Polyvictimisation, Allostatic Load, and Differential Academic Trajectories: A Psychobiological Investigation Among Nigerian Secondary School Adolescents

This study examines the relationships among polyvictimisation, biological stress load, and differential academic trajectories among secondary school adolescents in Nigeria, contributing original psychobiological evidence to the educational psychology literature on cumulative adversity. Polyvictimisation, exposure to multiple forms of victimisation across multiple settings, generates compounded psychological and physiological stress responses that may fundamentally alter cognitive and academic functioning in ways that single-adversity frameworks fail to capture. The study employs a multi-method longitudinal design, recruiting 400 secondary school adolescents from urban and rural sites in Lagos, Kano, and Enugu States at two time points twelve months apart. The Juvenile Victimisation Questionnaire, salivary cortisol profiles as an allostatic load marker, the Automated Working Memory Assessment, and academic performance trajectories were used as instruments. Data were analysed using latent profile analysis to identify polyvictimisation subgroups, structural equation modelling linking victimisation profiles to allostatic load and cognitive performance, and growth mixture modelling for academic trajectories. Results identify four polyvictimisation profiles with distinct allostatic load signatures. The high-polyvictimisation group demonstrates elevated morning cortisol dysregulation and significantly weaker working memory and academic growth trajectories. This neuroendocrine-cognitive pathway mediates approximately 45 percent of the relationship between polyvictimisation and academic trajectory decline. These findings constitute original empirical contributions to the psychobiological understanding of academic adversity in Nigerian adolescents and call for trauma-sensitive educational systems that address biological as well as psychological stress responses. Keywords: polyvictimisation, allostatic load, academic trajectories, adolescents, psychobiological research.