Parental Conflict as Predictor of Drug Abuse and PTSD among Secondary School Students in Rivers State

Abstract

Parental conflict is a scourge that has ravaged society in so many forms. Many homes experience parental conflict at varying degrees and intervals. In some cases, partners have been burned with iron or hot metals, experienced fractured bones or skulls, broken teeth, bruises, sprains, abrasions, loss of consciousness, and, in some severe cases, a form of deformity or the ultimate: death. The children who see these nasty occurrences as well may have trouble sleeping because they keep having memories of these events that have occurred or are occurring. Children who live in homes where violent forms of parental conflict take place go on to become abusers of drugs and experience PTSD due to the recurring nature of the violence from childhood into adulthood. The study investigated parental conflict as a predictor of drug abuse and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) among secondary school students in Rivers State. A sample of 800 secondary students in Rivers State participated in the study. The study measured Parental Conflict using the Parental Conflict Scale (PCS), drug abuse using the Drug Abuse Screening Test (DAST-10), and PTSD using the PTSD Checklist (PCL-5). The data was analysed using linear and multiple regression. The outcomes of the study revealed that parental conflict significantly predicts drug abuse and PTSD. It is recommended that parents be taught about the impact their conflicts have on their children and about better conflict resolution methods. Also, parents who have anger problems should be taught anger management. Adolescents who have been identified as being dependent on substances and having symptoms of PTSD need to be retrained and restored.