Abstract

The study investigated mental health comorbidities of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among sexually abused adolescents in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State. The study used the correlational research design. Three research questions as well as three corresponding null hypotheses guided the study. The population of the study comprised all 14,784 senior secondary school students (SSS 1, 2 and 3) in the 16 public secondary schools in Obio/Akpor LGA of Rivers State. A sample of 528 adolescents was drawn for the study using the purposive sampling technique. Four instruments were used to collect data for this study. They include: Post-traumatic stress disorder index (PTSDI), Anxiety Scale (AS), Beck’s Depression Inventory (BDI) and Insomnia Inventory (II). The instruments were designed on a four point Likert scale of Strongly Agree (SA) = 4, Agree (A) = 3, Disagree (D) = 2, and Strongly Disagree (SD) = 1. The Cronbach Alpha reliability was used to establish the internal consistency reliability coefficients of 0.77, 0.97 and 0.69 respectively. Responses to the research questions were answered with Pearson Product Moment Correlation, while the hypotheses were tested with independent sample t-test statistics. The findings of the study showed that social anxiety disorder, depression and insomnia relate significantly to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among sexually abused adolescents in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended among others that, a trauma-focused cognitive behavioural therapy (TF-CBT) should be carried out on adolescents who are sexually abused victims to identify and correct any opposing thoughts or misrepresentations they have about the traumatic event.

Keywords: Social Anxiety Disorder; Depression; Insomnia; Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Sexual Abuse

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