaviour [R = .67; R2 = .45; F (5, 235) = 109.24; P <.01]. However, only extraversion (β = .67; t = 14.78; P<.01) independently predicted risky sexual behaviour. Also,
males reported highest on risky sexual behaviour (Mean = 65.34; SD = 14.32) compared to
their female counterparts [t (339) = 8.32; p < .01]. However, demographic variables (Age and
level of study) had neither joint nor independent influence on sexual risky behaviour among
emerging adults [R = .21; R2 = .04; F (2, 238) = 1.77; P > .01].
Based on the findings, it was concluded that extra-version is a significant predictor of risky
sexual behaviour among emerging adults in University of Ibadan. It is therefore
recommended that school management should make it a point of duty to conduct personality
profiling of their students at the point of documentation and admission. This will ensure to
keep track of their students, especially those with high level of extra-version in order to
prevent them from been involved in risky sexual behaviour.