PREVALENCE AND PATTERNS OF SEXUAL COERCION OF FEMALE STUDENTS AND PRE-MARITAL OUTCOMES: AN ASSESSMENT OF TERTIARY EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS IN BENUE STATE, NIGERIA.

Sexual threat rests on the continuum of sexually aggressive behavior. This continuum includes many hazardous as well as hostile acts we listen to regularly, such as rape as well as sexual harassment. Rape is one of the most extreme kinds of non-consensual sex. This work is an investigation into coercive sexual activities on female students and premarital sexual outcomes in tertiary institutions of learning in Benue State. The study seeks to determine the prevalence and explore patterns of sexual coercion on female students. The sample for the study comprises 385 female students who were randomly selected across three higher educational institutions in the state. Quantitative data was collected through questionnaires titled 'Sexual Coercion Questionnaire, which will be administered to the 504 female students. Descriptive and inferential statistical tools; percent, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and partial correlation was used to analyze quantitative data and test relationship among variables. The result reveals that different kinds of sex-related threats takes place amongst female students of tertiary institutions in Benue State, Nigeria. The study also reveals that sexual coercion is relatively high in the study area. The research discovers that the age of students does not dramatically influence the experience of sexual coercion among female students of higher institutions. Based on the findings, it is therefore, recommended that female students of higher institutions that encounter sexual coercion or inducements due to their physical features as well as actions that are peculiar to this, should be cautious in handling the opposite sex. Higher institutions’ female students (married as well as unmarried) must desist from harmonious mindsets that might predispose them to sexual coercion. Counselors in tertiary institutions should arrange workshops on women's health and wellness to argue for reliable protection in Nigeria's higher institutions to curb sexually coercive practices. Provision of the hostel of well-safeguarded accommodation for higher institution female students will help in curtailing the menace. Also, institutions should design efficient programs on sexually acceptable practices that would certainly improve a change of behaviour among higher institution female students and the perpetrators of this act.