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
Influence of SMS Communications in enhancing School Adjustment of 1st year University Undergraduates: University of Port Harcourt Experience (Published)
This study examined the influence of SMS communication in enhancing school the adjustment of 1st year undergraduate students of the University of Port Harcourt. The 105 Year one education students of 2016/ 2017 session in the department of curriculum Studies and Educational Technology of the University of Port Harcourt Nigeria constituted the population of the study. The design of the study was descriptive survey and the instrument for data collection was questionnaires. Data was analyzed using percentages. The results of the study showed among other things that first-year undergraduate students of the above department under study face challenges during their transiting year and SMS messages from their lecturers and academic advisors influenced their school adjustment. The researchers recommended that university of Port Harcourt and other universities in Nigeria should make use of the opportunities provided by SMS to support their 1st year students during their transition process.
Keywords: SMS, academic texting, mobile phones, school adjustment
Family Attachment Patterns and School Adjustment of Secondary School Adolescents in Rivers State (Published)
The study examined the relationship between family attachment patterns and school adjustment of secondary school adolescents in Rivers State. The study adopted correlational design targeted at establishing the relationship between family attachment patterns and school adjustment. A total of 1,000 adolescent students were drawn through multi-stage sampling technique. They responded to two questionnaires titled; Attachment Style Classification Questionnaire (ASCQ) and School Adjustment Scale (SAS) on a four point scale. These instruments were validated and had reliability coefficient values of 0.733 for ASCQ and 0.728 for SAS respectively. Four research questions and four hypotheses guided the study. Relevant data gathered were analyzed with Pearson Product Moment Correlation statistic and multiple regression analysis as statistical tools. The results of the study showed that there is a positive relationship between family attachment patterns and school adjustment which are all statistically significant at 0.05 level of significance. Also, family attachment patterns-secure, anxious/ambivalent and avoidance collectively predict school adjustment of secondary school adolescents. The predictive relationship with an F-ratio of 204.638 was statistically significant at 0.05 level of significance. In addition, the three family attachment patterns, jointly explains 38.5% of the variance in school adjustment of secondary school adolescents. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others that families should be encouraged by stakeholders such as teachers, counsellors, school authorities etc to support their children and wards with school adjustment challenges in view of the fact that family attachment patterns relate with adolescents school adjustment.
Keywords: Adolescents, Family Attachment Patterns, Rivers State, school adjustment
Relationship between Family Conflict, Values and School Adjustment of Secondary School Adolescents in Rivers State (Published)
The study investigated the relationship between family conflict, values and school adjustment of secondary school adolescents in Rivers State. The study adopted correlational design targeted at establishing the relationship between family conflicts, values and school adjustment. A total of 1,000 adolescent students were drawn through multi-stage sampling technique. They responded to two questionnaires titled; Family Conflict and Values Scale (FCVS), and School Adjustment Scale (SAS) on a four point scale. These instruments were validated and had reliability coefficient values of 0.731 for FCVS and 0.728 for SAS respectively. Two research questions and two hypotheses guided the study. Relevant data gathered were analyzed with Pearson Product Moment Correlation statistic as statistical tool. The results of the study showed that there is a positive relationship between family conflict, values and school adjustment which are all statistically significant at 0.05 level of significance. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others that families should be encouraged by stakeholders such as teachers, counsellors, school authorities etc to support their children and wards with school adjustment challenges in view of the fact that these family variables (conflict and values) significantly relate with adolescents school adjustment.
Keywords: Adolescents, Family Conflict, Rivers State, Values, school adjustment
The Influence of Marital Instability on Students’ School Adjustment (Published)
Marital instability has impacted the development as well as the social functioning of a number of children in Nigeria. This study therefore examined the influences of marital instability on students’ school adjustment in Benin metropolis, Edo State. The descriptive research survey was adopted for this study. A random sample size of 462 secondary school students was selected using the stepwise random method. The findings revealed that students from broken homes have difficulty adjusting to their schooling due to their school class or level, which showed least score with mean value of 2.85, followed by parental level of education mean value of 2.87, parental socio-economic status, with highest mean value of 3.12 and students gender with p value of .114 of marital instability. It is recommended that crucial consideration is needed by helping professional, such as social workers, teachers, guidance counselors, family counselors and child protection networks to promote the academic functioning of students of separated or divorced parents.
Keywords: Level Of Education, Marital instability, parental socio-economic status, school adjustment
