ABSTRACT
The
main purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between
classroom climate and secondary school adolescents’ psycho-social adjustment.
The study was guided by four purposes, four research questions and three null
hypotheses. The research design for this study was a correlational survey
research design. The study was carried out in Okigwe education zone of
Imo-State, Nigeria. The population of the study comprised of 4,694 SS2
respondents. The sample for this study was 420 SS2 students. The instrument for
data collection was a questionnaire developed by the researcher titled:
Perceived classroom climate Questionnaire (PCCQ) and Adolescents Psycho- social
Adjustment Questionnaire (ASAQ) . The questionnaire items were developed by the
researcher through the information gotten from reviewed literature. The instruments
was face validated by three experts. The experts were requested to vet the
instruments in terms of clarity of the words, appropriateness and relevance of
the items, and suitability of the items and response patterns. The observations
of these experts were used for modification of the instrument. In order to
ascertain the reliability of the instruments for the study, 20 copies of the
instrument were trial tested using SS 2 students in Agbaja secondary school,
which is outside the study area. The instruments yielded an overall reliability
estimate of 0.87 which indicate that the instrument was reliable and was used
for the study. The researcher, with the help of two research assistants,
directly administered the instrument to the respondents and retrieve
thereafter. The research questions were answered using Pearson product moment
correlation Analysis while regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses
at 0.05 level of significance. The result of the study among others showed that
the existing classroom climate in Okigwe Education Zone is unsupportive. It was
also found that there was a significant relationship between the supportive
classroom climate and psycho- social adjustment of secondary school
adolescents. The result of the study also showed that classroom climate and
gender significantly predict psycho-social adjustment of secondary school
adolescents. The implications of the above findings were examined and it was
recommended among other things that school administrators should try to gain clearer
insight into the importance of supportive classroom climate and strategies for
improving classroom climate for students’ psycho-social adjustment. This can be
achieved through organizing workshops and seminars for school administrators by
the ministry of education. The limitations of this study were highlighted and
suggestions were made for further studies.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the study
The adolescent period has been of great concern to psychologists,
teachers, parents, and society at large. This is because the period is marked
by great stress and storm and myriads of adjustment problems due to the
dramatic physical, psychological, mental and socio-adaptation changes that
occur during this period. The anticipation of psychologists, teachers, parents
and the society at large is to see that adolescents are adequately adjusted
during this critical period.
Adolescence is the period of transition from childhood to adulthood,
starting from approximately 10-12 years old, up to 18-21 years old (Sandrock,
2007). Sandrock went on to say that the transition period is characterized by
rapid biological, physical, emotional and cognitive change that take place at
this time. Biologically, it begins with the onset of puberty. This is the time
of life during which the reproductive organ become capable of functioning.
Physically, it is characterized with a growth spurt. The individual at this
stage experiences a rapid increase in height. Cognitively, the stage is
characterized by the increase in critical thinking, reasoning ability and the
way the adolescent perceives the social environment. Emotionally, the stage is
taught with affection, aggression and fear. This could be as a result of the
changes that take place in the body. Igbo in Onwuasoanya (2008), views
adolescence as a period when developmental changes are seen in girls from ages
10-12 and in boys from 12-14, when the capability for sexual reproductive
system starts. Adolescence as defined by Rideout, Mellisa, Allison, Seeta and
Betssy, (2012) is a time of life that is both exhilarating and daunting. It can
be fraught with excitement and disappointment, self-confidence and insecurity,
and loneness. Adolescence in this study is a developmental period between late
childhood and early adulthood. An adolescent on the other
hand is an individual who has passed a childhood stage but has not reached
adult stage.
Adolescence period can be a time of both orientation and discovery. The
transitional period can bring up issue of independence and self-identity.
However, the 5th stage of Erickson theory of psycho-social
adjustment (Identity Vs confusion) involves the adolescents continuing search
of personal identity, as the person tries to determine who he is, confusion results
when home or school environment fails to provide opportunities for individual
exploration with different identity roles (Eggen and Kauchak, 2013). During
this developmental stage, if the school or home environment fails to provide a
warmth, supportive and caring social environment for the adolescents’
psycho-social adjustment, they may develop some psycho-social maladjustment
behaviors from their social environment.
Psycho-social adjustment could be seen as the quantity of harmony which
adolescents-experience in their personal and interpersonal behaviors
(Olofintoye, 2015). This implies that both personal and interpersonal behaviors
work side-by-side for the adolescents psycho-social adjustment. Personal
behaviors are ones personal characteristics, they include temperament,
cognitive style, self esteem, anxiety, and among others. Interpersonal
behaviors on the other hand involves the way people interact with one another.
They may include both verbal communication (Like Joking, relating with one another
and among others) and non verbal clues, such as body language, or facial
expressions. Ayebami, (2006) perceives psycho-social adjustment as the growth
and development of social behaviors, emotional characteristics, and mental
wellness capable of enhancing the proper adaptation of adolescents in schools
in which they are. Antonak (2005) views psycho-social adjustment as a process
which a person with disability moves from a state of disablement to a state of
enablement and is characterized by the transformation
from negative to positive well being. This connotes that when the adolescents
are provided with a warmth and caring environment, they are likely to be
transformed from state of maladjustment to adjustment which promotes their
personal, social and academic development. In the context of this study,
psycho-social adjustment is taken to mean the amount of balance which
adolescents experience between their personal characteristics and social
environment. This connotes that the secondary school adolescents psycho-social
adjustment is a function of the quality of the harmony which they experience in
the interaction between their personal characteristics and their social
environment.
Adolescents psycho-social adjustment according to Olofintoye (2005) is
made up of the following components or factors: emotional intelligence,
self-esteem and social support. Emotional intelligence refers to ability to
monitor one’s own and other people’s emotions, to discriminate between
different emotions and label them approximately to guide thinking. Self-esteem
is defined as the emotional evaluation individual make about themselves, which
is generally in the form of approval or disapproval. It indicates the extent to
which persons believe themselves to be capable, significant, successful and
worthy. Social support is the perception of the availability of support of
assistance from others such as peers, parents and teachers. Social support may
be in form of guidance and feedback (advice and instruction), positive social
interactions (spending time with peers, teachers and parents) and tangible
assistance (money and academic materials).
It is believed that a psychologically and socially adjusted adolescents
actively integrates into the school system to achieve the essence of being in
the school. This could imply that the adolescents should have a good
self-esteem, be diligent, pleasant, loving, rational and co-operative. When an
adolescent is capable of striking such balance in his daily activities in the
school, the adolescent is said to have achieved adequate psycho-social
adjustment that enhances positive outcomes in life, within and outside the
school. On the contrary, lack of psycho-social adjustment leads to
psycho-social maladjustment among adolescents. Psycho-social maladjustment can
be described as adolescents inability to react successfully and satisfactory to
the demands of the environment. Though the term applies to a wide range of
biological, physical, psychological and social conditions, it often implies an
individual’s failure to meet social or culture expectations (Olofintoye, 2005).
Psychologically and socially maladjusted adolescents may develop feeling of
helplessness which may as well propel the adolescents to form negative
attitudes towards school, works and other people. Poor psycho-social adjustment
among adolescents as pointed out by Olafintoye (2005) may be manifested in lack
of affection,, worry, anxiety, bitterness, drunkenness, sexual abuse, poor
academic performance, examination malpractice, truancy, avoidance, bulling and
fighting behaviors.
However the researchers
interest to the current study therefore is the situation of adjustment in
Okigwe Education Zone of Imo state. There has been an outary of psycho-social
maladjustment in Okigwe education Zone of Imo state. These psycho-social
maladjustment found among secondary school adolescents in Okigwe education zone
of Imo state ranges from drug use, school dropout, examination malpractice,
cultism activities, truancy, fighting and bulling, poor academic performance,
withdrawal and isolation and among others. They may fall victim of the aforementioned
maladjustment behaviors due to the nature of the classroom climate created by
the teacher during this critical or vulnerable stage which could lead to the
adolescents identifying or falling into the hands of peer pressure to learn
some unwholesome behaviors. However, adolescents are likely to fall into the
hands of the peer pressure only when they perceive the classroom climate
unsupportive, uncaring, hostile, and alienating. This could be the reason some......
================================================================
Item Type: Postgraduate Material | Attribute: 91 pages | Chapters: 1-5
Format: MS Word | Price: N3,000 | Delivery: Within 30Mins.
================================================================
No comments:
Post a Comment