Prevalence, patterns, and perceived consequences of child maltreatment at home among secondary school students in Ibadan North Local Government, Oyo State, Nigeria

Child maltreatment includes all forms of physical and/or emotional ill-treatment, sexual maltreatment, neglect or commercial exploitation. This phenomenon results in harm to a child’s health, survival, development or dignity... [ view full abstract ]

Child maltreatment includes all forms of physical and/or emotional ill-treatment, sexual maltreatment, neglect or commercial exploitation. This phenomenon results in harm to a child’s health, survival, development or dignity in the context of a relationship of responsibility, trust or power. The nature and magnitude to which secondary school students have experienced maltreatment has not been fully explored in many developing countries, which might inform prevention interventions.

This study was conducted among 422 students using a two-stage sampling technique. Secondary schools in IBNLGA were stratified into public (87) and private (30) schools and three were selected from each stratum. One arm was selected from each class of Junior Secondary School 1 to Senior Secondary School 3. In the second stage, respondents were selected using proportional allocation. Permission was sought from all schools and assenting students were interviewed. A pre-tested, semi-structured, interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to collect information, using a validated version of ISPCAN Child Abuse Screening Tool. A child was maltreated if he or she experienced at least one form of maltreatment. Maltreatment was measured under four domains: emotional, physical, sexual and neglect on a 28-point scale.

Age of respondents was 13.9±1.8 years, 52.1% were females, 69.5% lived with their parents, while 30.5% lived with guardians. The overall prevalence of at least one form of maltreatment was 97.2%. Forms of maltreatment reported were emotional maltreatment (85.3%), physical maltreatment (81.8%), sexual (47.4%) and neglect (55.9%). Respondents whose fathers attained below tertiary education (41.7%) were significantly more likely to experience all forms of maltreatment compared with those whose fathers attained tertiary education (21.2%).

All forms of child maltreatment were highly prevalent among Ibadan North LGA secondary school students. Implementation of policies and programmes to address the risk factors of child maltreatment and prevent its perceived consequences among the students are therefore recommended.