Social dimension of risk behaviours among adolescent prostitutes: Insight from South-Western Nigeria

Abstract

This study examined the social dimension of risk behaviours among adolescent prostitutes in Lagos metropolis, Nigeria. More specifically, it examined the relationship between educational attainment and use of drug among female adolescent sex workers, investigated the relationship between use of drug and tendency for criminal behaviour among female adolescent sex workers, examined the impact of drug use on the nature of sex of female adolescent sex workers, established the relationship between educational attainment and consistent use of male condom by female adolescent sex workers. Cross-sectional survey and in-depth interview research methods were adopted to generate both quantitative and qualitative data from the respondents. Findings of the study showed that 90.7% of the respondents joined the sex industry because of poverty and lack of other means of getting daily food. 98.6% of the respondents that participated in the research inquiry had knowledge about diseases that can be transmitted through sexual intercourse; while all the respondents had knowledge about the existence of HIV/AIDS, 91.7% of them identified sexual intercourse as a major route of HIV transmission. There was a significant relationship between the use of drug and nature of sex of female sex workers at P < 0.05. Specifically, 99.7% of the respondents used male condoms regularly in every sexual act, 5.5% of the respondents used female condoms at irregular intervals in every sexual act, while 84.8% compromised the use of condoms with financial rewards. Consequently, a high percentage of the population was assumed to be at risk of HIV/AIDS, while 7.2% of the sample had become pregnant while on the job and 3.1% of these pregnancies were terminated through induced abortion. Furthermore, 44.1% of the drug-addicted and low-income sex workers were found to be mostly involved in criminal activities while 60.3% of the sampled populations were victims of different types of violent sexual experience. In conclusion, socio-economic constraints are the primary factors that push adolescent girls into prostitution in Nigeria and these same factors hinder them from practicing safe sex within the sex industry. Thus, it is recommended that the Nigerian government should develop programmes that will reduce poverty level and unemployment trend, in order to reduce adolescent/adult prostitution with its attendant problems of HIV transmission and criminal activities in the country.