EFFECTS OF COGNITIVE BEHAVIOUR AND SOCIAL LEARNING THERAPIES ON MANAGING ADOLESCENTS AGGRESSIVENESS IN SECONDARY SCHOOL
ABSTRACT
The work Effects of cognitive behaviour and social learning therapies on managing adolescents aggressiveness in Secondary school is concerned with adolescence which is the third phase of human development. This is characterized by stress and storm. Unresolved identity crisis coupled with some factors such as parenting styles, socio-economic status, religion, and peer pressure lead to aggression. The study adopts an experimental research with 3 x 2 x 3 x 3 factorial design. The variables in the study include the independent variables, which consist of cognitive behaviour and social learning therapies and control group. The intervening variables are gender, socio-economic status and parenting styles while the dependent variable is aggression. A sample size of 90 adolescents is purposively selected. Participants are randomly assigned into experimental and control groups. The three instruments relevant to this study are: Conduct disorder scale, Socio-Economic Scale and Parenting Styles Scale. Eight research hypotheses are raised and tested at 0.05 level of significance. The procedure for data collection include the pre and post tests administered to the participants. Participants are exposed to intervention sessions twice a week for the period of eight weeks. Data collected from the study are analyzed using both the descriptive and inferential statistical methods. The study reveals the parenting style, the prevalent parental socioeconomic status is the medium. A significant difference exists in the pre-test and posttest. The results from the tested hypotheses are: There is no significant difference in the prominence in aggression of the followings: prevalence of paternal and maternal parenting styles, cognitive behaviour and social learning therapies and cognitive behaviour and social learning therapies on the basis of gender and parental SES. Others include parenting styles, age, educational level, and length of stay at the correctional centres. There is a significant difference in the followings: degree of severity of aggression before and after treatment, treatment of aggression of participants in the two experimental groups when compared with the control group and cognitive behaviour and social learning therapies on the basis of religion. Recommendations are proffered in the study.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
      1.1      Background to the Study
Aggression is a serious behavioural and emotional disorder that can occur in adolescents. Adolescents with this disorder may display a pattern of disruptive and violent behaviour and have problems following rules (Hinshaw & Lee, 2003). It is not uncommon for adolescents to have behaviour-related problems at some time during their development. However, the aggression is considered to be a conduct disorder when it is long-lasting and when it violates the rights of others, when it goes against accepted norms of behaviour and disrupts the child’s or family’s everyday life (Hinshaw & Lee, 2003; Goldberg, 2012).
The word ―adolescence‖ comes from a Latin word ―adolescere‖ which means to grow or to grow to maturity (Oladele, 1994; Martins, Carlson &Buskist, 2007). Psychologists have given different definitions of adolescence. Some define it as the transitional period of life between childhood and adulthood; while at other times it is called the period of teenage which is marked by changes in the body, mind and social relationships. This means that the transition is as much social as it is biological. Adolescence is the time between the beginning of sexual maturation (puberty) and adulthood. It is a time of psychological maturation during which a person becomes “adult-like” in behaviour. According to Sacks (2003), adolescence begins with the onset of physiologically normal puberty and ends when an adult identity and behaviour are accepted. This period of development corresponds roughly to the period between the ages of 10 and 19, which is consistent with the World Health
Organization‘s definition of adolescence (WHO, 2013). Martins, Carlson &Buskist (2007) opine that adolescence starts from teen age and ends in the early twenties, while Gutgesell& Payne (2004) describe adolescence as a prolonged developmental stage that lasts approximately ten (10) years, nominally described as between the ages of eleven (11) and twenty-one (21). It is also noted that an adolescent progresses through stages of biological development as well as changes in psychological and social functioning. Developing proper emotions and controlling them is very essential during adolescence. Meeting social demands as well as eliminating the damaging effects of the emotions on attitudes, habits, behaviour and physical well-being, as well as control of emotions, is essential. Control does not mean repression but learning to approach a social situation with a rational attitude and repression of those emotions which are socially unacceptable.
When an individual reaches adolescence, he/she knows what type of behaviour is expected of him or her and which behaviours are unacceptable. Adolescents however misbehave from time to time for a variety of reasons. Perhaps, they feel that they need to assert their own independence or they wish to test the limits imposed on them. Sometimes, adolescents misbehave because they are experiencing internal distress, anger, frustration, disappointment, anxiety, or hopelessness. There are also those whose behaviour is consistently of concern to others. In such cases, the adolescents‘ behaviour is clearly outside the range of what is considered normal or acceptable. Perhaps, most alarming is that many of them show little remorse, guilt, or understanding of the damage and pain inflicted on people by their behaviour (Pruitt, 2000).
The future of any nation is largely determined by the well-being of adolescents. Dealing with adolescents has always been a challenge for both parents and helping professionals. Behavioural disorders typically develop in childhood and adolescence. While some behavioural issues may be normal, those who have behavioural disorders develop chronic patterns of aggression, defiance, open refusal to laws or regulations, disruption and hostility. Adolescents‘ behaviours can cause problems at home or school and can interfere with relationships. Adolescents with behavioural disorders may develop personality disorders, depression, or bipolar disorder as adults (RichardHarrington, 2008).
STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
Adolescents with behavioural disorder not only affect themselves, their families and schools negatively but also the society at large. Increase in adolescents‘ behavioural disorder has led to a leap in chaos, disorderliness, destruction of lives and property, armed robbery, terrorist activities, kidnapping, oil bunkering, and many more evils. The Nigerian government established Remand Homes (now Secondary schools), Approved Schools and Juvenile Courts to address these behavioural disorders in adolescents but mere admission of the latter is not sufficient to reduce or eradicate the aggression. For adolescents with aggression to be helped, there is, therefore, the need to expose them to counselling interventions in order for them to become responsible individuals to themselves and their parents, good students at school and worthy ambassadors of the nation as a whole. Various behavioural modification techniques like cognitive restructuring, self management and token economy among others have been used to treat rebelliousness, disorderliness, depression, anxiety, gambling, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and other disruptive behaviours (Lam, Cole, Sharpiro& Bambara, 1994; Kanter, Schildcrout, &Kohlenberg, 2005; Chronis, Gamble, Roberts & Pelham, 2006; Pull, 2007; Jime´nez-
Murcia, lvarez-Moya, Granero, Aymami, Go´mez-Pen˜ a, &Jaurrieta, 2007; Aderanti& Hassan, 2011).
Nevertheless, this study sets out to examine the Effects of cognitive behaviour and social learning therapies in the treatment of aggression (aggression, hostility, deceitfulness/theft and rule violation) among adolescents in two Secondary school.
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EFFECTS OF COGNITIVE BEHAVIOUR AND SOCIAL LEARNING THERAPIES ON MANAGING ADOLESCENTS AGGRESSIVENESS IN SECONDARY SCHOOL
