Prevalence And Determinants Of Intimate Partner Violence Towards Female Students Of The University Of Ibadan, Nigeria

ABSTRACT

Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is pervasive, but under-reported by victims because of

the associated stigma and fear of reprisals. In Nigeria, there is paucity of information on

IPV burden among female university students. This study was therefore designed to

assess the prevalence and determinants of IPV experienced by female students in the

University of Ibadan, Nigeria.

The study was cross-sectional in design. A four-stage sampling technique was used in

selecting the female halls (two undergraduate and one postgraduate), blocks, rooms, and

an occupant selected by balloting in each room. A total of 1,100 undergraduate and 255

postgraduate female students were selected. A 43-item self-administered structured

questionnaire was used to collect data on the sociodemographic characteristics,

prevalence, types, determinants, awareness, and health consequences of IPV. Data were

analysed using descriptive statistics and logistic regression at p = 0.05.

The mean age of the respondents was 22.8±3.9 years (postgraduate mean: 24.3±3.2 years;

undergraduate mean: 20.1±3.2 years) and majority (93.8%) were single. Respondents

comprised Yoruba (61.7%), Igbo (24.6%), Hausa (3.6%) and others (10.1%). The

proportions of respondents who smoked, consumed alcohol and had a family history of

IPV were 6.6%, 22.8% and 26.9% respectively. The life-time prevalence of IPV was

42.3% (postgraduate: 34.5%; undergraduate: 44.1%) and those for psychological,

physical and sexual IPV were 41.8%, 7.9% and 6.6% respectively. Majority (61.9%) of

the respondents who were aware of IPV did not experience it. Respondents who were

less likely to have experienced IPV were postgraduate (OR= 0.64; 95% CI: 0.46-0.87),

and married (OR= 0.53; 95% CI: 0.35-0.78) students. Life-time prevalence of IPV was

higher among the undergraduates (OR=3.82; 95% CI: 1.08-13.40); smokers (OR= 2.46;

95% CI: 1.58-3.83); alcohol consumers (OR= 2.36; 95% CI: 1.82- 3.06 ); and those with

family history of IPV (OR= 2.40; 95% CI: 1.88- 3.07). Recent experience (within the

last one year) of violence was also more frequently reported by respondents who had a

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previous history of physical (62.5%) (OR= 2.65; 95% CI: 2.02-3.49) and sexual (53.2%)

(OR= 1.63; 95% CI:1.12-2.35) violence. Injuries were sustained by sixty (4.4%) of the

IPV victims and these included minor abrassions (60.7%), sprains (17.9%), and facial

injuries (15.4%). Adverse effects of IPV on academic performance were reported by

10.3% of victims and these included loss of concentration (71.4%), interruption of studies

(17.9%), loss of self-esteem (6.4%) and school absenteeism (4.3%). Majority (60.9%) of

the victims of IPV did not seek help. Those who sought help went mainly to religious

leaders (12.5%), hospitals (10.5%) and family members (4.9%).

The prevalence of intimate partner violence among the female students of the University

of Ibadan was high, and the major predicting factors were low level of awareness, family

history and previous history of physical and sexual violence. There is the need to design

interventions to address modifiable risk factors like smoking and alcohol consumption,

and encourage health seeking in order to reduce vulnerability and related health

consequences.