Behavioural and Psychological Functions of Test Anxiety Among Undergraduates in the University of Port Harcourt (Published)
Correlational research design was adopted in the study with the aim of finding out behavioural and psychological functions of test anxiety among undergraduates in the University of Port Harcourt. The population for the study consisted of six hundred (600) undergraduate students from the twelve (12) faculties in University of Port Harcourt. Samples of 404 undergraduate students identified with test anxiety were drawn using the census sampling in the study. Two instruments were used in the study which included the “Behavioural and Psychological Variables Questionnaire (BPVQ) and the “Test Anxiety Scale” (TAS). Validity of the instruments were determined using two experts in measurement while Cronbach alpha () technique was used to determine the reliability indices of 0.70 and 0.77 for “BPVQ” and “TAS” respectively. Data analysis was done using simple regression. Findings showed that academic procrastination (p=0.003<0.05), self-esteem (p=0.031<0.05) and self-concept (p=0.000<0.05), were all significantly related to test anxiety among students. Based on this, it was recommended among others that teachers should develop time management and organization skills training for the students and encourage them to break tasks into manageable chunks.
Keywords: Self-Concept, Test anxiety, academic procrastination. self-esteem, test
Demographic Factors Influencing Coping with Declining Self-Concept among the Aged (Published)
This study investigated demographic factors influencing coping with declining self-concept among the aged. The study was carried out in Mbaise, Imo State, Nigeria. The research design was descriptive survey while the sample was 446 individuals aged 60years and above. They were composed through stratified random sampling technique from 15 autonomous communities in the area of study. Relevant data were collected from them through the personal contact method of administration of copies of a researchers’ developed questionnaire on them. The test retest reliability co-efficient of this instrument within an interval of 2 weeks was 0.64. T-test of independent means was employed in data analysis and the results show that sex, educational level and marital status do not significantly influence, coping with decling self-concept among the aged. The results also show that type of previous work was a significant factor. These results were discussed and some recommendations made. One of the recommendations is that the federal, states and local governments should ensure prompt payment of retirement benefits to retired public servants.
Keywords: Coping, Factors, Self-Concept, aged.