CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

Dating and pre-marital sex has given birth to ceaseless questions, being known as a practice that is hugely affected by the time, period, social conditions, construct, biology, cultural nuns and institutional frame that wraps around the people. Dating is an act that is practiced and known by too many people, but just a few are acquainted by or knows the exact meaning. Apparently, it is an activity that a good number of college aged students are interested and engaged in. According to Longman English Dictionary of Contemporary English, dating is a romantic relationship with someone. Another dictionary, Collins Dictionary defined dating as appointment between two different sexes or more. Talking of Pre-marital sex, it means having sexual intercourse with the opposite sex before marriage or at an illegal age. According to Mache (1981), the young zest or desire for love and to be love as a result of peer-pressure oftentimes leads to premarital sex, and it is perceived by youth as fun, way of life and that when you really like someone, you show it by having sex and it is a natural thing to desire to be intimate.

Over the years, researches have been done on premarital sex and have been unveiled that youth, specifically the girls engage in sex before marriage because they want to know how well or bad their partner is in bed, etc, though it is not biblical. A good percent of both male and female presume that having sex proved your man-hood or womanhood. This has led many into this practice because they do not want to be seen as the odd one.They fall for the pressure to experience what sexual relationship is like. Years back, Psychologists found out that there are two reasons to a person falling in love. The first step is from the desire to escape; the second is from internal discontent, grows the desire and ability to fall in love with another person. On the other hand, differentiating between welfare while immature love explicit the beloved in other to satisfy his/her needs.