Consequences Of Child Abuse On Students Academic Performance As Perceived By Secondary School Teachers
[A CASE STUDY OF ILORIN METROPOLIS]

Physical Effects
In addition to the obvious physical injuries, such as broken bones, bruises and scarring, abuse is also related to several additional physical complications for children, including the following:
•    Children who have suffered serious and chronic neglect are more likely to be smaller and lighter than non-maltreated children, which have been shown to affect long-term health.
•    Children who are physically abused (or shaken in the case of very young children) may suffer permanent neurological damage, dramatically affecting their future development.
•    Weight problems- often emerging as eating disorders.
•    Serious sleeps disturbances and bouts of dizziness when awake.
•    Other stress-related symptoms, such as gastrointestinal problems, migraine headaches, difficulty breathing, hypertension, aches, pains and rashes which defy diagnosis and/or treatment.
•    Poor overall health.
Behavioural Consequences
Abused children are known to display the following behaviour problems:
•    Clinging behaviour, extreme shyness and fear of strangers.
•    Troubled socialization with peers-constant fighting or socially undesirable behaviours, such as bully, teasing or not sharing.
•    Poor school adjustment and disruptive classroom behaviour.
There is a growing understanding among researchers that child maltreatment is associated with a host of behaviour problems that manifest themselves in adolescence:
•    School-age pregnancy.
•    Self-destructive behaviours such as self-mutilation or burning.
•    Truancy and running away behaviour.
•    Delinquency and prostitution.
•    Eating disorders, such as anorexia, bulimia or obesity-primary among female victims.
•    Suicide and suicide attempts.
Evidence suggests that many of these problems continue into adulthood and become ingrained patterns of behaviour. It is believed that in order to deal with the trauma of being abused and neglected, children and youth develop such behaviours as coping strategies. And although these behaviours eventually become self-destructive, they are often extremely difficult to abandon.