Impact Of Child Abuse And Its Effects On Development Of A Person From Childhood To Adulthood: A Survey Of Secondary Schools In Konoin Sub-County.

Abstract

The study was carried out in Konoin Sub-County in Bomet County. The main objectives of the study are to establish the impact of child abuse on growth of child to adulthood. The specific objectives include to establish the types of child abuse common in Konoin Sub-County, to find out the cause of child abuse on the growth of the child from childhood to adulthood, to find out the challenges facing the society in confronting the child abuse practices in Konoin Sub-County in Bomet County and to suggest the policies to be adopted for effective control of child abuse in Konoin Sub-County in Bomet County. The study adopted a survey design. Target population of 600 was used to sample a sample size of 160 using the stratified sampling. Data collection instruments used was open and closed ended questionnaires. Validity and reliability was tested using a pilot study and data analysis was done using Microsoft excel. It was found out that the causes of child abuse among the secondary school going students (14-20 years) include: sexual abuse, corporal punishment neglect and physical injuries. The effects of child abuse to the society include: reduction in hope, brain retardment, physical deformity, truancy from high school, high level of pregnancy, poor performance in schools withdraw from the society, psychological tortures, permissiveness in the society, stress and ill health. The challenges include: poor government policies, corrupt law enforcers officers, unethical behavior in the society, and permissiveness in the society, business drift in drug selling, levels of poverty among the residents and cultures in the society. The researcher made sure the following recommendations enactment of policies by Parliament: Control the movement of children, reduction of the tendencies of permissiveness in the society and precaution on foreign culture. The researcher therefore suggests further study on the following areas to complement and supplement the findings of the study; the causes of child abuse in the non- school environment, the findings of child abuse in schools and child abuse in street children.