Knowledge, Prevalence and Pattern of Sexual Violence among Students in Lagos State Primary Schools

Abstract

This study is a report of the understanding of primary school pupils of the prevalence and forms of sexual violence in Lagos state, Nigeria. The sample for the study consisted of 400 pupils, 188 males and 212 females, aged 6 -12 years, randomly selected from 16 rural/urban primary schools in Lagos State. Knowledge Prevalence and Pattern of Sexual Violence Questionnaire (KPSVQ) was used for data collection. Four research questions guided the study to examine the differences, knowledge, prevalence, pattern, and experience of pupils on sexual violence across age, sex, school type and setting. Results show that pupils in primary schools are well informed of sexual violence and its form; verbal, physical, non-verbal and quid pro quo. Majority of the respondents (79.5%) affirmed that girls are major victims and their major source of information is the media.  Strangers (60.1%), were identified as major perpetrators and willingness to report had a significantly high percentage (59.3%). Significant difference exists in sex and setting on knowledge of child abuse (t (398) = 2.21, p = .03 & 4.68, p = .00 < 0.05) but no age difference (t (398) = .55, p = .59 > 0.05) and no difference was found across sex, age and setting on the experience of child abuse (t (398) =.63, p = .53 > 0.05). No significant difference was also found between setting and reporting (t (398) = 1.63, p = .10 > 0.05). Based on the findings, it was recommended that the community must rise up to the zero-tolerance policy for all forms of sexual violence, government should ensure the enforcement of all laws on sexual violence particularly that of treating sexual violence as a criminal offence. Since the media is the major source of information, the media should be used for the education and public enlightenment programmes on sexuality education, preventive/defensive strategies, the government must ensure improved power supply to facilitate coverage and every individual must be willing to provide a safe and caring environment for every child.