Effectiveness of Attachment Theory Intervention on Risky Sexual Attitudes among Adolescents in Kibera, Nairobi County -Kenya

In today's over-sexualized society there has been a constant outcry in the country over risky sexual attitudes as demonstrated by risky sexual behaviors such as underage sex, rising teenage pregnancies, abortion related deaths and pregnancy related suicides. Past studies have related risky sexual attitudes to individual attachment styles. Further, there have been suggestions that security priming intervention can change individual attachment styles. The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of security priming on attachment styles of adolescents in Kibera, Nairobi County. The study context of the study was adolescents in Kibera, Nairobi county with specific objectives to establish the attachment styles among the adolescents, investigate the relationship between insecure attachment styles and risky sexual attitudes among the adolescents, find out the effect of security priming intervention on attachment styles among the adolescents who exhibit insecure attachment and examine the effect of security priming intervention on sexual attitudes among the adolescents who exhibit insecure attachment. An experimental study design was used. The study had 100 participants aged between 16 and 25 years these were all the members that met the inclusion and exclusion criteria from a population of 132 members. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data and images used for priming intervention. The study results indicated that the attachment styles among adolescents in Kibera slums were mostly insecure anxious attachment styles, aggregate score for the anxiety subscale was 3.814 which was higher than secure subscale which had a score of 2.545, while the avoidant subscale had a score of 2.2 security priming intervention had a positive effect on adolescents who exhibited insecure attachments styles, insecure avoidant attachment styles were positively related to sexual attitudes but insecure anxious attachment styles were not and security priming intervention had a positive effect on the relationship between attachment styles and sexual attitudes among the adolescents of Kibera, Nairobi County. The results of the study are useful among family counsellors and parents in developing a better understanding of the individual differences associated with people's intentions to engage in risky sexual behaviour and will be crucial to reducing rates of unplanned pregnancy and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) among young adults.