Influence of Child Abuse on the Performance of Junior Secondary School Students in Nigeria
CHAPTER ONE
Objectives of the Study
The broad objective of the study is to investigate the effect of child abuse on academic performance of Junior Secondary school student in Bariga Local Government Area.
Specifically, the study seeks to investigate;
- The effect of child abuse on Junior Secondary school students’ assessments grades and academic performance.
- The effect of child abuse on Junior Secondary school students’ participation in the class and academic performance.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
Conceptual Framework
The relevant documentation available in literatures as regards concepts relating to child abuse and performance in the academic domain are brought to book in this section of the literature review for this study.
The Concept of Child Abuse and Neglect
The maltreatment of children is deeply enmeshed in historical values and perspectives. The concept of child abuse has been defined and redefined throughout history. Society is slowly evolving from viewing children as property, subject to the whims of the family and society, to the recognition that children have rights of their own. Each period in history as well as each culture has a concept of how children should be treated.
The term child abuse is seen as the process by which children are exposed to maltreatments by parents or guardian. Axmaher (2010) defined child abuse as any mistreatment or neglect of the child that result in non-accidental harm or injury and which cannot be reasonably explained. Obekpa (2011) view child abuse as any condition injurious to physical or emotional health that has been inflicted by parents, guardian or other caretakers. Igbo and Ekoja (2013) defines it as a non-accidental injury inflicted on a child by a parent or guardian.
The African Network for Prevention and Protection Against Child Abuse and Neglect (ANPPCAN, 2012) defines child abuse as “the intentional, unintentional or well intentional acts which endanger the physical health, emotional, moral and the educational welfare of children. Child abuse can be seen as any act of omission or commission, physical or psychological mistreatment or neglect of a child by its parents, guardians, caregiver or other adults that may endanger the child’s physical, psychological or emotional health and development. In this definition, wrongfully maltreating a child or selfishly making an unfair use of a child’s services by adults responsible for the child constitutes child abuse. Thus the adult may not be directly related to the child but a person in whose care the child is left can be an abuser. This may include the educators, healthcare workers, day care workers, or other responsible adults (Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2013).
A child is said to be abused when the parents or care givers action leads to physical, emotional and sexual abuse of the child. It also involves failure of the parents to provide the necessary love and care for the child. An abuse according to Isanghedehi (2004) could be seen in three perspectives physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. To Oniyama, Oniyama and Asamaigbo (2004), child abuse manifest in four main categories viz; physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse and neglect. Child abuse and neglect consists of any acts of commission or omission by a parent or other caregiver that results in harm, potential for harm, or the threat of harm to a child (0–18 years of age) even if the harm is unintentional (Gilbert et al., 2009). Child maltreatment refers to any non-accidental behaviour by parents, caregivers, other adults or older adolescents that is outside the norms of conduct and entails a substantial risk of causing physical or emotional harm to a child or young person. Such behaviours may be intentional or unintentional and can include acts of omission (i.e., neglect) and commission (i.e., abuse) (Bromfield, 2005; Christoffel, et al., 2010). In this study, a child will be said to be abused when the parents, care givers or any human action leads to physical, emotional, spiritual and sexual abuse of the child. It also involves failure of the parents to provide the necessary love and care for the child. Also, the term “child abuse and neglect” and “child maltreatment” will be used interchangeably.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Area of Study
Bariga is a district and suburb in Lagos State, Nigeria. It was formerly under Somolu local government area of Lagos State but in 2013 it was upgraded by the State government as a Local Council Development Area. The local government secretariat is located at 19, Bawala street, Bariga. Arguably defined by its natural style as quick to fit. It presently has as its Chairman Alabi Kolade David. It is the location of the oldest secondary school in Nigeria. (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). According to 2006 population census, the population of Bariga is about 1,025,123.
Research Design
The research design used for the study is survey design. The design is deemed appropriate since data were collected from the elements or subjects without imposing any condition or treatment on them. More importantly the design allows the researcher to use the questionnaire and/or interview methods to collect data. Since the main objective of the study is to investigate the effect of child abuse on academic performance of Junior Secondary school students; the design will enable adequate control of variance and describe the how of the factors that supported matters under investigation.
Population of the Study
The population of the study is all the 195 public Secondary schools in Bariga Local Government Area of Lagos state listed in the gazette of Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (BSUBEB) in 2012/2013 session. This is because the research is aimed at studying the entire public Secondary schools in Bariga Local Government Area.
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
Introduction
This chapter is presented under the following heading; data presentation, analysis, interpretation and discussion of findings. The sample size for the study is 1100 respondents and so 1100 copies of the questionnaires were administered randomly to the identified respondents but only 1027 copies constituting 93.4% were completed and returned. 81 copies constituting 7.4% of the retuned questionnaires were unusable and so only 946 copies constituting 86.0% were analyzed.
The table presents the distribution of respondents according to their ages. The table shows that 213 students who constitute 24.9% were between the ages of 3-6 years, 334 students who constitute 39.0% were between the ages of 7-10 years, while 310 students who constitute 36.2% were between the ages of 11 years and above. This shows that the sample was adequately represented by students of different school age brackets thus, an adequate representation of all school ages in the sample.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Introduction
This chapter presents the summary of the study, the conclusion reached from the study, recommendations arising from the research findings, and the suggestions for further studies.
Summary
The research centers on investigating the effects of child abuse on academic performance of Junior Secondary school students. By this, it investigates the effects of child abuse on academic performance of public Secondary school students’ in Bariga Local Government Area of Lagos State. Child abuse is not a new phenomenon in the history of man. It has been going on right from time immemorial. In Africa/Nigerian society what constitute abuse today has never been regarded as abuse. It has been seen as a way of training the child to become a well behaved, disciplined and self actualized person in society. It is a normal process that children from birth be exposed to a variety of experiences from parents, caregivers and other adults in the society. This is to enable the children acquire the necessary basic norms and skills for effective participation in the society where they belong and for their personal growth and development. The process of acquiring these skills is sometimes stressful for the children to bear. Some parents and care givers make the condition for acquiring these skills so difficult that the children may find it difficult to cope. The condition in which children are exposed to as they try to acquire the skills to become disciplined and hardworking individuals is where the problems lie. When these conditions become over-stretched it becomes an abuse.
The main problem on hand here is that at the heart of every educational system lays the desire for the students, teachers and the institutions to achieve their educational goals; however, the extent to which this desire is achieved in the study period of a student varies based on individual differences. Individual differences in academic performance have been linked to differences in intelligence and personality. Students with higher mental ability as demonstrated by IQ tests and those who are higher in conscientiousness (linked to effort and achievement motivation) tend to perform highly in academic settings. A recent meta-analysis suggested that mental curiosity (as measured by typical intellectual engagement) has an important influence on academic performance in addition to intelligence and conscientiousness. Despite high mental abilities, conscientiousness and intellectual engagement demonstrated by most children it has been observed of late that the academic performance of children in public Secondary schools in the State, particularly, in Bariga Local Government Area is becoming low. It has also been observed that in this recent times issues of child abuse and neglect is on the rise in the local government due to economic depression caused by the global economic backdrop and incessant social/civil unrests. One wonders if such low academic performance is as a result of the abuse/maltreatment children are exposed to. This became the motivation to investigate the effect of child abuse on academic performance of Junior Secondary school students in Bariga Local Government.
Specifically, the study investigates the personal characteristics of students’ and teachers in public Secondary schools in Bariga Local Government Area and tries to determine the effects of child abuse on students’ assessment grades and participation in class activities which are identified as measures of academic performance of Junior Secondary school students’ in Bariga Local Government Area. In order to achieve the above objectives the following research questions are advanced by the research: What is the extent of the effects of child abuse on students’ assessment grades and academic performance? What is the extent of the effects of child abuse on students’ participation in class activities and academic performance?
In furtherance of the efforts to achieve the research objectives, the following hypotheses are projected: Child abuse has no significant effect on students’ assessment grades and academic performance; Child abuse has no significant effect on students’ participation in class activities and academic performance.
The importance of this study cannot be overemphasized because in a society where children’s academic performance in most public schools is getting lower, any study which will discover some of the causes will be very relevant. Many research studies have been carried out outside of Lagos State on child abuse and its effect on students’ academic performance. There is need therefore for such a study to be carried out in our locality with different cultural settings. The result of this study will be an added advantage to governments stand on child’s right act and care, if it shows a significant influence. Parents, Guardians, Teachers, other caregivers and the general public will find the result of this study useful, as it will reveal to them the need for effective care and protection of their children, especially the importance of providing educational needs for a higher academic performance. The research will also be a resource of value to other researchers carrying out research on the topic or similar subject matter.
The study is intended to cover all the 195 public Secondary schools in Bariga Local Government Area. However, due to time and financial limitations the study is limited to 20 selected public Secondary schools. The researcher deems it appropriate to select these Secondary schools because all the state owned Secondary schools are attended by almost children of the same social class and a bound the face the same social and life challenges. Also, the calibers of teachers that teach in such schools are mostly of same social orientation. More so, the researcher targets to cover 10% of the total number of public Secondary schools in the Local Government.
The study is also limited to the issue of child abuse and academic performance of Junior Secondary school students since it will be too cumbersome to study all the factors that deter academic performance of school children in the area.
The survey research design was adopted for the study and the analysis was purely descriptive. The population of the study was all the 195 public Secondary schools identified in Bariga Local Government Area. The study adopts a probability sampling technique; to be precise, the simple random sampling technique and in this manner the study selected 20 public Secondary schools for a closer study, and the close-ended questionnaire was used to elicit data from respondents and was designed based on a three points “Likert-Summated Rating Scale” range from 1 (Disagreed) to 3 (Agree). This satisfies data collection through the primary source.
Secondary source of data collection include textbooks, journal articles and annual reports both from the internet and hard copies. These materials have been reviewed to draw relevant information on the research topic and have formed the basis for the design and formulation of the conceptual framework, theoretical framework, and the empirical studies.
The one-sample t-test was adopted to evaluate the variables since the data is parametric, which is the basis of testing the relevant hypotheses. Percentages and frequencies were also used to analyze characteristics of respondents. A cut-off mean of 2 was set as the bench mark. Based on the test, it was revealed that; child abuse has significant effects on students’ assessment grades as well as their participation in class activities thereby having significant effects on their overall academic performance.
Conclusion
In the study, the researcher tried to investigate the effects of child abuse on academic performance of students’ in public Secondary schools in Bariga Local Government Area of Lagos State. This was done through investigation of the personal characteristics (data) of students’ and teachers in public Secondary schools and the effect of child abuse on students’ assessment grades and their participation in class which are identified to be measures of academic performance of Junior Secondary school students’ in Bariga Local Government Area of Lagos state.
The statistical analysis reveals that; child abuse has significant effects on students’ assessment grades and their participation in class activities during and after lessons periods. Base on this, the research therefore conclude that child abuse has significant effects on academic performance of Junior Secondary school students’ in Bariga Local Government Area of Lagos state.
Recommendations
Based the findings, the research recommend the following:
- The effects of child abuse on children‘s classroom behaviour and later academic performance should receive attention in education policy forums; and that parents should always relate to their children with love and affection and provide for their needs.
- There should be public enlightenment programs to combat mass ignorance and public awareness on the right to freedom from all forms of child abuse.
- As much as possible, teachers/caregivers should avoid the use of corporal punishment because it only teaches children that violence is the best way of maintaining control and it encourages them to hit other children.
- There should be provision of nurturing and supportive child friendly school, learning environment free from noise, distractions, discrimination and abuse of any kind.
- A child should not be disciplined when the adult’s anger is out of control.
- Intense awareness should be created among teachers and school managers using seminars, workshops and training programs about what constitutes child abuse.
- All forms of abuse should be exposed to this class of caregivers so as to draw their attention to some of the unintentional acts that bother on child abuse.
- Teaching profession should be professionalized to ensure that there is no one teaching as a second best option, this would ensure that people in this profession really see it as their contribution to society’s development.
- Penalty for teachers’ who commit sexual abuse with their students should be severe enough to deter other perpetrators.
Limitations of the Study
The major limitation of the study is that instead of the research to sample individual opinion as designed, it ended up sampling group opinions, for it become evident to the researcher that most of the questionnaires were attended to in groups and thus reflects the dominant opinion of a group voice. It is worthy to note that this was beyond the powers of the researcher to control. However, the validity of the findings and the research conclusion is still significant.
Suggestions for Further Studies
This study is not restricted neither it is conclusive, student, independent researchers, organizations or any group of person(s) wishing to make further inquiries of the topic are at liberty to do so, they may even find this report of much resource. However, the researcher suggests the following areas for further studies:
- The effects of sexual child abuse on social life and educational attainments of children in Lagos State.
- The implications of spiritual child abuse on mental health and development of primary and secondary school students’ in Tiv land.
- An assessment of the incidence emotional child neglect in Lagos State.
- Educational child neglect and its implication on security of Nigeria.
References
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