Birth Order as a Possible Correlate of Child Abuse

Abstract

The study investigated the difference in the level of abuse experienced based on the birth order of a child among public secondary school students in south-west Nigeria. A descriptive research design of exploratory type was adopted for the study. A total of 1, 440 public secondary school students in 36 schools from 9 local government areas in 3 southwestern states of Nigeria, were sampled for this study. Out of these students, 695 students were found to be abused and their responses formed the data that were analysed for this study. A self constructed questionnaire titled Child Abuse Questionnaire (CAQ) was administered on the students after validation. The instrument has construct validity coefficient of 0.83. The statistical technique used was a one-way ANOVA. The result of the analysis showed that there is a significant difference between the level of abuse experienced by the first child and the children who occupy other birth positions. Based on the finding, it is recommended among others that parents should not give their first child tasks that are too heavy for them and that every child needs tender care of the parents including the first born child.