Gauging secondary school students' terrorism-related resilience in the Sahel region of Burkina Faso: A quantitative study

Abstract

This study appraised male and female students' levels of terrorism-related resilience, its effect on emotion and achievement, and assessed gender differences. The sample size was 180 junior and high school students of which 66 females (36.3%) and 114 males (62.6%) in the Sahel. Participants' ages ranged from 13 to 24 with a mean of 17.1 (SD = 2.04). Descriptive, multiple linear regression, and t-test analyses were implemented to test for the size of resilience, its effects on students' emotional health and achievement, and to assess gender differences. Students had low level of resilience. Academic performance did not predict resilience, though regression analyses were statistically significant. Furthermore, no gender differences were found. Low level of resilience implies that students possess high level of difficulties in coping with terrorism. Psychological services are suggested to help secondary school students cope with the adverse effects of the stated violence.