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Illicit drug users experience adverse life events, but few studies have examined the role of impulsivity, pornography, and gambling among secondary school students in these events. This study employed a simple random sampling to investigate the role of impulsivity, gambling, and pornography in predicting illicit drug use among secondary school students in Uyo metropolis. Participants were two hundred and thirteen (213) students purposively recruited from Monef High School. Using anonymous psychometric robust illicit drug use and behavioral addiction inventories, relevant data were collected which aided the investigation. The threeway Factorial ANOVA found that predictor variables have no relevant explanatory power on illicit drug use F(1,205)= 2.73, P>0.05. However, Impulsivity interacted with pornography to significantly influence illicit drug use F(1,205)=7.49, P<0.05, as well as impulsivity interacting with gambling to influence illicit drug use F(1,205)= 2.92, P<0.05. Results of the Factorial ANOVA document that impulsivity and pornography were the strongest influencers of illicit drug use among secondary students and were therefore seen to have potential effects in the fight against illicit drug use among students. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications for practice, highlighting the need to develop recreational, educational awareness programs, which will contribute to more focused planning of mental health services, harm reduction measures, and outreach programs, as intervention mechanisms to aid in reducing illicit drug use among secondary school students.

Background: Sexual violence against children is a major clinical, public health and human rights concern globally. Specifically, child sexual violence (CSV) is one of the world's leading causes of trauma in children. In extreme cases, victims of CSV grow up with a plethora of maladaptive behaviours, which may be salient in the course of growth but later present in adulthood as severe cases of comorbid psychopathologies. It is expected therefore that CSV cases be treated with urgency and policies/ laws against perpetrators be translated into visible outcomes. However, many CSV cases go unreported; and where there are attempts at reporting, the manner and approach of handling these cases is discouraging and futile. In this study, we explored the lived experiences of CSV survivors in Nigeria who tried reporting and opening up their experiences.Method: Using the hermeneutic phenomenological approach, responses from 11 girls aged 15 to 17 years at the time of the study and 8 to 16 years at onset of abuse were obtained. Data were gathered through interviews, and the victims' experiences were aggregated using content analysis. Results:The major findings were summarized under the following themes: (a) silent screams, (b) trauma and the search for a therapeutic ear, (c) stigma and (d) withdrawal: our last resort. Respondents reported crying out and begging perpetrators to stop the act. They also reported experiencing trauma and related physical/ mental health issues after the act. As they sought whom to disclose to, they reported feeling stigmatized and eventually having to withdraw and recoil.Conclusions: Implications of the study cut across medical practice, social work, therapeutics and policy formation/implementation for the prevention of CSV and attending to CSV victims in hospitals, homes and schools. The importance of empathic therapeutic processes was discussed. The need for a multisectoral and multistakeholder approach in tackling CSV was also highlighted.