The Influence of Age, Gender and Parental Education on Adolescents' HIV/AIDS-Related Knowledge in Badan Metropolis, Nigeria

In this study, adolescents' knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs related to HIV and AIDS were examined based upon their age, gender, and parents' educational status. Data from several parts of Nigeria point to sexual activity in unmarried adolescents of both sexes and show a progressively decreasing age of initiation. Evidence from Nigerian studies revealed a high level of AIDS awareness among adolescents, although there were some misconceptions. "Part of the problems noted includes inaccurate notions and beliefs about AIDS, which reflect old ideas rooted in the customs and tradition of the people. Some findings have found that a quarter of this segment of the adolescent population believed that HIV and AIDS was a curse from God, while others blame witches, wizards and other supernatural forces." [Footnotes removed by the editor.]

This research was conducted on a sample of 1,902 participants, ages 12-20 years, selected cross-sectionally from a population of over 25,000 adolescents. Age groups were divided: 12-15 and 16-20 years old. Parents' educational status was divided into three groups: not educated (n=85, 4.6%), educated (n=712, 37.4%), and highly educated (n=1,068, 57.3%) A questionnaire that measured HIV/AIDS awareness and knowledge of transmission was administered to the students in their different schools.

Results indicated the following HIV/AIDS-related knowledge on the existence of the epidemic, modes of transmission, and adolescents' vulnerabilities:

• "Respondents' awareness of AIDS was high with 83.8% reported having heard of AIDS, believed its existence (94%) and that the virus can be contracted the first time an individual engage in sexual intercourse (73.3%).
• More than eighty seven percent (87.5%) of respondents believed that there was something that a person can do to avoid AIDS. 
• Many of the respondents also know that a healthy looking person can be infected with HIV virus (78.4%)...
• [A]nd a substantial percentage (47.5%) believed AIDS is curable in some cases [a belief more prevalent in the older age category]. 
• On modes of transmission, 68.1% of adolescents know that HIV can be contracted through circumcision, bloodletting or transfusion and that the use of condom during sexual intercourse reduces the risk of HIV/AIDS (82.5%). 
• The data revealed that 67.6% of sampled adolescents know that HIV infection cannot be passed through sharing of eating utensils with someone with AIDS and approximately 40% of Nigerian adolescence believed that a person could acquire AIDS from a mosquito, flea, or bedbug bite."

A gender analysis showed that more females believed in the existence of HIV/AIDS and that HIV could be contracted at sexual début; more males believed that condom use prevented AIDS and had a better understanding of routes of transmission. Adolescents of more educated parents were likely to have a better understanding of HIV/AIDS on 9 of 12 items on the questionnaire.

However, there were unfounded beliefs among the adolescents surveyed. These include the curability of HIV/AIDS, which reflects cultural myths that can serve as barriers to HIV information, and transmission. Thirty percent believed that sharing eating utensils spread the disease, and 40% believed that it could be contracted from insect bites. "These beliefs are associated and maintained by complex cultural and social processes, many of which are indigenous in origin. In Nigeria, Tanzania, and South Africa, participants in focus groups frequently spoke of traditional concepts and explanations of disease when engaged in conversations about HIV/AIDS, more so ...than with other diseases. This indicates that more culturally congruent ways of disseminating HIV/AIDS information to Nigerian and African youth must be considered. It is possible that these traditional beliefs of HIV/AIDS, impact the way adolescence view its transmission and curability. It also means that future educational efforts must effectively communicate clear explanations...."