Assessment Of Adverse Childhood Experiences Among In-School Adolescents in Lagos State
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Date
2025
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College of Post-graduate Studies, Redeemers University, Ede Nigeria.
Abstract
Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) refer to potentially traumatic events that can negatively affect a person’s general health and well-being and have become
increasingly recognised as a public health concern. Hence, the current study aimed to assess the prevalence of ACEs among in-school adolescents in Lagos State. A descriptive, cross-sectional research design was employed, with both purposive and convenience sampling techniques used to recruit 516 in-school adolescents, 251 males (48.6%) and 265 females (51.4%) from three selected secondary schools in Alimosho local government area of Lagos State. The
participants responded to the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ). Their mean age was 15.02±1.56 years, and an overall 92.5% prevalence rate of adverse childhood experiences was found among these adolescents; 3.1% reported severe ACEs, while 38.8% and 50.6% reported moderate and severe ACEs, respectively. Physical abuse was 42.8%, emotional abuse 86.9% and sexual abuse 32.6%. Both physical and emotional neglect constituted a prevalence rate of 90.5% each. Also found were significant relationships among the components of ACEs- physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, physical neglect and
emotional neglect. Further analysis revealed that the minimisation/denial, which indicates the tendency to present an overly positive view of childhood using
psychological defence mechanisms, was low among the adolescents, with 26.9% having no denial, 28.5% with low denial, 34.5% were moderate, and 10.1% high in denial tendency respectively. This study concluded that there is a high prevalence of adverse childhood experiences among in-school adolescents in Lagos State. They are a serious burden to these adolescents. Therefore, timely psychological interventions should be provided to those who have experienced or are experiencing ACEs.
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Ojo, T. E., Akintola, A. A. & Animashaun, P. O. (2025) Assessment of Adverse Childhood Experiences Among In-School Adolescents in Lagos State. Corpus Intellectual ISSN PRINT 2811-3187 ONLINE 2811-3209 Volume 4 NO 2.