Perceived Effects of Sexual Harassment on Psychological Well-Being of Secondary School Students

Abstract

This study was designed to fluid out the perceived effects of sexual harassment on psychological well-being of secondary school students in Oyo metropolis of Oyo state, Nigeria. The study focused on finding the influence of gender and religion effects of sexual harassment on psychological well-being of students. The disruptive survey method was adopted for the study. The target population comprised of all secondary school teachers in Oyo metropolis. The sample for the study was selected using purposive sampling technique. A sample of 200 participants was involved in the study. A research instrument titled, “Effects of Sexual Harassment on Psychological Well-being Questionnaire” was employed to collect data for the study. It has two sections. Section A consists of demographic data of gender and religion and Section B consists of 15 items on effects of sexual harassment on psychological well-being of students. The content and construct validity of the instrument was established by experts in counselling and test and measurement department of the Emmanuel Alayande University of Education, Oyo. The reliability of the instrument was carried out using test re-test procedure and co-efficient of 0.73 were obtained. The findings revealed that sexual harassment make student loose interest in schooling, it makes students perform woefully in examination and also make students develop emotional stress. No significant difference in teachers’ perception on effects of sexual harassment on psychological well-being of students based on family type and religious affliction. The implication of this findings for Counsellors and Education Managers among others are that both counsellors and Education Managers need to be trained on skills of handling issues of sexual harassment among students. The strategies of handling sexual harassment need to be included in the sexuality and family life education programmes. It is therefore recommended that seminars and conferences should be organized for the teachers in other to enlighten them on challenges of sexual harassment on student’s psychological well-being. The school workers and personnel should also be given counselling on unwholesome activities that can lead to sexual harassment.