Psychoactive Substance Use, Sexual Harassment, and Self-Esteem Among Female Nigerian Undergraduates: Prevalence, Patterns, and Associations

Globally, psychoactive substance use (PSU) and sexual harassment of female undergraduates are strongly linked and regarded as major public health concerns. However, research efforts on these problems are yet to be given adequate attention in Nigeria.

This study examined the patterns and predictive influence of PSU on exposure to sexual harassment and the self-esteem of female undergraduates.

Stratified sampling was used to select 500 female polytechnic undergraduates (mean age = 20.8), across four randomly selected departments, who responded to Sexual Experiences survey (SES), Substance Abuse Prevalence scale (SAPS), and Rosenberg Self- Esteem scale. Data collection took place in the school community within five days. Frequency counts were employed to analyze participants’ demographic characteristics, while multiple regression analysis was used to answer the research questions.

Reported patterns of sexual harassment were 62.8%, ranging from 7.4% rape to 39.2% sexual contact. 26.8% of the sexual harassment took place in the school environment with school mates and teachers as perpetrators. The prevalence of PSU was 73.4%. A significant positive correlation was observed between age and PSU, between age and sexual harassment, and between PSU and sexual harassment. PSU significantly predicted exposure to sexual harassment (R2 = 0.065, P = 0.005) but failed to predict self-esteem significantly (R2 = 0.028, P = 0.115).

Our findings revealed the need to urgently curtail sexual harassment of students, considering the threats it poses to the Nigerian academic clime and its staggering cost to the current and future states of the Nigerian society at large.