GASPRO International Journal of Eminent Scholars

The chief focus of this study was to evaluate child physical abuse and parent-child communication as a determinant of students’ aggressive behavior in public secondary schools in Akwa Ibom North-West Senatorial District. Correlational research design was adopted for the study. The study was conducted in Akwa Ibom North West Senatorial District. The target population for the study comprises all the 19,162 senior secondary school II students in all the 87 public secondary schools in Akwa Ibom North-West Senatorial District during the 2017/2018 academic year. The sample of the study was 1,916 Senior Secondary II Students selected randomly in multi-stage using toss of coin. The instrument used for data collection was a structured questionnaire titled “Parent-Child Relationship and Students Aggressive Behaviour Questionnaire (PRASABQ). To ensure face validity of the instrument, copies of the questionnaire were given to three experts, one in Measurement and Evaluation and two in Sociology for face and content validity. To determine the reliability of the instrument, the researcher administered the instrument to 30 secondary school II (SS2) students drawn from the population who did not participate in the final study. The data obtained was subjected to Cronbach’s Alpha Statistic. A reliability coefficient of .87 was obtained for the instrument. The instrument was therefore regarded as reliable and good for the study since the coefficient was high. The r-value of Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient (PPMC) was used for answering the research questions by comparing the values with the scale of correlation while r-value was also used for testing the hypotheses by comparing it with the r-critical value. The entire hypotheses formulated were tested at .05 level of significance. It was observed in this study that many abused children find it difficult to form lasting and appropriate friendships. It was concluded in the study that there is a significant relationship between child physical abuse and students’ aggressive behavior One of the recommendations made in the study was that dialogue, communication, explanation and the establishment of good and cordial relationship between parents and their children should be encouraged by government, non-governmental agencies and school administrators through seminars and workshops to educate parents of the importance of good parent-child communication.