CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the study

Survivors of childhood abuse often suffer from health problems long after the abuse has ended. Abuse survivors are sick more often and go to the doctor more (Felitti, 1991). They report more symptoms and are less likely to describe their health as good. They have surgery more often—in one study, almost twice as much (Kendall-Tackett, Marshall, & Ness, 2000). Adult survivors are at increased risk of having one or more chronic pain syndromes (Drossman et al.,1990; Kendall-Tackett, 2000; Schofferman, Anderson, Hinds, Smith, & White, 1992). And in the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) study, Felitti and colleagues (Felitti et al., 2001) found that subjects who experienced four or more types of adverse childhood events were at increased risk of a wide range of conditions including ischemic heart disease, cancer, stroke, chronic bronchitis, emphysema, diabetes, skeletal fractures, and hepatitis. The childhood events that they studied included psychological abuse, physical abuse, contact sexual abuse, exposure to substance abuse, parental mental illness, exposure to violent treatment of the mother or stepmother, and exposure to criminal behavior. Over the past decade, researchers have documented the higher frequency of these health problems among adult survivors. The next step for researchers is to understand why this happens. In this study, a model with four possible pathways by which victimization might influence health is described. By looking at the long-term effects of childhood abuse in a new way, clinicians and researchers can begin to understand the mechanisms by which health problems occur. The four types of pathways described are behavioral, social, cognitive and emotional. Adult survivors can be influenced by any or all of these and the four types influence each other. Indeed, they form a complex matrix of interrelationships, all of which influence health A child is a person that has not attained the age of 18. For centuries, the Nigerian child has been seen as “an instrument or property with no absolute privilege of its own”. In the traditional African society the belief was that children should merely be seen and not heard. Children were not allowed to listen to adults’ discussions/conversation let alone make contributions. This situation was prevalent not only in the society but found its way into the educational system