This study was carried out to examine the influence of gender and age on behavioural problems (aggressive behaviour and truancy) and experience of child abuse among secondary school students. A descriptive research design of survey type was adopted for the study. The population for this study comprised all public secondary school students in Ekiti State. The sample consisted of 200 students drawn from five secondary schools through simple random sampling. A self-designed questionnaire tagged “Child Abuse and Behavioural Problems Questionnaire” (CABPQ) was used to collect data. Expert judgements were used to ensure face and content validity. Test-retest method was used to determine the reliability and a reliability coefficient of 0.70 was obtained. Data collected were analysed by using t-test. The results showed that gender and age do not significantly influence aggressive behaviour and truancy; and also do not influence experience of child abuse among students. Based on these findings, it was recommended among others, that all education stakeholders, particularly the counsellors, should plan intervention programmes to help students who engage in aggressive behaviour and truancy; and students who experience child abuse. The focus of these programmes should be on students of both sexes and students of all ages in the school.
Keywords: Aggression, Child abuse, Truancy, schools
