Sexual Victimization among female Secondary School Students in South-South Zone of Nigeria

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine sexual victimization among female secondary school students in the south-south geopolitical zone of Nigeria. To achieve this aim, four (4) research questions and four (4) null hypotheses were formulated and tested. A survey research design was adopted for the study, and data were collected using a researcher-designed questionnaire that contained 33 items. A total of three thousand, two hundred and eighty (3280) secondary school students responded to the instrument. The data gathered were analyzed using the mean and standard deviation to answer research questions, and an independent t-test and an ANOVA were used to test the hypothesis at the 0.05 level of significance. Findings from this study, among others, revealed that female secondary school students in the study area are sexually victimized. This sexual victimization of these secondary school students has affected them psychologically, socially, and physically in terms of their academic pursuits and how they relate to others in the school environment and society at large. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended that the federal and state governments pass a law that could bring to book all the perpetrators of sexual victimization, and the victims of sexual victimization should be able to report anyone who has attempted to victimize them.   Received: 10 January 2023 / Accepted: 25 February 2024 / Published: 6 March 2024