Parents’ Perception of the Causes and Effects of Child Abuse in Ondo State, Nigeria

The study examined the causes and effects of child abuse as perceived by parents in Ondo State. The population for the study comprised every parent within the state. From the population, 200 respondents were sampled using purposive sampling technique. The samples were further stratified on the basis of gender, educational status and residence. Data were collected using a researcher designed questionnaire titled Child Abuse Questionnaire (CAQ). The instrument was found valid and reliable with reliability coefficient of 0.79. Data collected were analyzed using percentages and t-test. Based on the findings, parents identified poverty, marital crises, and illiteracy as the main causes of child abuse. Among the identified effects of child abuse are school dropout, poor academic performance, sexual assaults and emotional breakdown. However, significant differences were found in parents’ expressed causes of child abuse on the basis of educational status and residence but parents’ expressed causes of child abuse did not significantly differ on the basis of gender. On the other hand parents’ expressed effects of child abuse also differed, significantly on the basis of educational status and residence but not on gender. It was therefore concluded that parents’ perceptions of causes and effects of child abuse greatly depended on their educational status and residence. Based on these findings, it was recommended that policy makers should come up with more enlighten programmes on effects of child abuse for parents in rural and urban areas.