Peer pressure and home environment as predictors of disruptive and risky sexual behaviours of secondary school adolescents

Background: Not much is understood about the predictive power of home environment and peer pressure on disruptive behaviour and risky sexual behaviour of adolescents.Objectives: The study investigated the predictive power of home environment and peer pressure on disruptive behaviour and risky sexual behaviour of adolescents in secondary school class two in Enugu State, Nigeria. Four research questions and four null hypotheses guided the study.Methods: The design was a cross sectional survey of correlational study. The study was carried out in the six Education zones in Enugu State, Nigeria. The population was all the 31,680 senior secondary class two (SS11) adolescents in 285 secondary schools in Enugu State, Nigeria in 2015/2016 academic session. The instruments for data collection were an observation schedule, an interview session and a structured questionnaire of four clusters. To determine the R-squares for each regression model, a multivariate multiple regression model was conducted using “MANOVA” and “MVREG”.Results: This study indicates adolescents who reported their home environments to be stimulated displayed compliant behavior and none or lowered risky sexual behaviour, whilst those with chaotic and unstimulated home environment displayed disruptive behaviours. It was found that adolescents who show a heightened sensitivity to positive peer pressure demonstrated compliant and no or lowered risky sexual behavior whilst, those that are engaged with negative peer pressure strongly exhibit disruptive and risky sexual behaviour.Conclusion: Unstimulated home environment and negative peer group could consequently interact to predispose these adolescents to disruptive behaviour and risky sexual behaviour.Keywords: Home, peer group, disruptive, behaviour, adolescents

Peer pressure and home environment as predictors of disruptive and risky sexual behaviours of secondary school adolescents

Background: Not much is understood about the predictive power of home environment and peer pressure on disruptive behaviour and risky sexual behaviour of adolescents. Objectives: The study investigated the predictive power of home environment and peer pressure on disruptive behaviour and risky sexual behaviour of adolescents in secondary school class two in Enugu State, Nigeria. Four research questions and four null hypotheses guided the study. Methods: The design was a cross sectional survey of correlational study. The study was carried out in the six Education zones in Enugu State, Nigeria. The population was all the 31,680 senior secondary class two (SS11) adolescents in 285 secondary schools in Enugu State, Nigeria in 2015/2016 academic session. The instruments for data collection were an observation schedule, an interview session and a structured questionnaire of four clusters. To determine the R-squares for each regression model, a multivariate multiple regression model was conducted using \u201cMANOVA\u201d and \u201cMVREG\u201d. Results: This study indicates adolescents who reported their home environments to be stimulated displayed compliant behavior and none or lowered risky sexual behaviour, whilst those with chaotic and unstimulated home environment displayed disruptive behaviours. It was found that adolescents who show a heightened sensitivity to positive peer pressure demonstrated compliant and no or lowered risky sexual behavior whilst, those that are engaged with negative peer pressure strongly exhibit disruptive and risky sexual behaviour. Conclusion: Unstimulated home environment and negative peer group could consequently interact to predispose these adolescents to disruptive behaviour and risky sexual behaviour

Stigmatization and discrimination as predictors of self-esteem of people living with HIV and AIDS in Nigeria

Background: Self-esteem is a major psychological health issue. People living with HIV and AIDS have been found to be victims of discrimination and stigmatization which affect their self-esteem. Objectives: The study investigated the influence of stigma and discrimination on self-esteem of people living with HIV and AIDS (PLHIV). Methods: The design was a cross-sectional study carried out in four teaching hospitals in south-eastern Nigeria between 13th July 2016 - 11th May 2017. Four hundred and eighty-four (174 males and 310 females) PLHIV participated in the study. Quantitative study supplemented by qualitative in-depth interviews were used to collect data regarding discrimination, stigma and self-esteem of PLHIV whilst a structured questionnaire was used to elicit information about the socio-demographic variables. Results: Stigmatization and discrimination were found to have significant influence on self-esteem of PLHIV. The results indicate that stigmatization and discrimination, together with income, work status, AIDS diagnosis status, and medication use status significantly influence self-esteem of PLHIV. These results imply that stigmatization and discrimination influences on self-esteem among PLHIV. Conclusion: Conclusively, intervention programmes should evolve enlightenment through television, movies, and educational programs that incorporate the ill effects of discrimination and stigma so as to boost self-esteem of PLHIV