EFFECTS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ON THE PSYCHOLOGICAL AND BEHAVIORAL DEVELOPMENT OF STUDENTS

ABSTRACT

Domestic abuse affects men and women of all ages, ethnicities, faiths, and incomes. However due to the “secrecy” of domestic abuse, it is swiftly adopting a cloak of a hidden social problem. The “invisibility” of the problem is partly related to the assumption that it is a private family matter, which should not be made known to strangers. Also, domestic violence can have long-term and short-term effects on a child’s school attendance, academic performance, and behavioral patterns in and out of the classroom. The reason for this is that domestic violence in the setting of a child’s performance influences the child’s reaction to life problems and performance level. It is based on these premise that this study sought to examine the effects of domestic violence on the psychological and behavioural development of student’s of the University of Benin. This was achieved using the following questions; how does domestic violence affect the psychological development of students? how does domestic violence affect the behavioral development of students? what are the factors that can help in mitigating the effects of domestic violence? The methodology utilized in this study was a survey involving the use of a questionnaire. The major findings of the study were that; there is a direct correlation between a student’s exposure to domestic violence and their academic achievement and the fear of stigmatization and ostracism often makes student’s to avoid speaking out when abused. Also, the prevalence of violence in student’s  lives is associated with negative effects on their educational experiences and outcomes. The underlying causes of emotional trauma, physical and psychological obstacles to learning, and disruptive behavior in school are often obscured by the secrecy surrounding students being abused or witnessing an abuse. The study therefore recommended amongst other things that; the University of Benin needs to survey the entire campus to find out how many students are affected by domestic violence on campus, and then use their student support services to help those students deal with their experiences and find out if it’s having any negative effects on their academic performance. Passing laws to protect women and children from violence and abuse is important, but such laws may not be effective if they solely adopt a punitive approach and fail to give victims and abusers with sufficient education and counselling. Lastly, to put an end to domestic violence, the study posits that it is everyone’s duty to ensure there are safe places for families to live and raise children. Communities can help tackle this problem by making it simple for residents to file police reports. In order for this problem to be addressed front on across the country, there needs to be a period of heightened public awareness. Healthcare providers must be aware of the true scope of domestic abuse by learning the statistics of both reported and unreported incidents.