VIOLENCE AND REPRESSIVE TRAUMA AMONG STUDENTS IN SELECTED SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN AWKA NORTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA

Abstract

Violence cannot be shrouded in assumptive layers. This impression is deduced from increased exposure of adolescents in secondary schools to diverse forms of violence which are both domestic and public. This research has investigated verbal abuse, beating, intimidation, pestering from peers, sexual advances, fights or altercations as forms of violence with physical, psychosocial and psychosexual apparatus among students in selected Mixed Community-Based Secondary Schools in Awka North Local Government Area. The implication is that violent experiences have serious consequences which are often incubated in repression, denial, displacement, projection, regression and consistent sublimation—different forms of inherent conscious and unconscious defence mechanisms capable of causing anxiety, death, absent mindedness, low performance, absenteeism and heightened trauma (neurosis or dissociation). This study further highlights the gender binary perspectives—masculine and feminine identities as well as visible trends in the stimulation of violent culture within the context of study. The selected schools are investigated to ascertain the impact of violence on students’ physical, psychological and emotional health. This research has employed the interview of persons, observation and completion of questionnaire as techniques for collecting data. 578 students have been surveyed using a structured format. The collected data has been analyzed using frequencies with descriptive interpretation. The research has ascertained that the common negative effects or impacts of violence impinge on mental wellness, academic success and school attendance—a form of internalized emotional strain. The study has further revealed the lack of institutional structures such as school safety committees, anti-bullying laws and surveillance intervention programmes—hence the need for enforceable and sustainable policies and structures.