Full Project – IMPACT OF POVERTY, GENDER AND AWARENESS OF HIV/AIDS ON ADOLESCENTS’ SEXUAL RISK ATTITUDE
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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Sex related research has advanced at a breakneck pace during the last few decades. Numerous individuals, both experts and laypeople, have encountered difficulties in conceptualizing, quantifying, and distinguishing sex roles. As a result, Klein (1998) stated that sex had no inherent significance. According to him, the meaning of sex is experience-based, as it evolves and reinvents itself with each sexual encounter.
Sex is not restricted to sexual activity or intercourse. Sex as a concept has an endless number of interpretations, owing to the enormous breadth of sexual behaviors. According to the Cambridge University Adolescents Union (CUSU, 2007), sex may be experienced in a variety of ways including caressing, holding, kissing, masturbation, oral sex, vaginal intercourse, fingering, rimming, fishing, and mutual masturbation.
Though man does not require sex on a daily basis in the same way that he requires food and water, he does require it for the species’ survival; and therefore, sex continues to be man’s greatest treasure trove, so valuable that everyone wishes to experience it. Sexual activity may have either a happy or a detrimental effect on the individual. Scott (2007) emphasized the importance of sex by stating that (a) the deep type of breathing provided during sex relaxes the body and oxygenates the blood, thereby reducing stress (b) massage is critical for stress relief (c) and the type of intimate supportive conversation experience or healthy relationship developed during sexual intercourse helps one feel connected and reduces stress. Scott said that, depending on one’s degree of passion, sex may help burn a lot of calories while also providing the exercise’s stress-relieving advantages.
The sexual orientation of a man is fairly complex. Sexual attitudes are often basic, restricted, uninteresting, and quite consistent among infrahuman animals. However, sexuality in men is far more nuanced, confusing, and difficult to describe. Obidigbo (1999) discovered a clear physical distinction between lower and higher animals and states that, in contrast to higher species, sex in lower animals is stereotyped, reflexive, and automatic, and is more dependent on the estrous cycle and scent.
Human anatomy is markedly different from that of other animals, most notably other primates, and this distinction has a significant impact on how sex is understood and treated (Taflinger, 1996). This indicates that both elements affecting human sexual attitude, as well as the manner in which they are perceived and approached, are very varied when compared to other primates. Regarding the subject of what variables determine sexual attitude, attitude scientists dispute on the nature-nurture divide — whether the primary drivers of sexual attitude are biological or experiential. However, the public frequently misconstrues the subject as one of whether sexual orientation is dictated by elements beyond an individual’s control or is freely chosen (Nolen-Hoeksema 2001). This is not the same question as the one previously posed. Sexual orientation in humans is influenced by biological as well as cultural influences. Despite the fact that the existence and significance of these biological and cultural variables have been shown, the amount of determination remains an open subject. As a result, further evidence is required to demonstrate how biological and environmental elements combine to generate complex sexual desire and sexual risk attitudes.
Sexual risk describes actions or attitude that violates sexual health ideals including formally established medical norms as well as reckless violation of sexual advice. To many, the concept of sexual risk tends to assume that sexual attitude is somewhat attitude that is
generally harmful (not very safe or down right infectious). There are various dimensions to sexual risks. For instance: where sexual debut occurs before the age of 16; or sexual practices occurs without the use of condoms, and where one keeps multiple sex partners are regarded as being all risky.
The wave of HIV scourge appears to have been more pronounced among the teens today. Before the advent of HIV/AIDS, adolescents were considered to have the lowest burden of disease compared to other ages. But recently, the HIV/AIDS prevalence among the youths has increased steadily especially among the poorer nations, and the preventive strategies aimed at forestalling good health has also failed. Therefore, the improvement strategies must anchor on evidence of the proximate and background risk factors that increase the vulnerability of these young people.
Man is hormonally, physiologically, and psychologically aroused by what others say, do, their appearance, dressing styles, voices and odour (Morgan et.al, 1997; Davidoff, 1987). Both endogenous and exogenous factors as central nervous system (CNS), hormones, culture and other life circumstances have direct bearing on the way sex is perceived and approached.
Like other human attitude, sexual desires are instigated. Difficult situations such as poverty can create stressful experience that can alter wholesomely ones overall attitudes towards sex attitude. Psychological variables have far reaching implications on the way sex is perceived when it relates to poverty. According to Eyo (1984) our inverted and distorted attitudes towards power and wealth as values and standard are concretized in people’s conception of the wealth. Economic wealth and money acquisition are generally acceptance. The immediate pleasure bound attitudes of Nigerians encourage risks and corrupt practices and had been wielded without any scruples.
Everyone despises poverty. The emphasis is on getting rich, and getting it quick, cutting corners and other “apian ways”. Such awareness encourages risks, kills honesty, hard
work and good conscience (Nwaiwu, 2004). Clifford (1980) reports too that our beliefs, values, traditions, art, music, language and mores impact heavily upon our view of events and objects. Human awareness of an obvious danger, changes over time due to need situations. We always deceive, excuse, justify or apologize as necessary to shore up our economic weak points when we find ourselves in crisis. A genuine sexual culture are misperceived, distorted or changed in the face of perceived unfulfilled socioeconomic realities.
Because of poverty related stress and other vicissitude of life, the awareness of destructive tendencies of HIV/AIDS pandemic can be altered too. Changes produce stress and stress stimulates risk attitudes. Stressing this point, (Ezeilo 1995) drew attention to the fact that stress in undergraduates constitutes a critical factor in the aetiology of such deviant adolescents’ attitude and performance that are of concern to adolescents, their families, teachers, the government and society at large. According to (Ezeilo, 1995), such deviant attitudes as exam malpractice, stealing, fighting, membership to secrete society, rape, alcoholism and drug abuse, immorality, rioting, violence etc are the adolescents attempts to cope with stress. Poverty creates conflicts, frustration and stress; and coping with the adjustment problems of such stressful situation constitutes a critical factor in sexual risk attitudes change among Nigeria undergraduates of our days.
In Nigeria it has been a tradition, to protect young ones from receiving sex education, let alone having early or premarital sex experience in the false belief that ignorance encourages chastity; and early sex experience promotes promiscuity. But in contrast and ironical too, the early initiation of youths into sexual activities for economic reasons and other undisclosed factors has become a cultural norm due to stress occasioned by difficult times, and despite its adverse consequences on health. Peltzer (1975) in a study at Malawi has reported that when girls fail to find job, they end up on prostitution.
The poverty line in Africa and Nigeria in particular has grown sour. Stressful conditions is currently quite on the high side. Okpara (1995) saw the danger signal when he cautions that: Nearly 1000 million people are already hovering on the verge of starvation and some estimates suggests that 10 – 15 million are in eminent danger of death; and that bout 300 million people in Africa and Asia are either unemployed or have not found sufficiently productive work to maintain live above poverty line. He projected that before the year 2000 another 1000 million people will be added by the increase in world population. According to Okpara (1995) poverty has become a culture of its own and it influences the total lives of its inhabitants. The circumstances of poverty sometimes are deliberate, sometimes not. In spite of the current economic crisis in Nigeria, some individuals are still in dare need of ostentatious living. Attitude of high tastes, greed and zero tolerance to low standard of living among Nigerians, and in particular adolescents is quite worrisome.
Onyegegbu (2002) reported that despite Nigeria’s great natural wealth, the country has for the past one and half decades faced enormous economic problems. The situation has so much deepened that the social expectations and economic rigor of youths are getting out rageous to warrant choice of any form of activity for a living. Anyakaoha (2001) has noted that the present negative growth and economic crisis emphasize the need for individuals to strive for self reliance through self employment. The suspicion is that the adolescent females in spite of Nigeria’s numerous economic policies are the worst hit by this ugly trend of economic mayhem in the country, considering their stage of human development Vis-à-vis the prevailing gender crisis in African society.
The sex of girl child places her at disadvantage as far as African culture is concerned. Many schools have argued that African women’s vulnerability to HIV/AIDS is rooted in the existing strong gender inequalities in the distribution of resources (Philipson and Posner, 1995, Weiss, 1993). They are the worst hit by the system in the aspect of child education and other related child rights. Ezeh (2001) has warned that gender stereotyping among Nigerian society is a very topical issue in role assigning. According to Lanbonc and Vockell (1981), Jacobs (1991) this constitute serious problems in the role assigning between the two sexes which invariably influence their performance. The gender issues associated with one’s sex include roles, attributes, attitude preferences etc in a given culture. Biologically, sex is referred to as anatomical and physiological differences that develop on the basis of genes present at conception (Ben, 1981). These unique differences in attributes pose a serious challenge to how girl-child is perceived and treated in African society. Girl child is neglected physically, emotionally and even are psychologically abused. They are neglected educationally, socially and morally. Nwaiwu (2004), had noted that the stereotype upbringing foundation laid by parents between the two sex, the boy and the girl infact led to the regardless of the girl-child. The girl child abuse and neglect coupled with poverty and self aggrandizement are critical factors in current development of sexual risk attitude among them. Keeping women poor, it is said gives prosperous men ready access to multiple sex partners because the price of women’s sexual services will be low (Barker and Rich, 1992).
Since, development is understood psychologically to mean a process of becoming which is determined through exogenous and endogenous factors (Ebigbo, 1999), sexual development like other forms of human development can involve changes that can create serious sexual problems (Choice of risky sex acts as means of economic redress). Thus, the crisis in human sexual attitude of adolescent, given poverty and world of ostentatious living is never deliberate. Development takes place through crisis and the process of over coming them is turbulous (Ebigbo, 1999). Developmental crisis sometimes are conscious or latent; therefore, the ability to resist or over come it depends on the support and level of nurture and care received from the social system.
The current wave of sexual risk attitude among adolescents is borne out of our inability to perceive the wrath of HIV/AIDS pandemic and the debilitating effects of the socioeconomic crisis, and inability of the social system to provide necessary support early enough to avert the negative trend. Sufficient evidence abounds today that unmanaged, unfulfilled life experiences and early childhood socioeconomic crisis leads to unprecedented sexual risk attitudes. Frustration and stress stimulated by these failures hit up sexual adjustment problems. Iwundu (1999) has reported that psychological and social factors generate stress and reactive depression that later lead to maladjustment. Such factors as enumerated by Mitchell (1975) include poverty, bad weather, loss of status, separation, unemployment, dictatorship, reductionism (reducing human beings to the level of animals or machines), isolation, victimization, guilt or loss of one’s relation etc. Mitchell further stressed that a transient, non current depression precipitated by an intensely distressing events such as loss of loved one, loss of job or financial setback etc occasion maladjustment. It becomes pertinent to assume then, that such risky acts as transactional sex with total disregard to its health implications emanates from frustrations and stress that originates from the failure of the economic system to support the developing young stars.
The news across the globe is sufficient enough to acquaint anybody about the trauma, anxiety, stress and depression sexual risks have generated. Yet, each an everyone of us on daily basis leads a life equally more complex and complicated in our sexual lives due to poverty and faulty awareness of the reality of HIV/AIDS pandemic. A review of sexual attitudes and practices from 1900 – 1980 reveals two important trends (Darling, Kallen, and VanDusen, 1984); first the percentage of young people reporting intercourse has dramatically increased; and secondly, the proportion of females reporting sexual intercourse has increased more rapidly than that of males, although the initial base for males was higher. In a related study Santrock (1980) reports that prior to 1970 about twice as many young males as females had reported having engaged in sexual intercourse, but since, 1970, the proportion of males and females has become about equal. According to Santrock, these changes suggests major shift in the standard governing sexual attitude – movement away from double standard in which it was more acceptable for males than females to have sexual intercourse.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Despite global advances in sexual education and HIV/AIDS management, Nigeria continues to sound rather indifferent about sexual health precautions—a predicament considerably worse than that endured by our forefathers. Nigerians remained sensitive and vulnerable people, ruled by their emotions and influenced by their passions, adjusting more or less well to the unfavorable and unreachable rhythms of shifting socioeconomic order and stress.
The purpose of this study is to examine the association between poverty, gender, HIV/AIDS awareness, and sexual risk attitudes. Regrettably, despite concerted anti-heterosexual and premarital sex campaigns, traditional and contemporary medical technologies and tactics for sex control in Nigeria have resisted all measures. The scenario poses a grave challenge to Nigeria’s previously accepted sexual script and sex education system, implying that the different sex control measures now in use have little effect on the lives of students. The recurrence of heterosexual acts, premarital sex, transactional sex, and non-use of condoms following appropriate sex education and sex control campaigns may be primarily related to poverty and lack of understanding of the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
It is against this backdrop that the researcher intends to study the impact of poverty, gender and awareness of HIV/AIDS on sexual risk attitude of Nigerian undergraduates. Sexual attitude is a malleable and unstable entity that can be affected or influenced by so many factors. Like metal, sexual attitude can be pressed or pulled into different shapes.
Therefore, in the study, several polar variable such as poverty (manipulated as poor and rich), awareness of HIV/AIDS (manipulated as real and unreal), as well as gender (manipulated as male and female) were compared so as to observe necessary influences on the participants’ sexual risk attitude.
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
Though, the thrust of current Nigerian government policy against poverty is to enable the poor and more vulnerable sections of society to achieve sustainable livelihoods, it has not been very clear how these policies address the undergraduates economic needs.
Therefore, the purpose of the study will be to investigate and establish whether poverty, gender and awareness of HIV/AIDS influence sexual risk acts among undergraduates in Nigeria. More precisely, the purpose of the study will include:
- To determine whether poverty stimulates the tendency to engage in sexual risk attitude.
- To ascertain whether awareness of HIV/AIDS impacts on sexual risk attitude.
- To investigate whether poverty instigates misawareness of the demise of the HIV/AIDS and lead to sexual risk attitude
- To find out whether gender influences sexual risk attitude among undergraduates.
RESEARCH QUESTION
Thus, the study will attempt to answer the following questions:
- Does poverty impact on sexual risk attitude?
- Does awareness of HIV/AIDS influence sexual risk attitude?
- Does gender influence sexual risk attitude?
OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF TERMS
POVERTY: Objective lack of basic undergraduates’ requirements (e.g school fees, good meals, Instructional materials, good accommodations, good Medicare, clothing and make-ups) as measured by the Adolescents’ Poverty Scale (SPS).
AWARENESS OF HIV/AIDS: Seeing HIV/AIDS as real or unreal as measured by the Awareness/Attitude to HIV/AIDS Scale (AAS).
SEXUAL RISK ATTITUDE: An un-protective sexual exercise/activity (e.g. non use of condom) as measured by the Adolescents’ Sexual Risk Attitude Scale (SSRBS). GENDER: The fact of being male or female.
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Full Project – IMPACT OF POVERTY, GENDER AND AWARENESS OF HIV/AIDS ON ADOLESCENTS’ SEXUAL RISK ATTITUDE