CHILDHOOD TRAUMA, COPING AND MENTAL HEALTH PROBLEMS AMONG ADOLESCENTS IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN IBADAN

Abstract

Background: Childhood trauma is an unfortunate reality for many children today. Many children in low and middle-income countries experience multiple traumatic events as a result of several risk factors. Childhood traumatic experiences remain largely hidden and unreported because of fear and stigma and social rejection. Childhood experiences greatly impact mental health. Objective: The overall aim of the study is to explore the association between childhood trauma, coping and different mental health problems among adolescents in Ibadan, Nigeria. Methods: This study was a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted in four private and public secondary schools in Ibadan North Local Government Area. Simple Random Sampling Technique was used to select a total of 341 students from the four secondary schools. The age range of the study participants was 13 to 17 years of age. A socio-demographic questionnaire (SDQ), Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), Brief Cope Scale, Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and Beck Anxiety Inventory(BAI) was used to collect data from 340 secondary school adolescents. Results: The mean age of respondents was 14.67 years (SD = 1.33). Participants from public schools (52.4%) were more than the participants from private schools (47.6%). Male adolescents (61.9%) and female adolescents (38.1%) participated in the study. Majority of the adolescents (61%) the reported death of a very close friend or family member, many adolescents(59.9%) also reported extremely ill or injured, while (32.9%) reported other major problems, a major problem between parents/divorce was reported by (19.7%) of the adolescents, the traumatic sexual experience was reported by (9.6%) of the adolescents, the least reported trauma was a victim of violence which was reported by (6.1%) of the adolescents. More males (83.3%) than females (16.7%) reported being victim of violence, this difference was statistically significant (p = 0.028). The prevalence of anxiety was 20.5% and depression 38.9%. Traumatic sexual abuse was significantly associated with anxiety (p = 0.001), Adolescents who reported traumatic sexual experiences reported higher anxiety compared to their counterparts who did not. Most of the adolescents engaged in active coping (65.7%), while substance use was the least reported means of coping (16.9%). Self-blame as a coping strategy predicted anxiety while venting and self-blame predicted depression among the study participants. Conclusion: Adolescents in this study reported childhood trauma and mental health problems like anxiety and depression. Adolescents who experienced other major problems (continuous violence, bullying or physical abuse, serious and present family discord, presence of chronic illness) had a higher risk of anxiety and depression. Teachers, clinicians and other mental health professionals should be trained and provided with adequate resources to help and guide the students. Positive coping styles should be encouraged and negative coping styles should be discouraged.