Chapter one

Introduction

According to Ganley (1989) Domestic violence includes: physical abuse, sexual abuse, psychological abuse and abuse to property and pets. According to him, exposure to these forms of violence has considerable potential to be perceived as life threatening by those victimized and can leave them with a sense of vulnerability, helplessness and in extreme cases horror. Dutton (1992) defines Physical abuse as any behavior that involves the intentional use of force against the body of another person that risks physical injury, harm and or pain. It includes pushing, hitting, slapping, choking, using an object to hit, twisting of a body part, forcing the ingestion of an unwanted substance and use of a weapon.

Dutton (1994) defines sexual abuse as any unwanted sexual intimacy forced on an individual by another. It may include oral anal or vaginal stimulation or penetration, forced nudity, forced exposure to sexual explicit material or activity. Compliance may be obtained through actual or threatened physical force or through some other form of coercion. Psychological abuse may include derogatory statements or threat of being killed by another individual. It may also involve isolation, economic threats and emotional abuse.

Straus and Gelles (1990) domestic violence is widespread and occurs among all social economic groups. In a national survey of over 6000 American families it was estimated that between 53% and 70% of male batterers also frequently abuse their children. Domestic violence is one of the most under reported crimes in the United States, and the department of justice, in 1998 estimated that there are between 960000 and four million domestic incidences each year. In 1994 the bureau of justice statistics estimated that about 92% of domestic violence cases involved female victims. Wopadovi (women against domestic violence) 2014, domestic violence is threatening many Kenyan families and is unfortunately increasing in our society. Many people, the vast majority of them women have been injured, disabled and killed as a result of domestic violence. Following the recent happenings where domestic violence has become rampant and each day is reporting of deaths of spouses and lovers out of domestic violence, it has become a great priority that domestic violence is a menace that needs to be addressed as soon as possible and accorded with all seriousness that it deserves. Wopadovi further notes that domestic violence does not recognize social classes or education standards. Domestic violence according to Wikipedia (2004) is a problem as in many parts of Africa.

Academic performance is an important parameter in measuring success in student. The concept of academic performance is inevitable in any formal educational institution. It expresses the learning achievement of an individual or a group at the end of an academic programme. It is a criterion for ascertaining the capabilities of student from which his potentials could be assimilate, retain, recall and communicate his knowledge of what has been learnt (joe, Kpolovie, Osonwa and iderima 2014). This concept has close relationship in meaning with academic achievement and academic attainment. Academic performance is demonstrated achievement as knowledge attained or skills developed in school subject usually designed by test scores or marks assigned by the teacher or both. These definitions imply that academic performance is observed and measured aspect of a student’s mastery of skill(s) or subject content(s). It suggests that academic performance is one of the three required aspects of a properly composed learning objective as noted in Singh(2010) and it denotes an expression of a learner’s attainment in properly stated behavioural objectives. Meanwhile, poor academic performances of secondary school students’ have been affected by many factors which domestic violence is among.

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