Olanrewaju Oloyede Oyegbade

This study examined the prevalence of domestic violence (DV) exposure in in-school adolescents, the forms and ways in which adolescents get exposed or are involved in domestic violence, and factors that are associated with exposure to domestic violence. The study aimed to determine the pattern and factors associated with child exposure to domestic violence (CEDV) in Nigeria. A multistage sampling technique was used to recruit 406 students from four secondary schools in Ile-Ife, South-western Nigeria; the design was descriptive cross-sectional. Standardized, facilitated, self-administered, semi-structured questionnaires were administered to participants after obtaining their assent and parental consent. Information collected included sociodemographic data and details of exposure to DV using the CEDV questionnaire. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics with IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, version 25 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA). The prevalence of exposure to any form of domestic violence was 84.7%. Verbal abuse was the most prevalent form of abuse observed by 78.8% of the participants. A third (32.1%) of participants reported exposure to DV for at least 4 years. About 45.3% of those exposed were involved in the DV to varying degrees. Most of those exposed to DV experienced it as first-hand witnesses, and 58.1% were direct victims: physically, emotionally, or sexually. Low socioeconomic class was significantly associated with exposure to DV (χ² = 6.158 and p = .046). Participants had high exposure to DV, and a large proportion of them were involved, with those from lower socioeconomic classes being at higher risk. Efforts must be put in place in the home (family) to protect children and to facilitate optimal psychosocial development.

Background Risky behaviours contribute to adolescents’ morbidity and mortality and constitute a leading public health concern. Therefore, this study sets out to determine the prevalence of risky behaviours and the perceived susceptibility to these behaviours. Methods A total of 465 in-school adolescents were sampled for a descriptive cross-sectional study using a multistage sampling technique. Data were collected via a facilitated self-administered semi-structured questionnaire adapted from the Youth Risk Behaviour Survey and analysed using IBM SPSS v23.0 Results Of the 465 recruited for this study, 63% were females and 37% were males and the larger percentage was in the age group 14-16 years. Over a fifth of the respondents perceived they were at moderate to great risk regarding partaking in risky sexual behaviour (23.7%), violence and unsafe practices (23%), suicidal ideation, plans or attempts (21.5). The most prevalent risky behaviour was however risky dietary behaviours (69.2%), followed by unsafe practices and violence (25.2%) and risky sexual behaviour (18.9%).. Respondents who did not have friends and family members involved in at least one risky behaviour are about one and a half times less likely to be at moderate/great risk of getting involved in risky behaviours. Conclusions Risky behaviours are prevalent among in-school adolescents with those having friends and family members involved in at least one risky behaviour at greater risk of involvement. The pattern of risky behaviour shows that there is a need to pay attention to hitherto unfancied risky behaviours. A double-edged educational intervention for adolescents and parents/family members is needed to curb risky behaviours among adolescents.