Parental Communication as a Tool Kit for Preventing Sexual Abuse among Adolescent Secondary School Students

Abstract

This study employed the survey design to investigate the relevance of parent communication in preventing sexual abuse among secondary school students in Nigeria. The instrument for data collection tagged “Parent Communication Strategy for Preventing Sexual Abuse questionnaire” (PCOSPSAQ) , was a researcher designed instrument. It was administered to 686 respondents(266 male and 420 female) 500 and 400 sandwich undergraduates of the University of Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State who were parents to adolescent secondary school students. Mean scores were used to answer the research question while t test and Analysis of Variance (ANNOVA) were used to test the six null hypotheses at .05 alpha level. Findings reveal parents’ irresponsibility, ignorance of sexual abuse signs as well as inability to see and stop sexual abuse before it happens as part of the reasons for showing reluctance to communicate with their adolescents on sexual matters. Findings also reveal no significant difference in parents’ pattern of communication on prevention of sexual abuse based on gender, religion and type of family, but significant difference was found on type of parenting and geo political zones. Recommendations include the need for government and nongovernmental organizations to provide adults and parents resources that could boost their awareness on the things they need do to prevent sexual abuse of their adolescent boys and girls.

Keywords:  Communication, Parents, Adolescents, Sexual Abuse Prevention