The Impact of Family Type, Gender and Perception of Sexual Harassment among In-School Adolescents in Ondo State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study investigated the impact of family type and gender on the perception of sexual harassment among in-school adolescents in Ondo State, Nigeria. Five family types were considered : divorced parents, single parent,  dead parents,  parents staying together, one dead parents and separated parents. The study also compared the perception of adolescents to sexual harassment on the basis of gender. The population for the study consisted of four hundred and seventy three students (473) drawn from five local government areas of Ondo State. Simple random sampling procedure was used to select the local government and schools used for the research. The respondents were made to respond to a structured questionnaire titled Perception of Sexual Harassment among Adolescents Inventory (PSHAAT) to give information on their family type, gender and perception of sexual harassment.  The instrument has a reliability of 0.70 and was validated using both face and content validity. The data generated were analyzed using frequency counts, percentage and mean. Two hypotheses were formulated and tested using t-test and ANOVA Statistical procedures. The result indicated that there were no significant difference found on the basis of family type and gender on the perception of sexual harassment among adolescents. Recommendations were made about need for cordial relationship between adolescents and their parents. The need for exposure of adolescent to sex education was also stressed.

Keywords: Perception, sexual harassment, gender, family type, adolescents.