Influence of Housing Space on the Socio-emotional and Sexual Development of Children of (6-11) Years in Zaria Area of Kaduna State

The study assessed the influence of housing space on the socio- emotional and sexual development of children of ages six to eleven years. Three (3) specific objectives, and three (3) hypotheses were raised to give direction to the study. The study adopted a survey research design with a population of 3,597 pupils from three (3) selected primary schools in the remote area of Zaria and a sample size of one hundred and eighty (180) representing 20% of the population. A self-structured questionnaire with three sections A-C) and seven (7) items each was used to obtain data for the study. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics specifically, mean, standard deviation and t-test were used and a 2.50 decision point was set to accept or reject each question items. Findings revealed that majority of the respondents lack adequate housing space in the study area. The result showed that mean rating of access to children of housing space is x 2.5 and P value is 0.71, mean rating of the influence of housing space on the sexual development of children is x 2.5 and P value is 0.62. The mean rating of the influence of housing space on the socio emotional development of children is 2.5 and the P value is 0.05. The study further showed that inadequate housing space had strong influence on the sexual and socio-emotional development of the respondents in Zaria Area of Kaduna State. The study concludes that the respondents lacked housing spaces in the study area such as no privacy, no space for the children to keep their possessions and several of them sleeps in one room. The study recommended that parents who are planning to have a large family should endeavor to plan and provide sufficient space for all members of the family especially children putting into consideration their developmental stage. Also, parents should be discouraged from sending their female children to their neighborhood to spend the night.