PSYCHOSOCIAL PREDICTORS OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS ADJUSTMENT TO SCHOOL

Abstract

The study investigates the psychosocial predictors of secondary school students adjustment to school in Obio-Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State Nigeria. Three research questions and three hypotheses guided the study. The study adopted correlational design. A sample of 452 SS2 students was drawn from the population through stratified random sampling technique. Two instruments were used for data collection- Psycho-Social Predictor Scale (PPS) and School Adjustment Scale (SAS) which were developed by the researchers. The instruments were validated by experts in Educational Psychology, Measurement and Evaluation. The reliability coefficient of PPS subsections were 0.76, 0.68 and 0.71 respectively for self-concept, emotional intelligence and peer group while SAS had 0.82 reliability coefficient. All reliabilities were obtain via Cronbach Alpha technique. The results of the simple linear regressions and the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) show that self-concept significantly predicted secondary school students’ adjustment to school while emotional intelligence and peer group do not. In terms of the relative effects of the psychosocial factors, self-concept was found to be most effective, followed by emotional intelligence and lastly peer group. Based on the findings, recommendations were made including that parents, teachers and counsellors should provide the students adequate orientation towards development of positive self-concept and self-confidence.