ABSTRACT
The
study was carried out to determine the extent Demographic characteristics (age,
gender, socio-economic status and grade level) predict social competence and
emotional intelligence of Junior Secondary (JS) students. Five research
questions were answered and two hypotheses formulated and tested at 0.05 level
of significance. The social cognitive learning theory by Bandura provided basis
for explaining the relationship between demographic variables, social
competence and emotional intelligence. The study adopted the correlational
survey design. Two hundred and eighty eight (288) JS 1 and JS 3 students
constituted the sample. Using a disproportionate stratified random sampling
technique, one boys’ and one girls’ secondary schools in Nsukka urban were
chosen for the study. In each of the selected schools, two arms of JS I and two
arms of JS 3 were randomly selected. All the students in these arms were used
for the study. Two instruments namely a-36 item adapted version of emotional
intelligence questionnaire students short-form and a 30-item researcher
developed social competence scale were used for data collection. Internal
consistency reliability estimates of 0.65 and 0.83 were established for the
emotional intelligence questionnaire and the social competence scale
respectively. The instruments were administered on the students by the
researcher and four research assistants. The data were analyzed using mean and
standard deviation for answering research questions 1 and 2, while Pearson
product moment correlation coefficient was used to answer research questions 3,
4, and 5. The hypotheses were tested using regression analysis. The results
showed that the students had high emotional intelligence ( ´ = 3.52 , SD = 0.47) and average social competence ( ´ = 3.46, SD = 0.45). There was high and significant correlation (r
= .735, p < .000) between emotional intelligence and social competence. The
demographic variables namely age, gender, socio- economic status and grade
level explained 13.1% (R2 = .131) of the variance in social
competent and 10.8% (R2 = .180) of the variance in emotional
intelligence. Age (t = -3.569, p < .000), gender (t = 3.157, p < .002)
and grade level (t = 5.172, p < .000) significantly predicted social
competence. Age (t = -3.426, p <
.001),
gender (t = 2.326, p < .021) and grade level (t = 4.216, p < .000) also
significantly predicted emotional intelligence of the students at p < .05.
Socio-economic status did not significantly predict emotional intelligence (t =
1.682, p <
.094)
and social competence (t = .705, p < .482) at p < .05. Based on the
findings, it was recommended that demographic characteristics such as age,
gender and grade level should be considered when taking decisions related to
social competence and emotional intelligence of students in Junior Secondary
Schools.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
Education has remained the most outstanding priority
in the world today and
human development remains the purpose of education.
This explains why researchers
in the world over have continued to seek ways of
improving human development
through knowledge acquisition. The major goal of the
school is to enhance emotional
and intellectual growth as well as moral and social
competence of the students.
Principally, children are sent to school to acquire
functional literacy and social
competence, and also to develop emotional
intelligence that would make them
competent in the society. The National Policy on
Education (Federal Republic of
Nigeria, 2004) recognized the role of schools when
it stated that schools provide
children the opportunity for
“The acquisition of appropriate
skills and the development of mental, physical and social abilities as well as
the competences for the individuals to live and contribute to the development
of the society; the training of the mind in the understanding of the world; and
promotion of the physical, emotional and psychological development of all
children” (p. 8).
This policy document recognized emotional
intelligence and social competence
among others as important roles of education.
Secondary education is the education given to
students after primary education
and before tertiary education. This level of
education, according to the National
Policy on Education, (Federal Republic of Nigeria) aims at raising a
generation of people that can think for themselves, respect the dignity of
labour, respect other peoples’ views and feelings. This goal of secondary
education also underscores the importance of social competence and emotional
intelligence in school system.
Social competence refers to a wide range of skills and behaviours that
children need for a successful social adaptation. As noted by Gale Encyclopedia
(2012), social competence is a child’s ability to establish and maintain high
quality and mutually satisfying relationships and to avoid negative treatment
or victimization from others. In order words, it is the ability to relate well
with others. Semrud–Clikeman (2007) saw social competence as a complex
multidimensional concept comprising skills such as social, emotional, cognitive
and behavioural, and motivational and expectancy sets needed for a positive
social adaptation. This definition refers to social competence as skills for
success in social situations. According to Rubin and Rose (1992), social
competence is the capacity to achieve personal goals in a social interaction
while simultaneously maintaining positive relations. To them, social competence
involves the ability to take other people’s perspective concerning a situation,
learn from past experiences and apply that learning to changes in social
interaction.
Social competence is the basis for future interaction with others and for
individuals perceptions of their own behaviours (Semrud-Clikeman, 2007).
Therefore, social competence determines the present and future success of a
person in social undertaking. Gardner (1999) viewed social competence as a
life-long, intercultural and social learning skills comprising abilities such as flexibility,
working in a team, motivating colleagues and clients.
Therefore, team spirit is one of the abilities in social competence. This
conceptualization of social competence agrees with the description of social
characteristics of pupils by Wikipedia (2011). According to it, friendship and
team spirit are two important social characteristics. Friends often have
similar attitudes, interest and personality traits. Friendship is based on
understanding and accommodation of others with more or less similar
characteristics. It may help pupils to develop skills for managing their
emotions and provide them companionship.
Team work on the other hand increases ones capacity to accommodate others
and working with others to attain objectives. It encourages pupils sociability
and makes them bold enough to breakout of gender role stereotype (Hartup,
1993). Team work is a technique that is applied in problem-solving in schools.
Evidence from studies (Gale Encyclpedia, 2012) indicate that popular children
exhibit characteristics reflecting high level of social competence. They are
friendly, cooperative, helpful, nice and understanding. They are good
problem-solvers, companions and play partners. They can be said to exhibit high
levels of friendship and team spirit. Popularity with peers can therefore be a
measure of social competence. Three sub-domains of social competence have been
identified by Grashman cited in Semrud-Clikeman (2007). They include adaptive
behaviour, social skills and peer acceptance, with peer acceptance and social
skills being often used to assess social competence.....
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