Prevalence, Pattern and Risk Factors of Dating Violence among Undergraduate Students of a Tertiary Institution within Sokoto Metropolis of Sokoto State, Nigeria

Aim: To determine the prevalence, pattern and risk factors of dating violence among undergraduate students of Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto (UDUS).

Methodology: It was a descriptive cross-sectional study involving 340 undergraduate students, selected via multistage sampling technique. A structured self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from the respondents, and data were analyzed using IBM SPSS version 26.0 and Microsoft Excel 2016.

Results: The ages of the respondents ranged from 18 to 29 years, with mean of 22.4±2 years; 218(66.9%) were males, 214(65.6%) were Hausa/Fulani and 266(81.9%) were Muslims. Majority of the respondents have been in a dating relationship for more than one academic year; 106(37.3%) of the dating partners were students of the university, of which 26(24.8%) were class mates. Current and lifetime prevalence of dating violence were 56% and 59.5% respectively. Form of dating violence experienced mostly by respondents was emotional/psychological violence [44(22.4%)], physical violence was the least experienced [27(14.04%)]. Up to 93(48%) of the dating violence took place on campus and 68(35%) of the perpetrators were current partners. Factors associated with dating violence included feeling overburdened by partners’ demands, and spending too much on partner.

Conclusion: Current and lifetime prevalence of dating violence were high and emotional violence was the commonest form of dating violence experienced by respondents. There is need for school authorities to put in place mechanisms to identify victims of dating violence and come up with measures aimed at stemming the tide of dating violence in university campuses.