Demographic Dataset of 507 Student Research Participants on Sexual Orientation, Policy Awareness and Identity Politics among University Students in Southeast Nigeria

Description of the DatasetThe dataset consists of responses from 507 undergraduate students drawn from six universities in Southeast Nigeria, representing both public and private institutions. The dataset includes demographic variables—gender, age, academic level, and university type—as well as thematic variables aligned with the study’s four major research questions. These thematic variables were measured using Likert-scale questionnaire items (1 = Strongly Disagree to 5 = Strongly Agree) and were later categorized into meaningful groups (e.g., high vs. low conservatism, high vs. low concealment, high vs. low policy awareness, and high vs. low coping). The dataset captures students’ levels of cultural and religious conservatism, attitudes toward LGBTQ+ acceptance, identity negotiation and concealment, awareness of national LGBTQ-related policies, and the use of psychoanalytic coping mechanisms such as repression, denial, and displacement. Additional variables document experiences of stigma and discrimination, which were used to examine associations between campus environment and coping patterns.The dataset is structured in rows and columns, with each row representing an individual participant and each column representing a variable. Derived variables, such as categorical groups for chi-square analyses, were computed from the Likert-scale items. The dataset supports both descriptive statistics (frequency distribution, percentages, means) and inferential statistics, including multiple chi-square tests of independence used to test four hypotheses. Notably, the dataset provides a comprehensive empirical foundation for analyzing sexual orientation, policy awareness, campus stigma, and identity politics within Nigerian universities.