Influence of School and Social Adjustments on Peer Victimization among Secondary School Students in Emohua Local Government Area of Rivers State, Nigeria (Published)
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
EFFECT OF SINGLE PARENTHOOD ON TRUANT BEHAVIOUR OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN EDO STATE (Published)
This study investigated the effects of single parenthood on truant behaviour among secondary school students. The purpose of the study is to find out the influence of family pattern on truancy behaviour of secondary school students. A total number of two hundred and fifty (250) subjects were randomly sampled for the study. Schools were purposively selected to cater for mixed schools, boys and girls schools. A questionnaire was designed by the researchers to measure the effects of single-parenthood on truant behaviour of students. Independent t-test was used for analyzing the hypotheses. The result revealed a significant difference between truant adolescent students from single parent homes and those from intact parent homes. The second and the third hypotheses also revealed a significant difference between truant behaviour of adolescent male and female students from single parent homes and those from intact homes. With the results obtained, the conclusions drawn were that there is a difference between the truant behaviour of single parent students and intact parents students, and that differences existed between the male and female from the different family structures. Recommendations were made that students from single parenthood should be counselled on self-esteem and self- concept and as well marriage disagreement should be handled with love between the parents, instead of settling for divorce
Keywords: Family Structure, Parenthood, Single-Parent, Truancy