Post-traumatic Stress Symptoms among Juvenile Offenders in Nigeria: Implications for Holistic Service Provisioning in Juvenile Justice Administration

Background. There is hardly any study examining exposure to traumatic events and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among juvenile justice populations in Nigeria or any part of sub-Saharan Africa. Method. We examined the prevalence and trauma determinants of PTSD among a cohort of juvenile justice inmates in Nigeria, compared with a cohort of school-going adolescents. Results. Ninety percent (90%) of the juvenile justice inmates reported exposure to at least one lifetime traumatic event with higher mean incident events, compared with 60% among the comparison group (p=.001). Juvenile justice inmates had significantly higher prevalence rate of current and lifetime PTSD than the comparison group (current: 5.8% vs. 1.4%; lifetime: 9.7% vs. 2.8%, p<.05). Mean incident traumatic event was statistically significantly higher among juvenile justice inmates who had PTSD. Conclusion. Posttraumatic stress symptoms are common among adolescents coming in contact with the juvenile justice system. Implications for holistic service provisioning in juvenile justice administration are discussed.