Stress and frustration tolerance on officiating performance among elite football referees in Nigeria

Introduction: Football referees play an essential yet demanding role in officiating and enforcing the laws of the game (soccer). Despite this role, referees are often faced with challenging situations that tend to interfere with their officiating performance. Purpose: The purpose of the study was to assess the effect of stress and frustration tolerance on the performance of elite football referees in Nigeria. Methodology: Three null hypotheses guided the study. A survey research design was adopted for the study. A total of 123 elite football referees participated in the study. The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), Frustration Discomfort Scale (FDS) and Referee Performance Questionnaire (RPQ) served as the data collection tools. The first two instruments were adopted, and their validity and reliability have since been established. The RPQ was validated using experts’ opinions and subjected to a reliability test of internal consistency. The coefficient obtained was 0.711, which showed high reliability of the research instrument.  Data were collected by physically administering copies of the instruments to the elite football referees. Simple and multiple regression analysis was applied to quantify the predictive relationships between perceived stress and frustration tolerance with self-perceived performance. Results: Findings revealed a negative relationship between perceived stress and referee performance. However, a significant positive relationship was found between frustration tolerance and referee performance. Recommendation: Based on the results, it was recommended among others that, football organizations should integrate stress management training into referee development programmes

Ethical issues and tobacco usage among secondary school students in Cross River State, Nigeria

Introduction: Even though tobacco is not a banned substance, there are moral principles guiding its use and advertisement. Among the ethical or moral principles guiding tobacco use are the sale of tobacco products to minors and the smoking in public places. Enforcement of legislation on such moral principles appear to be weak or nonexistent. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine ethical (moral) issues and the use of tobacco among secondary school students in Calabar Education Zone of Cross River State, Nigeria. Methodology: The study was guided by three research questions. The survey research design was adopted in the study. The population of the study comprised 6,361 public secondary school students from 77 public secondary schools in the study area. Stratified and proportionate sampling techniques were used in selecting a sample of 620 respondents from 25 randomly selected secondary schools in the area. The instrument used for the study is a self-structured and administered questionnaire tagged: “Ethical Issues and Students' Tobacco Use Questionnaire (EISTUQ).” The instrument was treated using the Cronbach Alpha reliability method, to obtain internal consistency. A coefficient of .864 suggests that the instrument was usable for data collection. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and percentage. Results: The result of the analysis indicated that a ban on direct sales of cigarettes to minors, open advertisement of tobacco products, and ban on smoking in public places, significantly influenced students' use of tobacco respectively. Recommendations: Based on the results, it was recommended that government at all levels, should strictly enforce the ban on direct sales of cigarettes to minors; open advertisement of tobacco products through various advertorial channels; and ban on smoking in public places

Interactive analysis of demographic variables and occupational stress on university lecturers’ job performance

This research studied the interaction influence of demographic characteristics (marital status, job rank, gender and age) and occupational stress level, on the work performance of faculty members in Calabar Metropolis. The descriptive survey design was utilized for this investigation. A sample of 150 respondents was identified using the systematic random sampling procedure from a population of 400 Faculty of Education lecturers from two public universities in Calabar Metropolis. A four-point scale validity and reliability certified questionnaire was used for data collection. Data generated was analyzed using the two-way analysis of variance. Hypotheses were all tested at the 0.05 alpha level. Findings revealed a significant interactive effect of demographic variables (age, gender, job rank and marital status) and stress levels on lecturers' jobs. Results also indicated that the stress level of lecturers affects the degree or quality of job performance, with those having average stress levels reporting better job performance in the universities studied. Recommendations were made that all lecturers, irrespective of age, gender, marital status or rank, should develop or adopt good stress management skills and disengage/reduce extra jobs and other unnecessary stress-inducing activities.