Prevalence of Panic Attacks Among Secondary School Students in Ikpoba Okha Local Government Area of Edo State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study investigated the prevalence of panic attacks among secondary school students in Ikpoba-Okha Local Government of Edo State. Four research questions were raised and three hypotheses formulated to guide the study at 0.05 level of significance. Descriptive survey research design was adopted. The population comprised all the Senior Secondary School II (SSS 2) students in Ikpoba-Okha Local Government Area. Stratified random sampling techniques were used to sample 300 SSS 2 students. The instruments used for data collection were self-report scales titled the “panic attack inventory” (PAI), which were content- and face-validated by three psychometricians. A reliability coefficient of .85 was obtained using the Cronbach Alpha method. The data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) and one-way ANOVA. The findings revealed that the level of the prevalence of panic attacks among secondary school students is severe; the panic attacks among secondary school students do not significantly differ by age, sex and socioeconomic status, respectively, in Ikpoba-Okha Local Government Area. Based on the findings, it was recommended that students should be encouraged to talk about their panic attacks irrespective of their sex, age or socioeconomic status, while counsellors, governments, educational institutions and schools should all promote anti-bullying policies.