Adolescents’ Psychopathology as Correlate of Their Social Adjustment in Secondary Schools in Anambra State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study is on adolescents’ psychopathology as correlate of their social adjustment in Onitsha Education zone, Anambra State. Three research questions guided the study while one null hypothesis was tested at 0.05 level of significance. Correlational research design was adopted for this study. The population of the study comprised 15,816 secondary school adolescents from which a sample size of 1,440 adolescents was selected using simple random sampling and disproportionate stratified random sampling techniques. Two research instruments, namely: Adolescent Psychopathology Questionnaire (APQ) and Adolescents’ Social Adjustment Questionnaire (ASAQ) were used for the study. The instruments were duly validated by experts before it was used in conducting this study. The reliability of the instrument is as follows: 0.949 for APQ, and 0.928 for ASAQ. Data was collected through direct delivery method. Research questions 1 to 2 were answered using range of summated scores, while research questions 3 was answered and the null hypotheses was tested using Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficients. The findings of the study revealed among others that secondary school adolescents’ psychopathology has high negative relationship with their social adjustment. It was recommended among others that guidance counsellors should carefully set out behaviour modification techniques to enhance psychopathological state of the adolescents positively to ensure their proper social adjustment in schools.