Representation of sexual pleasure and unprotected sex among adolescents in Ivory Coast

In Côte d'Ivoire, adolescents are the target of strong awareness raising on the prevention of HIV, STIs and early pregnancies, so much so that their level of knowledge in this area has significantly improved over time. However, many of these young people still have unprotected sex and are also involved in most pregnancies in schools. It is in this context that the present qualitative study attempts to explain the propensity of adolescents to have unprotected sex based on their representation of sexual pleasure. The survey is conducted using a questionnaire on a convenience sample of 160 voluntary participants aged 12 to 18 years old. These are schoolchildren from the first cycle of secondary education from two regions, in this case the District of Abidjan and the Gontougo region. The data collected is processed using descriptive statistics and thematic content analysis. The results indicate that all participants (100%) have already heard of condoms and 89% of them are sexually assets. The majority of respondents (76%) know that condoms can be used both as a contraceptive and a means of protecting yourself against HIV and STIs. But only 26% of sexually active participants admitted to having used a condom during the last sexual encounter. Content analysis reveals that these adolescents view sexual pleasure as emanating primarily from unprotected penetrative sex. This means that the condom, whether male or female, is perceived as a barrier to sexual pleasure, which explains its low use by adolescents. The theory of social representations was used to explain these results. These findings can help improve the effectiveness of HIV and STI prevention awareness techniques.