Structural Determinants of Child Maltreatment in Nigeria: A Multi-Level Ecological Analysis Across Six Geopolitical Zones

This study examines the structural determinants of child maltreatment across Nigeria's six geopolitical zones through a multi-level ecological analysis, representing the most comprehensive nationally representative inquiry into this topic to date. Despite Nigeria's ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, systematic multi-zone data on the ecological predictors of physical, emotional, and sexual child maltreatment remain scarce, limiting evidence-based policy design. This research employed a nationally stratified cross-sectional survey involving 2,400 households with children aged 5 to 17 years, sampled proportionally across all six geopolitical zones. Maltreatment prevalence was assessed using the International Society for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect Child Abuse Screening Tool. Multi-level modelling decomposed variance in maltreatment risk into individual, household, community, and zonal levels. Results indicate that household poverty, intimate partner violence, parental alcohol use, and social isolation are the strongest individual and household-level predictors nationally. Significant zone-level variation was observed, with community normative acceptance of physical discipline and inadequate child protection infrastructure emerging as dominant structural predictors in northern zones. South South communities showed unique risk profiles linked to resource extraction conflict and community violence. The study provides original empirical architecture for a national child maltreatment prevention strategy and recommends differentiated, zone-sensitive intervention frameworks. Keywords: child maltreatment, structural determinants, multi-level analysis, geopolitical zones, Nigeria.