SEXUAL NEGOTIATION AND SAFER SEX PRACTICES AMONG MARRIED FEMALES

The study investigated the strategies used by married female teachers in negotiating safer sex practices with their spouses. It identified the methods used by the female teachers in the practice of safer sex and determined the influence of the demographic variables of age, religion, level of education and husbands'' educational level on their sexual negotiation skills and safer sex practices. The descriptive survey design was employed. The population consists of married female teachers selected from both public and private secondary schools. Stratified sampling technique was used to select 150 married female teachers from 10 secondary schools. The results of this study showed that the major methods of practicing safer sex adopted by the majority of respondents were completely avoiding sexual intercourse till pregnancy is desired (80.0%), avoiding sexual intercourse on days when conception is most likely (57.7%), injections taken periodically (50.0%) and I.U.D. (50.0%). The results also showed that the most commonly used strategy by majority of married female teachers was discussing safer sex with partner (89.2%), followed by begging partners not to have sex regularly (29.2%).