ABSTRACT
This study examined the influence of
Personality Dispositions and Academic Achievement among University of Lagos
Students. In this study, the relevant and related literatures were reviewed
under selected sub-headings. The descriptive research survey was used in this
study in order to assess the opinions of the selected respondents with the
application of the questionnaire and the sampling technique. A total of 200
(two hundred) respondents were selected and used in this study to represent the
entire population of the study. Four null hypotheses were formulated in this
study and tested accordingly using the Pearson Product Moment Correlation
Coefficient statistical tool for hypotheses one and the independent t-test
statistical instrument for hypotheses two, three and four respectively. At the
end of the analyses, the following results were obtained, there is a
significant relationship between personality dispositions and undergraduate
students' academic achievement at University of Lagos, there is a significant
relationship between truancy and students' academic achievement at University
of Lagos, there is a significant relationship between positive peer-grouping
and undergraduate students' academic achievement at University of Lagos and
there is a significant relationship between negative behaviours and students'
academic performance at University of Lagos. Based on the data analysis and the
findings obtained thereafter, it is recommended that conformity to school rules
and regulations should be promoted in school and society through concerted
efforts of parents and teachers, school managers, government and
non-governmental agencies as well as other agents of socialization in society
the church, the mosque and the mass media and Students should be inculcated with
sound moral and religious principles and teachings in the school curriculum, it
can be a sure way toward the control of delinquent and deviant behaviours.
TABLE
OF CONTENTS
Pages
Title page
i
Certification
ii
Dedication
iii
Acknowledgement
iv
Abstract
v
Table of contents
vi
CHAPTER
ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
1
1.2 Theoretical Framework
4
1 3 Statement of the Problem
5
1.4 Purpose of the Study
6
1.5 Research
Questions
7
1.6 Research Hypotheses 7
1.7 Significance of the Study
8
1.8 Scope
of the Study 9
1.9 Operational
Definition of Terms
10
CHAPTER
TWO: REVIEW OF LITERATURE
2.1 Concept
and Determinants of Personality
11
2.2 Theories of Personality
14
2. 3 The Personality Assessments 21
2.4 Nature
of Negative Personality Dispositions 24
2.5 Negative
Personality Dispositions /Behaviours Among Students 26
2.6 Peer
Pressure and Academic Performance of Students 28
2.7 Parental Responsibility and Academic Performance 30
2.8 Self-Concept and Academic Achievement of
Students 32
2.9 Parental
Discipline on Academic Performance of Students 35
2.10 Home and Academic Performance of Students
37
2.11 Summary of the Literature Review
38
CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH
DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
3.1 Research Design
40
3.2 Area of Study
41
3.3 Population of the Study
41
3.4 Sample Size and Sampling Technique
41
3.5 Research Instruments 41
a. Validity
of Instrument
42
b. Reliability
of the Instrument 42
3.6 Administration of Instrument
43
3.7 Scoring of Instrument 43
3.8 Procedure for Data Analysis
43
CHAPTER
FOUR: DATA ANALYSIS AND PRESENTATION OF RESULTS
4.1 Analysis of Descriptive Data
44
4.2 Hypothesis Testing
44
4.3 Discussion of Findings
45
4.4 Summary of Findings
48
CHAPTER
FIVE: SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1 Summary of Study
49
5.2 Conclusions
50
5.3 Recommendations
50
5.4 Suggestions for Further Studies
51
References 52
Appendix
58
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
Every individual is a unique being. No two individuals
are exactly the same, not even identical twins. This uniqueness may be referred
to as individual differences. However,
despite the diversity in our individuality, people still share certain
characteristics with others. Undergraduates students are not in any way
exempted from these individual differences. Each undergraduate is unique and
possesses some personality dispositions that generally distinguish him or her
from every other undergraduate student in the tertiary institution. According
to Makinde (2004), traits are distinguishable and relatively enduring way in
which one man is different from another through personality variables.
Personality dispositions or traits are definite, idividualized characteristics
that typify a person and make such a person different from every other person
in the society.
According
to Kagan et al (1990) in Osarenren (2002), personality is the total pattern of
characteristic ways of thinking, feeling and behaving that constitutes the
individual’s distinctive method of relating to the environment. This pattern of
characteristics makes an individual to behave in a particular manner and these
personal characteristics make the individual to be accepted or rejected in the
society. Not only that, the personality of an individual undergraduate student
of any institution makes or mars his/her academic success or failure in the
school (Adeleke, 2005). The American
Heritage Dictionary (1985), defines disposition as a habitual inclination or a
personal tendency of an individual which makes the individual to act or behave
in a peculiar way. Individual dispositions include: temperament,
character-exhibitions, personality traits or specific natural phenomena which
differentiate a person from others in the community or the school. Dispositions
are a combination of qualities that identify a person from another. They are
what make an individual unique and differently created or carved out.
Dispositions are a prevailing frame of mind or spirit inherent in an individual
which make what he/she is. The Collins English Dictionary (1990), defines
disposition as a natural or acquired tendency, inclination or habit in a
person. Therefore, personality disposition may be defined as the sum total of
an individual’s unique ways of responding or reacting to certain issues to
occurring in his/her immediate environment which can be school, home or
society.
Undergraduates are from different
families and backgrounds. Each individual student in the school environment has
a very unique family upbringing that shapes his/her life pattern into what
he/she is seen to be in the school setting. Even students born in the same home
are unique and different from one another in many ways such as speech,
attitudes or general behavioural pattern. Many things make human beings unique
and different from others in the society. These characteristic traits range
from their the human genotypes, blood groups, gender etc. Other physical
dispositions or characteristics include such attitudes as: likes or dislikes,
tastes or preferences, hobbies, level of intelligence, goals and aspirations,
attitude to life issues and so on. These characteristic personal differences
are the products of nature and nurture (Dickson, 2000).
Nature
refers to traits that are genetically transferred from parents to their off
springs. These are physical characteristics an of individual that are inherited
from his/her parents. Such physical characteristics arer: the colour of the
eyes, body physique, shape of nose, fingers, hair, structure of the brain, and
so on. These inherited traits or dispositions are largely responsible for many
of our behaviours, though there are some limitations (Nwankwo, 2003). Nurture
refers to the environment in which an individual is brought up. This can be the
home, the school or the societal environments in which the individual is born
and bred. It includes the physical circumstances of our birth, varying
influences from the society as a whole and more importantly, our family
structures (Osarenren, 2002).
No
doubt nature and nurture phenomena are crucial elements that helps an
individual to achieve maximum success of dismal failure in any life endeavours,
be it education/academic career, business career or any other engagement an
individual faces in life. For instance, a student with positive personality
traits or dispositions, attends to classes, copies notes, obeys the teacher,
asks critical questions in the class, remains attentive while the lectures are
going on and so on. Not only the active participation in the classroom
activities, a student with good personality dispositions studies what has been
taught and consults other education materials to internalize issues of academic
relevance to him/her. These personality traits are learning-friendly and in any
case, allow the student to record high academic success in examinations and
class tests (Uzor, 2011).
In
the other way round, healthy and unhealthy personality dispositions are a
product of negative nature and nurture. Some of the traits or personal
dispositions that are exhibited by undergraduate students at University of
Lagos were inherited from their parents and the significant others in the
society. Some of these traits resulted from the way the students were brought
up by their parents and others who nurtured them as surrogate parents. Their
upbringings and social interactions are very significant in shaping their
personality dispositions or traits. The presence of negative personality
dispositions can pose a great threat to students’ studies in a negative way.
For instance, students with negative dispositions are, restive, truants, they
absent themselves from the school without permission or any reason, they pay no
attention to the lecture and above all, they do not read their books critically
for maximum achievement in the examinations. These negative personality
dispositions are not learning friendly and therefore, can mar the academic
achievement of the students in question thereby making them to record dismal
failures in the school (Anyanwu, 1999).
If a
student does not read his books, does not attend the class regularly, does not
listen attentively to the lectures, shows or displays negative traits of
fighting others in the classroom, creating unfriendly atmosphere such that
other students avoids moving or associating with him/her and exhibits other
negative and anti-social dispositions, these anti-academic achievement traits
will automatically lead the student poor socialization among his/her peers, and
consequently, result into a resounding poor academic performance and miserable
life pattern of the individual student. Hence, the need to identify the
personality variables of students as factors that can influence their academic
achievement.
1.2
Theoretical Framework
The Theories of Learning (S-R Theories) (Skinner, 1991)
The (S-R) theory of learning
propounded by B.S. Skinner (1991), underpins this study because, it is the
theory that concerns learning which is the dependent variable in the study. The
most crucial features of the connectionist or S-R theories of learning and more
specifically, behavior, are contained in the two important letters ‘S’ and ‘R’
and the hyphen in between them. ‘S’ means stimulus or thinking bond. According
to this school of thought, which includes great behaviourists like Watson
(1946), Thorndike (1949), Hull (1943), Pavlov (1958) and Skinner (1991),
behavior is a transaction between the stimulus or stimuli that impinge on an
organism and the resultant responses, the ‘R’. This connotes that learning
involvYUGes some lasting or permanent changes in the relationships between the
‘S’ and ‘R’ connection. The behaviourists emphasized that all knowledge emanate
from the five senses of sight, hearing, smell, touch and taste. For the
behaviourists, man is born with the ability and capacity to acquire knowledge
and everything he knows comes from his sensory experience. Sensory qualities
are connected in the mind, because they occur closely together in time or space
as one interacts with his environment. Learning therefore, occurs trough close
association of events or ideas. For the behaviourists, learning occurs only
through experience. Skinner (1991), did not reckon with the existence of the
innate ideas in man as being responsible for his knowledge. To him, learning is
mechanistic; that is to assume that the mind is machine-like and of simple
elements with no mysterious elements and therefore, the product of life
experience. Thus, behavior is not learnt but inborn in man. For instance, the
baby-sucking behavior as well as the sexual behaviour in man, are not learnt,
but inborn behaviours. Although, some behaviours could be explained in terms of
maturation. They include walking, speech, flying of birds in the sky as well as
swimsging of tadpoles in the sea.
1.3 Statement
of the Problem
The
nature and nurture phenomena which are embedded in the personality of an
individual, are crucial elements that can assist a student to achieve maximum
success or dismal failure in any life endeavours, which include education/academic career, business career or
any other engagement which an individual faces. Unhealthy personality
dispositions therefore, are a product of negative nature and nurture. Some of
the negative traits or personality dispositions that are exhibited by students
are negative character-dispositions inherited from their parents and the
significant others in the society. Some of these negative traits are as a
result of the ways students were brought up by poor parental styles and the
significant others who nurtured them as surrogate parents.
The
presence of negative personality dispositions can pose a great threat to
students’ studies and their social interactions in a negative way. For
instance, students with negative dispositions are, restive, truants, they
absent themselves from the school without permission or for any reason, they
pay no attention to the lecture and above all, they do not read their books
critically for maximum achievement in the examinations for academic progress.
These negative personality dispositions are not learning friendly and
therefore, can mar seriously the academic achievement of the students in
question thereby making them to record dismal failures in their school
activities which include academic achievements (Anyanwu, 1999).
For
instance, if a student does not read his books, does not attend the class
regularly, does not listen attentively to the lectures, shows or displays
negative traits of fighting others in the classroom, creating unfriendly
atmosphere such that other students avoids moving or associating with him/her,
and exhibits other negative and anti-social dispositions in the classroom and
the school. These anti-academic achievement traits will automatically lead the
student to poor socialization among his/her peers, and consequently, result
into a resounding poor academic performance and miserable life pattern of the
student.
The
above identified problems, subsequently gave rise to the examination of
personality dispositions and undergraduate students’ academic achievement at
the University of Lagos.
1.4 Purpose of the Study
The
main purpose of the study is to examine the relationship that exists between
personality dispositions and academic achievement of undergraduate students in
University of Lagos. The specific objectives of the study are to:
1.
Ascertain the relationship between
personality dispositions and undergraduate students’ academic achievement at
University of Lagos.
2.
Assess the relationship between truancy and
students’ academic achievement at University of Lagos.
3.
Examine the relationship between positive
peer-grouping and undergraduate students’ academic achievement at University of
Lagos.
4.
Investigate the relationship between negative
behaviours and students’ academic performance at University of Lagos.
5.
Identify the perceived factors militating
against low academic achievement of students at University of Lagos.
1.5 Research Questions
The
following research questions were raised in this study for effective conduct:
1. What
is the relationship between personality dispositions and undergraduate students’
academic achievement at University of Lagos?
1
What is the relationship between truancy
and students’ academic achievement at University of Lagos?
2
Is there any relationship between
positive peer-grouping and undergraduate students’ academic achievement at
University of Lagos?
3
Is there any relationship between
negative behaviours and students’ academic performance at University of Lagos?
4
How can the perceived factors militating
against low academic achievement of students at University of Lagos be identified?
1.6 Research Hypotheses
The
following null hypotheses were formulated and tested in this study:
- There is no significant relationship between personality
dispositions and undergraduate students’ academic achievement.
- There is no significant relationship between truancy and
students’ academic achievement.
- There is no significant relationship between positive
peer-grouping and undergraduate students’ academic achievement.
- There is no significant relationship between negative
behaviours and students’ academic performance.
1.7
Significance of the Study
This
study will be of great benefit to the followings; students, teachers, school
authorities, parents, university authority, educational policy makers, school
counsellors, religious leaders, the government and the society at large.
(1)
The
findings and recommendations of this study will be of great benefit to the
students who would be enlightened concerning the character they should put
across in the society. This study will also afford the students, the opportunity
to know the influence of personality dispositions on academic achievement of
undergraduate students at University of Lagos. This study will also lead them
to avoid those behaviours labelled as anti-personality dispositions among
students in the school and the society. With the recommendations of the study,
students would be able to identify the attributes of personality dispositions
and their effects on their academic performances in school.
(2)
Would be
beneficiaries of this study, because, the study will afford them the golden
opportunity of knowing how to detect students who exhibit negative dispositions
and how to tackle them or remedy them. With the findings and recommendations of
this study, teachers would be able to know those activities that would enable
them to remedy the bad behaviours of the students who are under their care and
how to help them achieve high academic performances in the school.
(3)
With the
recommendations of this study, the school authorities would be able to solve
the problem of bad dispositions of students or adolescents in our tertiary
institutions. This study also, will recommend to the school authorities all it
takes to arrest the dwindling or negative behaviours of students in our schools
and the society at large and how these negative behaviours affect the academic
performance of undergraduate students.
(4)
Government
would be opportuned to gather relevant information concerning adolescents’
negative life styles in the society. It will be of great help to the
government, if this study is completed and the recommendations upheld. This is
because, it will afford the government the opportunity to know how to go about
solving the society’s problems which is mostly on youths’ personality
dispositions.
(5)
Parents
would also benefit from this study because, it will enable them to be able to
know the characters of their students and wards and how to go about solving the
perceived problems bothering on negative dispositions and the attendant poor
academic performance of students. No doubt, the negative personal dispositions
of the youths have been the major problems of the parents, the school and the
society. The government is interested in solving the social and academic
problems of youth in the society. Therefore, government will collaborate with
parents and teachers to solve this problem of negative dispositions amongst the
youths in our higher schools and homes.
(6)
The
general members of the larger society will be able to benefit from this study,
because it will help them to know or identify the problems of negative
dispositions amongst the youths and how to help in solving them.
1.8 Scope of the Study
This study examined the relation between
personal dispositions and undergraduate students’ academic achievement at the
University of Lagos, Akoka, Nigeria. The study will cover eight Faculties
within the institution. This was done by random selection of undergraduate
students from each Faculty as participants to respond to the questionnaires.
1.9 Operational Definition of Terms
Operational
terms were defined according to the way they were used in the study thus:
Personality: Personality
is the total pattern of characteristic ways of thinking, feeling and behaving
that constitutes the individual’s distinctive method of relating to the
environment
Dispositions:
Dispositions may be defined as the sum total of an individual’s unique ways of
responding to his environment which can be natural or acquired.
Personality traits:
Personality traits are definite characteristics that typify an individual and make
such person different from every other person.
Nature: Nature refers to
traits that are genetically transferred from parents to their offspring. These
are physical characteristics an individual inherit from his parents.
Nurture:
Nurture refers to the environment in which an individual is brought up. It
includes the physical circumstances of our birth, varying influences from the
society as a whole and more importantly our families
Academic achievement:
Academic achievement refers to an
individual’s performance in an academic activity. It is the result of the
assessment of an individual’s ability in accomplishing a task related to his
studies.
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