Demographic Pattern of Self-Injurious Behaviours among Secondary School Students in Imo State

Self-injurious behaviours patterns among secondary school students in Imo State were investigated as a basis for proffering preventive strategies. The study utilized cross-sectional survey design. The population of the study consisted of 173,285 secondary school students in Imo State secondary schools. A sample of 2,160 students representing 1.2 per cent of the population participated in the study. Multi-stage sampling procedure was adopted to draw the sample from the population. A nine-item structured questionnaire was used for quantitative data collection while Focus Group Discussion Guide-FGDG was used for collecting qualitative data which were used to complement quantitative data. Cronbach’s Alpha statistic was employed to establish the reliability co-efficient of the instrument. The reliability coefficient value of 0.78 was obtained. Mean statistic and standard deviation were used to analyze research questions while student t-test statistic and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) were used to test the five null hypotheses at .05 level of significance. Findings of the study indicated that there were significant (p < 0.05) differences in the self-injurious behaviours of secondary school students according to age (F = 20.69 > 3.00), school type (F = 20.97) and education zone (F = 6.31 > 3.00). Recommendations such as Imo State Ministries of Health and Information should lend logistic and manpower support to the State Universal Basic Education Board in the implementation of intervention strategies in schools and there should be state-wide public health campaign in secondary schools against selfinjurious behaviours.