ABSTRACTS

 The study investigated Sexual violence against female students in Ikpoba Okha local government area, Benin city, Nigeria. The objective of this study was to investigate and highlight sexual violence against female students in Ikpoba Okha local government area, Benin city. The research questions asked to achieve the objective of the study were as follows; does sexual violence against female students happen on a regular basis in secondary schools, what can be done to stop sexual violence in secondary schools, what are the different types of sexual violence and what is the overall long-term effect of sexual violence on female students. The sample size was 311 participants chosen from the study population using the Proportionate Stratified Random Sampling, the research instrument utilized was the questionnaire. Conclusion drawn from the analysis of the data retrieved from the questionnaire indicates that sexual abused is not uncommon in our environment and stimulating the children's competency in recognizing abusive situations and the importance of disclosing the abuse, may be part of the solution to the problem.It would be observed from the findings of the study that sexual harassment creates obvious impact on emotional stability of the victim as evident from the analyzed responses of the cross examined students of selected secondary schools. The statistically significant relationship between the constructs shows a fair but negative interaction between sexual harassment and emotional stability. This implies that the higher the level of sexual harassment experienced by a female student, the lower the rating of her emotional stability. It could therefore be concluded that sexual harassment of whatever dimension exerts severe consequences on the mental health particularly emotional stability of the victim. Recommendations were made based on the findings and they include: The study recommends that school authorities develop/ reinforce policy statement on sexual harassment in schools and establishment of telephone bodines for counselling and prompt response for vulnerable students,  Nigeria as a whole should endeavour to promulgate laws that out rightly criminalizes sexual harassment and slam culprits of such crime with serious punishment to serve as deterrent to others and In light of the lingering effects of the vice on the victim's mental health, counselling units should be established across all tertiary institutions with professional caregivers employed to provide listening ears to helpless victims as well as succour to their predicament.