Influence Of Parental Socio-economic Status On The Incidence Of Child Abuse And Neglect Among Primary School Pupils In Aguata Education Zone Of Anambra State.

Significance of the Study

this study is important considering its theoretical basis. The study  is based on Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs which emphasized that there exist needs arranged in a hierarchy of satisfaction levels. Any deprivation of these needs to children is bound to affect their social, emotional, physical and intellectual development. Also the social learning theory of Albert Bandura (1977) emphasized the importance of observing and modeling the behaviours, attitudes and emotional reactions of others.

The findings of the study will be useful to a number of people such as parents, guardians, caregivers, teachers, law makers, researchers and

 psychologist in various ways. Specifically, parents, guardians and caregivers  will now be able to know the type of work to give to children and where to draw the line while training them. It will be significant to parents as it will arm them with knowledge about the dangers of child abuse and neglect and the impact of socio-economic compulsions on the general well-being of their children.

The study will also be significant to teachers, Lawmakers, researchers, psychologist and many more as they will find it useful in monitoring the forms  of child abuse and neglect. The curriculum planners will find it useful in that it will help them see the need to include the teaching of children’s rights in the curriculum while reviewing the curriculum. If the rights are included in the curriculum children will be favoured and know when their rights have been violated. The findings of the study will serve as reference materials to other researchers, trained professionals like psychologists, early childhood experts to monitor the influence of socio-economic status on the incidence of child abuse and neglect. Finally, it will also supply relevant data that will help reduce the incidence of child abuse and neglect in the society.

Scope of the Study

The scope of this study is delimited to Aguata Education Zone in  Anambra state which comprises three Local Government Areas, involving all  the parents in the zone. The content scope of this study will address the area of income inequality, low education, poverty, and employment (engagement) in Aguata Education Zone of Anambra state

 Research Questions

The following research questions will guide this study.

1. What is the influence of high socio-economic status (SES) of parents on child abuse and neglect?

2. What is the influence of average socio-economic status of parents on  child abuse and neglect?

3. What is the influence of low socio-economic status of parents on child abuse and neglect?

4. What are the characteristics of child abuse and neglect in Aguata education zone?

Hypotheses

The following hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significant.

(1) The influence of parent’s high socio-economic status on child abuse and neglect is not significant.

(2) The influence of average socio-economic status of parents on child abuse and neglect is not significant.

(3) The influence of low socio-economic status of parents on child abuse and neglect is not significant.