CHILD EMOTIONAL AND PHYSICAL ABUSE AS PREDICTORS OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS' ACADEMIC ENGAGEMENT IN ATIBA LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, OYO STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

Persistence of child abuse affects students' academic engagement, this research investigated child emotional and physical abuse as predictors of Secondary School students' academic engagement in Atiba Local Government Area, Oyo State. One research question and four hypotheses guided the study. The research adopted the descriptive survey of correlation type.159 junior secondary school students in Atiba Local Government area were randomly selected for the research. Three validated instruments were used for data collection, Child Physical and Emotional Abuse and Academic Engagement Questionnaire (CPEAEQ) were used for data collection in the study locale and their reliability indices are: emotional abuse r= 0.70, physical abuse r= 0.67 while academic engagement is r = 0.75. Data were analyzed using frequency counts and percentages, Pearson Product Moment Correlation and Regression analysis. The results showed that students experienced both emotional and physical abuse in the study locale, students' physical (β= -.58, t= -.282, p˃.05). and emotional abuse (β = .031, t = .486, p ˃ .05). did not relatively contribute to their academic engagement. Also, the students' physical and emotional abuses did not jointly contribute (R=.040, R² =.022, R²= .011, F(2,156) =.128, P˃.05) to their academic engagement; however, educational stakeholders most especially parents and guardians should be handling children excesses with care and love in a way to promote children emotional and physical wellbeing and enhance their self-esteem as well for positive academic engagement.