title: Substance use and sexual behaviour among female students in Nigerian universities.
abstract: Substance use continues to constitute social and health problems, more so among adolescents and young adults. One consequence is risky sexual behavior, a major problem in sub-Saharan Africa already facing the synergistic problems of poverty and HIV/AIDS. This study of female students aged ≥ 18 years in two universities in Nigeria uses a multi-stage stratified random sampling method, and each subject that gave consent to the study was administered with a structured questionnaire by trained interviewers; 2,408 female students were studied (1,854 from the University of Ibadan and 554 from the Bayero University, Kano). The mean age of the respondents was 21.6 (SD = 2.9), and about two-thirds (65.7%) were aged between 20-24, with 2,204 (91.5%) being single and 4.3% married. In all, 23.4% of the subjects used one form of substance. Alcoholic drinks of palm wine, alcoholic wine, and beer were the most common of substances used (22.7%), followed by tobacco (2%) and cannabis (1%). Substance use was significantly associated with religious affiliation of the students (p < 0.001), as the prevalence of substance use was least among Muslim students (11.7%) and highest among those who professed traditional religion (39.4%). Alcohol use was also positively associated with sexual activity (p < 0.001). Among the 547 students who used alcohol, 147 (26.9%) had sex in the 4 weeks prior to the survey, while among the 1,861 non-users, only 8.9% did so. The practice of unprotected sex was found not to be associated with substance use: a slightly lower proportion (29.5% vs. 36.6%) of substance users engaged in unprotected sex in their last encounter compared to non-users. There is need to scale up public health education on the dangers of substance use and its associated sexual risk behavior.
authors.affiliation: University of Lagos, Nigeria.
authors.forename: B A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Oye-Adeniran
authors.affiliation: University of Lagos, Nigeria.
authors.forename: O F
authors.initials: OF
authors.lastname: Aina
authors.affiliation: Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja, Nigeria.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gbadegesin
authors.affiliation: University of Lagos, Nigeria.
authors.forename: E E
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: Ekanem
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009549:Nigeria; D012067:Religion; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013334:Students / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014495:Universities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D047568:Unsafe Sex / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D055815:Young Adult