Effects of Frequent Domestic Conflict, Violence on Social Behaviours, and Cognitive Development of School Children in North Eastern Nigeria

Abstract

The study assesses the effects of frequent domestic conflict and violence on the social behaviours and cognitive development of school children in North Eastern Nigeria. It is generally observed by the researcher that young children between the ages of one to ten years fall victim of circumstances that happen among family members. Three objectives and three research questions were formulated, which guided the study. A survey research design was used for the study, The population for the study was 8676 both children of nursery and primary schools in all the colleges of Education in the North East Geo-political zone of Nigeria. A sample of 367 nursery and primary school children were selected through a purposive sampling technique from 3 Colleges of Education in the area of study. Instruments for data collection were Family Violence Questionnaire (FVQ) for interview, observation and continuous assessment records were used to assess their social behaviour and cognitive development. Simple Percentages, Means and standard deviations were used to answer all the research questions. The finding revealed that, among others, there was 63% prevalence of frequent domestic conflict and violence in the study area and there was the effect of these tendencies on the social and cognitive development of school-age children in the North Eastern state of Nigeria. It was concluded that frequent domestic conflicts and violence in homes in the North Eastern State of Nigeria have influenced a lot of children and stirred up violence in them right from their childhood. It was recommended that parents and grown-up members of the family be enlightened on the effect of frequent domestic conflicts and violence to minimize the rate of negative effects on the children’s social behaviour and cognitive development.