HIV/AIDS Awareness and Adolescent Students’ Involvement in Sexual Relationships in Secondary Schools in Cross River State: The Rural-Urban Narratives

Abstract

This correlational research is aimed at determining the relationship between HIV/AIDS awareness and adolescents’ involvement in sexual relationships. The study was carried out in Cross River State. Three research questions guided the conduct of the research, while three null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 alpha level. All the 6449 SS2 students in  the 18 public secondary schools in Calabar Municipality and Ogoja Local Government Areas constituted the population of the study. The sample used consisted of SS 2 students who were randomly drawn from ten secondary schools. The instrument for the data collection was a questionnaire named HIV/AIDS Awareness and Adolescents’ Involvement in Sexual Relationships Questionnaire (HAAISRQ). One expert each in Health Education, Educational Psychology and Measurement and Evaluation validated the instrument. The reliability coefficient scores of 0.84 and 0.86 for HIV/AIDS awareness and involvement in sexual relationships were respectively obtained through the test-re-test method. The data collected were analysed using simple percentage, Pearson product Moment Correlation and t-test. The results obtained from the data analyses showed that there was a significant relationship between  urban and rural secondary schools. It was further found that students in urban secondary schools were more involved in sexual relationships than their rural counterparts. It was recommended, among other things that more HIV/AIDS awareness campaigns should be done in the rural secondary schools  while guidance and counseling services should be provided in all secondary schools and sexuality education should also be introduced in all our secondary schools.