Chaotic home climate and antisocial behavior among secondary school adolescents in Aba Education Zone, Nigeria

This study examined the influence of chaotic home climate on the social behaviour of adolescents in Aba Education Zone, Nigeria. The author selected sibling rivalry and parental infighting as independent variables for study. Two research questions and two null hypotheses were formed to guide the study. The study adopted the ex-post facto survey design and collected data from a random sample of 1400 adolescents in the study area. Data for the study was collected with the Domestic Abuse and Antisocial Behaviour Questionnaire with a Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficient of .862. The instrument was designed to generate responses on a 4-point scale of strongly agree to strongly disagree. Analyses of data collected in the study show that adolescents who experienced higher incidents of sibling rivalry at home recorded higher mean scores on the antisocial behaviour scale that their peers who experienced minimal sibling rivalry. It is further shown that adolescents whose parents fought frequently also recorded higher antisocial behaviour mean scores. Thus this study found that both sibling rivalry and parental infighting significantly influenced antisocial behaviour among secondary school adolescents in Aba Education Zone. Recommendations were thus advanced to assist curtail the effect of chaotic home climate on adolescent student behaviour

Social status of parents and students’ academic performance in Aba Educational Zone, Abia State

This descriptive survey examined the academic performance of SS2 students in Aba Education Zone in relation to the social status of their parents. The population of the study comprised all 4955 SS2 students in Abia State from which a sample of 100 students from four secondary schools were drawn for study. Four research questions were raised to guide the study. The Social Status of Parents Questionnaire (SOSPAQ) with a reliability index of 0.81 Cronbach’s alpha coefficient, developed by the researchers was used in collecting data on the social status of parents while students’ academic performance was assessed using the raw scores available from school records. Analyses of research data revealed that parents’ social status influenced the academic performance of students’ in Aba Education Zone of Abia State. The researchers thus recommended that the government, well-meaning individuals and organisations should support parents from disadvantaged social backgrounds in the education of their children by providing— in addition to free, compulsory and qualitative education—bursaries, scholarships and education resources to counteract the impact of low social status of parents on the education of the children

Domestic abuse and antisocial behaviour among students in Aba Education Zone

Aims: This study sought to determine how variables of domestic abuse (physical maltreatment, domestic enslavement, and verbal abuse of children by parents/guardians) contribute to the prevalence of antisocial behaviour among secondary school students in Aba Education Zone of Abia State, Nigeria. Study Design: The study adopted the ex-post facto survey design. Population of Study: The Population of the study comprised all the 5, 605 senior secondary school students in Aba education Zone during the period of this study. Methodology: The multi-stage random sampling procedure was used to select 1400 adolescents, which is 25% of the population, for the study. The instrument used in data collection was the researcher–made Domestic Abuse and Antisocial Behaviour Questionnaire. The reliability of the instrument was .86 Cronbach’s Alpha. Independent t-test was used to analyse data for hypotheses testing. The independent variables were used as the grouping variable and the grouping was done based on the students’ scores on each variable. Results: The result of independent samples t-test conducted to test the research hypotheses showed that: (1) There was a significant influence of parents’ physical maltreatment of children on antisocial behaviour (M1=36.89, M2=29.20; SD1=9.491, SD2=8.984); conditions: t(1398)=7.825, P=0.000, α =.05. (2) There was a significant influence of domestic enslavement of children on antisocial behaviour (M1=35.81, M2=29.12; SD1=8.954, SD2=9.024); conditions: t(1398)=7.804, P =0.000, α =.05. (3) There was a significant influence of verbal abuse of children on antisocial behaviour (M1=38.93, M2=27.04; SD1=8.762, SD2=7.452); conditions: t(1398)= 23.88, P =0.000, α =.05. Conclusion: Students who were physically maltreated at home were more prone to manifesting antisocial behaviour. Domestic enslavement induces negative emotions with antisocial implications. Parental verbal abuse begets in the children the tendency to use abusive words on peers at school. Keywords: Peer group; peer victimization; educational psychology; school counsellin

Psychosocial variables and body image anxiety among tertiary institution students in Imo State

This paper examined the influence of psycho-social variables on body image among tertiary institution students in Imo State University,Owerri, Imo State. The study adopted a descriptive survey design. The population of the study comprised all the students in 2015/2016 academic session, from which a sample of 1000 respondents were selected using multi-stage sampling technique. A five-point Likert-type scale questionnaire tagged of the Body Image Anxiety Questionnaire (BIAQ) was developed by the researcher for data collection. Cronbach Alpha analysis of the instrument yielded a reliability coefficient of .86. Four null hypotheses guided the study. The result showed that whereas gender has no significant effect on body image anxiety, media model, peer influence and self-esteem had a significant relationship with body image anxiety. The major recommendation was that primary care physicians should help patients to value themselves as individuals as this will contribute to their self-esteem.Keywords: Body image, Gender, Media models, Peer influence, Self-estee