26.10.2023
Doctoral Thesis on Predictors of Igbo Adolescents’ Well-being and Behavioral Problems in Southeastern Nigeria
M.Soc.Sc. Anthony Anih’s doctoral thesis in developmental psychology will be put forth for public defence at the faculty of Education and Welfare Studies at Åbo Akademi University.
The thesis is entitled Predictors of Igbo Adolescents’ Well-being and Behavioral Problems in Southeastern Nigeria: Exposure to Armed Conflict and Physical Punishment at Home.
The public defence of the doctoral thesis takes place on 2 November 2023 at 1PM. You can follow the defence of the doctoral thesis online. Docent Joám Evans Pim, Centre for Global Nonkilling Hawaii, USA will serve as opponent and Docent Karin Österman, Åbo Akademi University, as custos.
Summary
The overall aim of this thesis was to investigate the mental well-being and behavioural problems among Igbo adolescents in Southeastern Nigeria, living in an environment of constant armed conflict in the form of violent attacks from Fulani herdsmen. It was accomplished by investigating two samples of Igbo adolescents.
In the first sample consisting of 250 adolescents, 20.8% had lost someone close to them during the war, and 8.4% had themselves been injured. Nine percent had themselves injured someone during the war, and 5.2% had actually killed someone during the war. Three (1.8%) had been raped by an armed group, and two (1.2%) had been taken as a sex slave. Girls showed higher levels of PTSD than boys.
The second sample consisted of 385 different adolescents from the same area. The data were analyzed with mediation analysis. The outcome variables were depression and antisocial behavior, and it was examined whether the effect of exposure to armed conflict in the form of the Fulani herdsmen attacks on the outcome variables was partially mediated by physical punishment at home. This was found to be the case.
Anthony Anih was born in 1980, in Ugwuaji, Enugu State, Nigeria. He can be reached by email anthony.anih@abo.fi.
The doctoral thesis can be read online through the Doria publication archive.
Click here for a press photo of the doctoral student.
Instructions on how to follow the doctoral defence remotely
To follow the defence, you need the Zoom software or the Google Chrome browser. You do not need to create a Zoom account to follow the defence. If you install the application, you participate by clicking on the meeting link, after which you should allow the link to open in the Zoom app.