SAME SEX CONSCIOUSNESS AND ACTIVITY AMONG UNIVERSITY STUDENTS IN SOUTHERN NIGERIA

Abstract

Aim: To assess knowledge, perception, estimate prevalence of same sex attraction amongst 
students.
Methods: A cross-sectional analytical study was carried out among 406 students of Igbinedion 
University, Okada, Edo State. The respondents were selected by multistage sampling method; 
all the students were stratified based on the faculties, departments and year of study. The 
sampling ratio for each year of study was calculated and a proportional allocation was carried 
out. Simple random sampling was applied to select the number of students from each year of 
study by using computer generated numbers. Structured, pre-tested, interviewer-administered 
questionnaire were the tools used for data collection. Data was analyzed using IBM SPSS 
version 20.0 and level of significance was set at p < 0.05.
Result: Only 1.5% of respondents had poor knowledge on same sex attraction. Perception 
among respondents was poor as 47.3% felt that homosexuality involved both emotions and 
sexual relationships of individuals involved. Majority 61.3% believed homosexuality is a choice 
while 40.5% thought of anal diseases as the only health challenge amongst homosexuals. Over 
half 57.5% did not agree there was a rise in homosexual activities while over two third 67.8% of 
respondents felt that homosexual practices are equal among both sexes on campus.
Conclusion: Most of the respondents had good knowledge about same sex attraction and such 
activity among students on campus. Therefore, there is a need to implement programs to 
address homophobic bullying in Nigerian schools and to lobby the education sector to revise 
rules that deny Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) students their academic rights 
through suspension or expulsion in schools.