PREVALENCE, TYPES, AND PREDICTORS OF SEXUAL ABUSE AMONG IN-SCHOOL ADOLESCENTS IN AKWA IBOM STATE, NIGERIA: AN URBAN-RURAL QUANTITATIVE SURVEY.

Background: Sexual abuse among adolescents is a serious public health problem. It is a developmental stressor/ reality that remains a cause for concern to parents, teachers, and governments of nations with profound, long-term physiologic and psychosocial effects.

Objective: To determine and compare the prevalence, types, and predictors of sexual abuse among in-school adolescent students in urban and rural areas of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria.

Methods: This was an analytical cross-sectional comparative study with 740 public senior secondary students from 4 selected rural and urban schools. A self-administered, semi-structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Data analysis was carried out with Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 25 software. Logistic regression analysis was used to determine the predictors of unwanted sexual experiences and statistical significance was set at p-value≤0.05.

Results: The mean age was 17.0 ± 1.52 years for urban compared to 16.0 ± 1.19 years for rural (p<0.001). The overall prevalence of unwanted sexual experiences was 60.9% (p<0.001). Types of unwanted sexual experiences included verbal abuse, (35.9% rural, 34.3% urban), breast caressing (23.8% urban, 17.3% rural), kissing (20.5% rural, 19.8% urban), genital touching (18.1% urban, 16.2% rural), pornography (33.0% urban, 25.9% rural), unwilling intercourse (70.4% urban,76.9% rural). Predictors among rural were monetary gain (OR=4.00; 95% CI: 2.549-6.275), peer pressure (OR=2.666; CI:1.729-4.113), curiosity (OR 4.21; CI: 2.682-6.635), while for urban it included monetary gains (OR=2.00; 95% CI: 1.414-3.275) peer pressure (OR=2.666; CI:1.414-3.275), curiosity (OR 2.59; CI:1.695-3.962.), alcohol intake (OR 2.65; CI: 1.741-4.044).

Conclusion: The study shows a high prevalence of sexual abuse among the respondents. There is a need for reproductive health education in schools to mitigate this menace.