Students need to adjust properly in school and social systems to be able to realize their potentials. They need to adjust appropriately in the school and society to acquire pro-social behaviours. Pupils who are maladjusted in school and society are most likely to acquire antisocial behaviours including bullying and peer victimization. This correlational study, therefore, investigated the influence of school adjustment and social adjustment on peer victimization among secondary school students in Emohua Local Government Area of Rivers State, Nigeria. From a population of 1548 senior secondary school (1&2) students from public secondary schools in Emohua Local Government Area of Rivers State, a sample of 476 students was composed using a combination of simple random sampling technique and proportionate stratified random sampling technique. The instrument for data collection is School, Social Adjustment and Peer Victimization Questionnaire. The instrument validated through the assistance of three experts in Counselling Psychology has reliability coefficients obtained through Cronbach alpha technique in the range of 0.72-0.82. The findings of the study showed that school adjustment had a high negative and significant influence on peer victimization among secondary school students in Emohua Local Government Area of Rivers State; social adjustment had a high negative and significant influence on peer victimization among secondary school students; school adjustment and social adjustment had a negative and significant joint influence on peer victimization. On the basis of the findings, it was therefore recommended that parents, guardians and teachers should assist students to adjust properly in the school and society. This they can do by showing love, care and responsiveness to their children/wards or students during the upbringing.
Keywords: Academic Achievement, Bullying, Pro-social behaviour, Truancy, antisocial behaviour, harm, school adjustment, social adjustment
