Abstract
Objective: Nigeria’s effort to curb the spiralling pandemic of HIV has yielded little result despite her reputation as
the country with the second largest number of HIV infected persons in the world. Theories of preventive health
behaviour posit that perceived vulnerability to health threats motivates self-protective behaviour. This study aimed to
examine the predicting role of the psychosocial and gender factors in the perception of vulnerability to HIV infection.
Design: This survey study adopted a cross-sectional research design.
Method: Participants were young and middle aged adult-volunteers (N= 302, male = 181, female = 121, mean
age = 23.9 years) drawn from four local Governments in Benin City of Nigeria. Participants responded to a
standardized self-reported questionnaire consisting demographics, ambivalent sexism, gender stereotype, sexual
assertiveness, health locus of control, and perceived vulnerability scales. Data analyses include descriptive,
Pearson moment correlation, t-test, ANOVA and multiple regression analyses.
Result: Data showed that age, gender stereotype, hostile sexism, benevolent sexism, sexual assertiveness and
health locus of control jointly accounted for 24.4% (p < 0.001) of the variance observed in the participants’
perception of their vulnerability to HIV infection. Independently, only gender stereotype and hostile sexism
contributed significantly to the observed variance. Poor perception of vulnerability to HIV infection was significantly
and positively related to hostile sexism, benevolent sexism, gender stereotype and higher external locus of control.
Recommendation: Attitude change programmes should be more gender sensitive and targeted to challenge
sexist orientation, gender stereotypes and health belief system.
the country with the second largest number of HIV infected persons in the world. Theories of preventive health
behaviour posit that perceived vulnerability to health threats motivates self-protective behaviour. This study aimed to
examine the predicting role of the psychosocial and gender factors in the perception of vulnerability to HIV infection.
Design: This survey study adopted a cross-sectional research design.
Method: Participants were young and middle aged adult-volunteers (N= 302, male = 181, female = 121, mean
age = 23.9 years) drawn from four local Governments in Benin City of Nigeria. Participants responded to a
standardized self-reported questionnaire consisting demographics, ambivalent sexism, gender stereotype, sexual
assertiveness, health locus of control, and perceived vulnerability scales. Data analyses include descriptive,
Pearson moment correlation, t-test, ANOVA and multiple regression analyses.
Result: Data showed that age, gender stereotype, hostile sexism, benevolent sexism, sexual assertiveness and
health locus of control jointly accounted for 24.4% (p < 0.001) of the variance observed in the participants’
perception of their vulnerability to HIV infection. Independently, only gender stereotype and hostile sexism
contributed significantly to the observed variance. Poor perception of vulnerability to HIV infection was significantly
and positively related to hostile sexism, benevolent sexism, gender stereotype and higher external locus of control.
Recommendation: Attitude change programmes should be more gender sensitive and targeted to challenge
sexist orientation, gender stereotypes and health belief system.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1-8 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Journal of Psychology and Psychotherapy |
| Volume | 5 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 17 Apr 2015 |