Published Article

ABSTRACT

The study was carried out to assess the prevalence of emotional child abuse and its effects on primary five pupils self-esteem and academic performance in Akwa Ibom State. Expost-Facto design was adopted in this study. The study was carried out in Akwa Ibom state. The targeted population for the study comprised of all primary five pupils in both private and public primary school in Akwa Ibom state. A stratified sampling technique was used in selecting 50 primary five students from each of the 3 senatorial districts (Uyo, Ikot Ekpene and Eket). This gave a total of 150 respondents, which formed the sample size for this study. The instrument used for data collection was a structured questionnaire titled “Emotional Child Abuse questionnaire (ECAQ). Face and content validation of the instrument was carried out by an expert in test, measurement, and evaluation in order to ensure that the instrument has the accuracy, appropriateness, and completeness for the study under consideration. The reliability coefficient obtained was 0.79, and this was high enough to justify the use of the instrument. The researcher subjected the data generated for this study to appropriate statistical technique such descriptive statistics to answer research questions and regression analysis to test the hypothesis. The study concludes that emotional child abuse is a serious social problem that negatively affects children’s emotional well-being and academic development. Besides, emotional child abuse constitutes a major threat to pupils’ psychological health and academic success. It therefore recommends increased sensitization of parents, teachers, and caregivers, as well as the implementation of effective child protection policies and school-based intervention programs in Akwa Ibom State.