Forms and determinants of sexual abuse among female child hawkers in Uyo, Nigeria

Background: Female hawkers are exposed to numerous hazards including sexual abuse. This study aimed at assessing the prevalence, forms and determinants of sexual abuse among female child hawkers in Uyo, Nigeria.Methods: This was a cross-sectional descriptive study carried out among female child hawkers in Uyo, Nigeria. Data was collected using an interviewer-administered structured questionnaire and was analyzed with IBM SPSS Statistics 20.0 software. Level of significance was set at 0.05.Result: A total of 172 respondents participated in the study. The mean age was 12.9±2.3 years. School dropout rate was 11.6% among respondents. Commonest reasons for hawking included family support (66.8%), feeding (22.1%) and generating school fees (11.1%). Prevalence of any form of sexual abuse was 76.2%. Forms of sexual abuse reported included verbal abuse (54.1%), inappropriate touching (56.4%), kissing (14.5%), intercourse due to enticement (18.0%) and rape (12.2%). The commonest reason for sexual act among those enticed was monetary gains, (64.5%). Consequences of sexual abuse included STI (13.5%), pregnancy (5.8%) and abortion (5.8%) respectively. Predictors of any form of sexual abuse included being aged 14-17 years (OR =14.70, 95%CI=2.05-105.14, p=0.007), being a dropout (OR=7.37, 95%CI=2.21-24.59, p=0.001) and being from social class V (OR=23.44, 95%CI=1.13-401.67, p=0.031).Conclusion: There was high prevalence of sexual abuse ranging from inappropriate touching to rape. Predictors of sexual abuse included age, being a dropout and of low socio economic class. Enlightenment campaigns on risks of female child hawking, establishment of skill acquisition centres and free education to secondary level are advocated.Keywords: Female hawkers; Sexual abuse; Rape; Determinants; Uyo; Nigeri