TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER
ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.0 Background
to the study
1.2 Statement
of the problem
1.3 Purpose
of the study
1.4 Research
Questions
1.5 Research
Hypotheses
1.6
Significance of the study
1.7 Scope
of the study
1.8 Operational
Definition of Terms
CHAPTER
TWO
LITERATURE
REVIEW
2.1 Concept
of cultism
2.2 Types
of cults and recruitment of members
2.3 Factors
influencing cultism in Schools
2.4 An
overview of cultism in Nigerian schools
2. 5 Concept
of psychosocial adjustment
2.6 Cultism
and psycho social adjustment
2.7 Cultism
and social adjustment
2.8 Cultism
and psychological adjustment
2.9 Gender, cultism and social adjustment
2.10 Age,
cultism and psychological adjustment
2.11 Summary
of literature review
CHAPTER
THREE
RESEARCH
METHODOLOGY
3.1 Research
design
3.2 Area
of the study
3.3 Population
of the study
3.4 Sampling
and sampling techniques
3.5 Research
instrument
3.6 Validity
of the instrument
3.7 Reliability
of the instrument
3.8 Procedure
for data collection
3.9 Method
of data analysis
CHAPTER
FOUR
DATA
ANALYSES, INTERPRETATION OF RESULTS AND DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS
4.1 Descriptive Analysis of Demographic
Data
4.2 Testing of Hypotheses
4.3
Summary of findings
4.4 Discussion of Findings
CHAPTER
FIVE
SUMMARY,
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1 Summary
of the study
5.2 Conclusion
5.3
Counselling Implication
5.4 Recommendations
5.5
Suggestion for further studies
REFERENCES
APPENDIX
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.0 Background
to the study
Cultism is one of
the most dangerous social vices which have plagued the Nigerian institutions of
higher learning for decades. This menace of cultism in our tertiary
institutions has left the schools, academic and non- academic staff and
students vulnerable in the hands of cultists within and outside the school
campus.
Cultism is derived from the word “cultus”
which means “care” “Adoration”. To the sociologist of religion, the term is
used to describe a loosely known organization not characterized by tolerance
and open minded in matter of belief and practice, while in the media, and
everyday conversation, the word suggests a spurious, secretive, sinister and
harmful group. Albatross (2006).The first cult group in Nigeria campus was the
pirate confraternity founded in 1952 in the then University college Ibadan now
University of Ibadan. The confraternity was founded as a resistance to
government decision to run a rail road behind the campus grounds. This
confraternity was devoid of any harmful characteristics as seen in today
confraternities.
Opaluwah (2000)
opined that the pirate confraternity was formed to end tribalism and elitism
and not harm, maim or kill and destroy as seen in contemporary confraternities
in our campuses. The club therefore became an elite club only for the cleanest,
brightest and politically conscious. They tele guided political events and held
important positions within the student body such as president, chief judge,
public relations officer and secretary. Their existence was well known by the
students and was not associated with weird harmful spiteful character of
latter-day confraternities. He concluded that over the years due to doctrinal
differences and inability of intending members to meet the required standards
of the pirate, protestant ones began to emerge.
As against the
background of the formation of the pirate, contemporary confraternities are
known for violence and bizarre behaviours such as armed robbery, illegal
possession of firearms, illicit sexual escapades, killing of innocent students,
academic and non- academic staff, arson, extortion, threats, physical attacks,
blackmail and other inhuman practices, factional struggle and war of supremacy
culminating in bloody clashes between cult groups. Jakayinfa (2008)Muyiwa
(2004) noted the following as activities of present day confraternities Cult
activities always in the night, nocturnal initiation ceremonies in which
initiates are animalized and some die in the process, making blood covenants
and performing other occultic rituals, organized opposition against any form of
oppression real or imagined, liberal consumption of alcohol, use of drugs,
intimidation and use of violence, sexual abuse and rape, maiming, man slaughter
and murder, Examination malpractice, stealing and armed robbery.
From all Opaluwah
(2000), Jakayinfa (2008) and Muyiwa (2004) stated about contemporary
confraternities, it would be deduced that cult members exhibit bizarre,
hostile, violent and aggressive behaviour.
·
Aggressive
Behaviour: According to Wikipedia, (2016) aggressive behaviour
is a type of social behaviour that can potentially cause or threaten physical
or emotional harm. People who suffer from aggressive behaviour are most likely
to be irritable, impulsive, and restless hence why this kind of behaviour can
range from verbal abuse to damaging victim’s properties. Aggressive behaviour
is always deliberate and occurs either habitually or in a pattern. Causes of aggressive behaviour could be due
to issues of, Family structure, Relationships, Work or school environment,
health conditions, and psychiatry.
·
Violent
Behaviour: An individual that threatens or physically harm
another individual is classified as having violent behaviour. It usually starts
with verbal abuse but then escalates to physical harm such as hitting or
hurting.Violent behaviour is similar to aggressive behaviour. It is either
habitually or occurs in a pattern. The concept of violent behaviour is very
simple, at first there is tension and conflicts. This is then followed by
either destruction of the individual properties or abuse.
Violent behaviour
is alsoseen as an overt and intentional physically aggressive behaviour against
another person among students in tertiary institutions in Nigeria due to
cultism. He went further to state that gangsterism and victimization is rampant
in the system.
In corroboration
with the above, Bayode (2005) commenting on prevalence of peer victimization
among secondary school students defined peer victimization as the experience
among children of being a target of aggressive behaviour of other children who
are not siblings and not necessarily age mates. (Hawker and Boulton, 2000), Smith
(1991) described the act as an unprovoked attack that causes hurt of a
psychological, social, or physical nature. Olweus (1994) stated that peer
victimization occurs when a student is exposed repeatedly and overtime, to
negative actions on the part of one or more other students. These actions are
not necessarily provoked by the victim and for such actions to be regarded as
peer victimization; an imbalance in real or perceived power must exhist between
the victim and the peer who victimizes him or her. (Coloroso, 2002) Peer
victimization takes two major forms. Sometimes it could be physical as in
fighting, punching, pushing, kicking, hitting, strangling, beating, physical
assault and direct vandalism. (Hanish and Guerra, 2000; Hawker and Boulton
2000). More often, peer victimization, takes a non- physical form. Non
–physical victimization includes a wide range of behaviour such as verbal
abuse, (Rigby, 1996), hurtful name-calling, emotional intimidation, persistent
teasing, gossip and racist remarks as well as social exclusion (Mishna, 2003,
Olweus, (1978, 1993; Rigby, 1996) stated that students who are victims of peer
victimization, are at the risk of developing severe psycho-social adjustment
and emotional problems which may persist into adulthood. Hawker and Boulton
(2000) concluded that students who are victimized by peers suffer a variety of
feelings of psychosocial distress. They feel more anxious, depressed, lonely
and worse about themselvesthan do non-victims. On the demographic correlates of
peer victimization, gender and age factors are given prominence by researchers.
Most research findings on the relationship between age and peer victimization
tend to conclude that bullying behaviour is more prevalent among younger
children than the older ones. (Nansel, 2001, Crick, Casas and Ku, 1999,
Sourander, 2000). However, research findings appear to be inconclusive on the
peer victimizing experiences peculiar to different age categories of such
children. Research findings have not been consistent on the relationship
between gender and peer victimization. While researchers such as Olweus (1994),
Nansel (2001) and Crick and Grotpeter (1996) found that boys report
significantly more overt victimization than do girls, evidence from others such
as Crick and Gropeter (1995) and Crick, Casas, and Ku (1999) suggested that
girls report significantly more relational victimization or socially hurtful
behaviour than do boys.
The term
psychosocial according to the medical dictionary, refers to the psychological
and social factors that influences mental health. Social influences such as
peer pressure, parental support, cultural and religious background, socio
economic status and inter-personal relationshipsall help to shape personality
and influence psychological make-up.Individuals with psychosocial disorders
frequently have difficulty functioning in social situations and may haveproblems
effectively communicating to others.
Ohuakanwa (2011)
described psychosocial adjustment as the quantity of harmony which students
experience in their personal and interpersonal behaviours. It also refers to
the ability of students to actively go through school, interacting with other
members of school without fear of losing self in the process so as to actualize
the essence of schooling in the face of turbulent social environmental issues,
personal and interpersonal that may tend to create barriers. It can simply be
said to be a student ability to be actively integrated into the school to be
able to achieve the essence of school and avoiding negative tendencies that may
negate achievement of healthy outcomes in school. This means that the student
should be able to relate cordially with others, be friendly and be smart in
making good friends, should be able to establish intimate relationships without
losing self, should be able to enjoy the love and encouragement of parents and
siblings, he should also enjoy adequate teachers and administrative consultation
so as to allow adequate integration. When a student is able to strike such
balance in school he achieves adequate psychosocial adjustment that engenders
the actualization of healthy outcomes in all aspects of life within and outside
the school.
According to
Hendriksen and Schrans (2008) psychosocial adjustment can be defined as the
adaptive task of managing upsetting feelings and frustrations. They identified
six domains of psychosocial adjustment which are; peer relations, dependency,
hostility, productivity, anxiety and depression and withdrawal.
It is against this
background that this study was faced with the problem of validating the impact
of cultism on psychosocial adjustment of secondary school students in Kosofe
Local Government Area of Lagos State. The problem of the study put in a
question form is: What impact does cultism have on the psychosocial adjustment
of secondary school students?
1.2 Statement of the problem
Over the years, there
have been reported cases of violence and other anti-social behaviour exhibited
by cultists in our institutions of higher learning. These have metamorphosed
into cases of violent aggression, victimization, bullying, rape, threat to
lives and destruction of school facilities. As a result of this, researchers in
the educational sector have gone into investigation to determine the causes of
these violence and anti-social behavior displayed by cultists.
Hawkins (1998)
while commenting on cultists, opined that to avoid emotional distress, they (cultists)
display their anger on others through violent acts of aggression. They engage
in frequent fights and violence. They also use alcohol and drugs to blunt their
feelings so that no act will seem too bad for them to perpetuate.
Egbochukwu (2009)
in assessing the problems of cultists asserted that they (cultists) are
apprehensive, highly irritable, irresponsible, dishonest and insincerity of
purpose and lies characterize them.
Therefore this
study tends to investigate to ascertain whether cultism is a major determinant
of some of the anti-social behaviour exhibited by cultists.
1.3 Purpose of the study
The main purpose
of the study is to examine the impact of cultism on the psychosocial adjustment
of students in secondary schools.
The specific
objectives are;
1. To
examine the impact of cultism on social adjustment of secondary school students
2. To ascertain the impact of cultism on
the psychological adjustment of secondary school students.
3. To determine gender difference on the
impact of cultism on social adjustment of secondary school students.
4. To ascertain whether there will be a
difference due to age on the impact of cultism on social adjustment of
secondary school students.
1.4 Research
Questions
1. What
is the impact of cultism on social adjustment of secondary school students?
2. Does
cultism have any impact on the psychological adjustment of students?
3. Will
there be any gender difference on the impact of cultism on social adjustment of
students in secondary school?
4. Will
there be any age difference on the impact of cultism on the psychological
adjustment of students in secondary school?
1.5 Research Hypotheses
1. There
is no significant impact of cultism on social adjustment of secondary school
students.
2. There
is no significant impact of cultism on psychological adjustment of secondary
school students.
3. There
will be no significant gender difference on the impact of cultism on social
adjustment of secondary school students.
4. There
will be no significant difference due to age on the impact of cultism of student’s
psychological adjustment.
1.6 Significance of the study
The result of this
findings will be of benefit to students in the sense that it will make them
thoughtful in choosing groups to associate with within and outside the school
and it will also make them very careful to accept gifts and invitations to
social functions knowing that these are some of the means through which cults
entices and initiates their prospective recruits.
The result of the
study will also equip teachers with information of cult tactics and activities.
Thereby helping them to identify students’ move towards cultism and stopping
such move.
Guidance counselors will also benefit from the
result of this study because it will help them to understand the depth of cult
involvement and the psychological harm it has caused victims and how to go about
the management.
The result of this
study will also benefit school administrators, parents, researchers, government
and co-operate bodies. The study will be beneficial to school administrators
because it will help them to understand better the causes of some of the
behaviours exhibited by these students and how to help them overcome the
emotional outburst they display through group or individual counseling, dramas
on the adverse effects of cultism on individuals, orientation for new entrants
into the school and posters placed on notice boards within the school. The
findings of the study will also be beneficial to the academic community as a
whole, since it is a research effort and reference material.
Parents will also
benefit from the study because it will provide them with an in depth knowledge of the level of cult involvement
and the psychological harm it has caused their wards. Such awareness will
enhance their advisory role performance to their wards on the consequences of
associating with cultists. Parents will also become more co-operative with the
appropriate authorities in the handling of issues of secret cults in schools.
Based on the results of the study, the State
Government will be able to pass bills on the consequences of involvement in cultism
in schools and also in planning and formulating Educational policies and
providing adequate study equipment and environment conducive for teaching and
learning as well as recreational facilities in our schools which in turn
necessitates the attainment of school objectives.
1.7 Scope of the study
The study is aimed at examining the impact
of cultism on the psychosocial adjustment of students in secondary schools. It
will cover students of five selected secondary schools in Education District II
of Lagos State.
1.8 Operational Definition of Terms
Cult:
An
extreme religious group that is not part of an established religion.
Cultism:
A
kind of gang behaviour that is contrary to the accepted norms and values of the
larger society and is characterized by oath-taking, secrecy and violence.
Psychosocial
Adjustment: Psychosocial adjustment refers to the relationship
between the individual and their world, as well as to the individual’s unique
perceptions of their place within that world.
Psychological
Adjustment: Psychological adjustment reflects the
relative adaptation of an individual to
changing environmental conditions.
Social
adjustment: An effort made by an individual to cope
with standards, values and
needs of a society in order to be accepted.
Secondary
school: A School for children who are between the ages of
eleven and sixteen/eighteen
year.
Students:
Someone studying at a school (university)
Gender:
The sum of biological characteristics by which male and female and other organisms are
distinguished.
Age:
The
number of years someone has lived or something has existed.
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