Child Sexual Abuse Prevalence And Teachers’ Involvement In Its Management Amongst In-School Adolescents In Osun State

Child sexual abuse (CSA) includes a variety of sexual offenses, including: sexual assault, rape,sexual exploitationand sexual grooming. World Health Organization (1999) defined child sexual abuse as the involvement of a child in sexual activity that he or she does not fully comprehend, is unable to give informed consent to, or for which the child is not developmentally prepared and cannot give consent, or that violate the laws or social taboos of society. Child sexual abuse (CSA) includes the entire spectrum of sexual crimes and offenses in which children up to age seventeen are victims (Finkelhor, 2009). This definition includes offenders who are related to the child victims as well as those who are strangers. 

There are many aspects of child sexual abuse (CSA) that make determining the actual magnitude of the problem difficult. First, the term child sexual abuse (CSA) incorporates a variety of activities, ranging from “noncontact” offenses (e.g., intentionally exposing one’s sexual organs to a child) to acts of varying physical intrusiveness (e.g., from fondling to vaginal or anal intercourse). Second, sexual abuse can be seen as a secretive offense, typically occurring in private and leaving no physical signs, which makes detection very difficult. Third, the victims are children who are at different stages of cognitive and language development, which affects whether and how well they disclose the sexual victimization. Finally, because this type of child maltreatment involves sex, addressing the problem has been difficult (Sandy, 2009).

Child sexual abuse (CSA) is a significant public health problem (Satcher, 2001). Although estimates vary depending on the participant sample and definition of sexual abuse used, studies conducted internationally confirm that child sexual abuse (CSA) is a widespread problem. For instance, according to a recent meta-analysis of child sexual abuse (CSA) prevalence studies conducted in 65 countries, one in five women and one in 12 men report suffering some form of sexual abuse before the age of 18 (Pereda et al., 2009). 

In United Kingdom, for example, it was estimated at about 8% for boys and 12% for girls (Baker and Duncan, 1985) while in North America, approximately 15% to 25% of women and 5% to 15% of men were sexually abused when they were children (Gorey and Leslie, 1997). Child sexual abuse (CSA) is considered a significant problem in many African countries, yet few studies actually document incidence or prevalence rates, or examine the unique dynamics in specific African cultures. In South Africa, for instance, over 20, 000 cases of child sexual abuse (CSA) are reported each year, one school sample suggests that 54% of the respondents had experienced child sexual abuse (CSA) with a person at least 5 years their senior (Madu & Peltzer, 2000). UNICEF reports that 40, 000 Kenyan youth (aged 12–19) are exploited in commercial sex every year (United Nations Children’s Fund, 2006). Melesse and Kessie, (2005) posited that among children, sexual abuse is increasing and the girl child is more at risk. An earlier study on female street adolescent in Nigeria found that more than 15.4 % of female adolescent hawkers had procured abortion at least twice; had been pregnant without knowing who was responsible; had experienced rape and also contracted sexually transmitted infections (including HIV) (Osinowo. 1992). A more recent study showed that 30% of the violence experienced by girls on the street is sexual in nature (Fawole, Ajuwon and Osungbade, 2003). This indicates the spread of child sexual abuse (CSA), and this is an issue of great importance because in the traditional Nigerian society, the concept of sexuality is enshrouded in secrecy. In traditional Nigerian society (with poorly developed social network and intervention), many of the girls accept it as their lot and fear of being stigmatized if they should report (Fawole, Ajuwon and Osungbade, 2004). 

Various theoretical explanations are available on the causes of child sexual abuse (CSA), among which include incest, attribution theory, moral development theory, feminist theory and recently family system theory. In response to the growing body of knowledge regarding the scope and consequences of child sexual abuse (CSA), many prevention programs were developed in the late 1970s and widely disseminated in the early to mid-1980s. A universal primary prevention strategy eliminates the stigma of identifying specific children or families as being at risk for sexual abuse and thus avoids costly and intrusive interventions into family privacy. Therefore, recommendations for a comprehensive approach to primary prevention of child sexual abuse (CSA) were introduced and these involve children, parents, professionals as well as the general public in the precautionary process (Sandy, 2009).

There has been a long-standing call to involve parents in child sexual abuse (CSA) prevention efforts (e.g. Reppucci et al., 1994). Several surveys have found that parents lack crucial information about child sexual abuse (CSA) and often adhere to many common myths. For example, studies have found that parents underestimate the prevalence of child sexual abuse (CSA) (Elrod and Rubin, 1993; Olsen and Kalbfl eish, 1999; Tutty, 1993). While the depth and effectiveness of parent-focused efforts are unknown, it will be difficult to eliminate child sexual abuse (CSA) unless parents get involved. Increased concern about high rates of child sexual abuse (CSA) has led to the demand for more prevention programmes, particularly those aimed at parents. For instance, there is an increasing recognition in child protection practice that parents and other adults should be actively engaged in the primary prevention of child sexual abuse (CSA) (Anderson et al., 2004; Reppucci et al., 2005; Resofsky, 2007). In order to develop effective programmes for parents, it is important to understand how parents perceive and respond to the risk of child sexual abuse (CSA), that is, what their knowledge, attitudes and practices are in regard to the risk of sexual abuse to their children. These knowledge, skills, practices and perceptions of parents are all product of cultural beliefs. This is the main aim of this research work “investigating child sexual abuse prevalence and teachers involvement in its management amongst in-school adolescents in Osun State”.