Drug Use and High-risk Sexual Behavior among School-Going Adolescents in Nigeria

Emmanuel Amoo; Olujide A. Adekeye; Florence Omumu; Olubunmi O. Akinpelu; Mofoluwake P. Ajayi; Tomike  Olawande; Sussan O. Adeusi

doi:10.3889/oamjms.2020.3290

Authors

Emmanuel Amoo Demography and Social Statistics, Covenant University, Ota, Nigeria
Olujide A. Adekeye Department of Psychology, Covenant University, Ota, Nigeria http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7412-0131
Florence Omumu Department of Psychology, Covenant University, Ota, Nigeria
Olubunmi O. Akinpelu Demography and Social Statistics, Covenant University, Ota, Nigeria
Mofoluwake P. Ajayi Department of Sociology, Covenant University, Ota, Nigeria
Tomike Olawande Department of Sociology, Covenant University, Ota, Nigeria
Sussan O. Adeusi Department of Psychology, Covenant University, Ota, Nigeria

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3889/oamjms.2020.3290

Keywords:

Drug use, HIV/AIDS, Lifetime sexual partners, Risk sexual behavior, School going

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Sexual risk behavior and drug abuse among adolescents and youths remained perpetual topical issues of focus in most developmental programs related to developing countries, especially in Nigeria, where the school-going adolescents constitute more than half of the youths. The high level of teenage pregnancy and sexual violence such as abuses and other harmful trajectories including STIs and HIV is increasingly reported than the pre-2000s.

AIM: This study focuses on underscoring the variation in risky sexual behavior among school-going users and non-users of drugs. It also analyzed the predisposing factors of drug use among school-going adolescents in Nigeria.

METHODS: In combination with problem behavior theory, the research draws data (n = 11,799) from the 2012 National HIV and AIDS and Reproductive Health Survey (NARHS Plus II) collated by the Federal Ministry of Health in Nigeria with support from the Department for International Development and United States Agency for International Development, to underscore the self-reported sexual risk behavior among students who are users and non-users of drugs.

RESULTS: The result revealed that 32.5% (male) and 33.4% (female) use drugs. More than half of the respondents reported that they have engaged in sexual intercourse, 27.3% (male) and 31.8% (female) have had ≥2 lifetime sexual partners. There is higher odds ratio (OR) of risky sexual behavior among students that have ever used drugs or taken alcohol (OR = 2.2, 95% CI [1.8–2.8]) for male and (OR = 2.1, 95% CI [0.83–2.03]) for female.

CONCLUSION: The study concludes that continued exposure of school-going youths to drugs or alcohol may pose serious challenge of risky sexual behavior and also severe threat to initiatives on zero new HIV infections or zero new AIDS death in Nigeria. The authors recommend that campaign to discourage drug or alcohol use should be intensified and introduced to all schools.

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Author Biographies

Olujide A. Adekeye, Department of Psychology, Covenant University, Ota, Nigeria

Prof. Olujide A. Adekeye is a professional counsellor and lectures in the Department of Psychology. He also practices as a counsellor in the University Counselling Center (CUCC). He is also involved in the partnership of Covenant University with the Prison Fellowship of Nigeria and SMEDAN tagged the â€œOnesimus Projectâ€ where psychosocial, therapeutic and rehabilitation training are rendered to prison inmates. His research interest revolves around HIV/AIDS education, family and relationship counselling, HIV/AIDS education, adolescent development and alcohol and other substance use and abuse. Prof. Adekeye is well travelled and has contributed to knowledge by publishing widely in local and international academic journals. He is an active member of the Counselling Association of Nigeria (CASSON), Association of Professional Counsellors of Nigeria (APROCON) and a member of the Special Interest Group, Task Force on Indigenous Psychology, Division 32 (Society for Humanistic Psychology) of the American Psychological Association (APA). He is also an alumnus of the Brown International Advanced Research Institute, Brown University, Providence, R.I., USA (BIARI 2011). He is also a Reviewer of many reputable professional journals outside Nigeria.

Olubunmi O. Akinpelu, Demography and Social Statistics, Covenant University, Ota, Nigeria

Olubunmi Akinpelu is a researcher and teaches Social Statistics

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