ABSTRACT
This study investigated effect of self-control and relapse prevention techniques on the reduction of bullying behaviour among secondary school students in Imo state. The study adopted a Quasi-experimental design of pretest, posttest and control group using 3x2 factorial matrix. A total of 30 students that were sampled from a population of 483 students identified to have bullying behaviour tendencies in the state were used for the study. These comprised 10 students each for self-control, self-control and relapse prevention and control groups respectively. The study equally adopted multi-staged sampling. The instrument used for data collection was a 22-item questionnaire titled Bullying Identification Questionnaire (BIQ). The instrument was validated by three research experts made up of one from Guidance and Counselling, Educational Psychology and Educational Measurement and Evaluation all in College of Education, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike, Abia state. Pearson Product Moment Correlation coefficients as well as Cronbach alpha statistic were used to test for the stability and internal consistency of the instrument which yielded indices of 0.78 and 0.83 respectively. Data were collected in three phases of pre-treatment phase, post-treatment phase and the follow-up phase. Data collected were analyzed using mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions and Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The results showed among others that Self-control and Relapse prevention techniques combined significantly reduced the bullying behaviour of students in Imo state. It also showed that gender had no significant influence on the reduction behaviour of students exposed to Self-control and relapse prevention techniques. Finally, Self-control and relapse prevention techniques significantly reduced bullying behaviour of students at 4-weeks follow-up. It was concluded that self-control and relapse prevention techniques significantly reduce the bullying behaviour of students in Imo state. Based on the findings, discussion, implication and recommendation were made. One of the recommendations was that teachers who have some identified students with bullying behaviour in their classes could effectively reduce it using self-control and relapse prevention techniques.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title Page
i
Certification ii
Dedication iii
Declaration iv
Acknowledgements v
Table of Contents vii
List
of Tables viii
List
of Figures x
Abstract xi
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 Background to the Study 1
1.2 Statement of the Problem 10
1.3 Purpose of the Study 11
1.4 Significance of the Study 12
1.5 Research Questions 13
1.6 Hypotheses 14
1.7 Scope of the Study 15
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE
REVIEW 16
2.1 Conceptual
Framework 16
2.1.1 Concept of bullying behaviour 16
2.1.2 Concept
of secondary school adolescents 28
2.1.3 Concept of self-control technique 31
2.1.4 Concept of relapse prevention therapy 39
2.1.5 Gender and bullying behaviour 43
2.2 Theoretical Framework 46
2.2.1 Psychosocial development
theory by Erik Erikson’s (1963) 46
2.2.2 B.F Skinner’s operant
conditioning theory (1948) 49
2.2.3 Social learning Theory by
Bandura (1979) 51
2.3 Related
Empirical Studies 52
2.4 Summary of Literature Review 60
CHAPTER 3:
RESEARCH METHOD 62
3.1 Design of the Study 62
3.2 Area of the Study 64
3.3 Population
of the Study 66
3.4 Sample and Sampling Techniques 66
3.5 Instruments for Data Collection 67
3.6 Validation of the Instruments 68
3.7 Reliability of the Instruments 68
3.8 Method of Data Collection 69
3.9 Method of Data Analysis 101
CHAPTER 4: RESULTS
AND DISCUSSION 103
4.1 Results 103
4.2 Major
Findings of the Study 112
4.3 Discussion
of Findings of the Study 113
CHAPTER
5: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 117
5.1 Summary 117
5.2 Conclusion 118
5.3 Educational/Counselling
Implications of the Study 119
5.4 Recommendations 120
5.5 Limitations
of the Study 121
5.6 Suggestions
for Further Study 121
References
Appendices
LIST OF TABLES
4.1:
Mean and Standard deviation of the
Bullying Reduction among
Students
Exposed to Self-Control Techniques and Control 103
4.2: Analysis
of Covariance (ANCOVA) Mean Score of Bullying
Behaviour Reduction of Students Exposed to Self-control Technique
and the
Control group 104
4.3:
Mean and standard deviation of the
mean difference in the Post-test mean
scores on Bullying Behaviour Reduction between male and female
students exposed to Self-Control Techniques 105
4.4: Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) Mean Score of Bullying
Behaviour Reduction of Male and Female Students Exposed to
Self-control Technique 106
4.5:
Mean and Standard deviation of the
Bullying Reduction among
Students Exposed
to Self-concept and Relapse Prevention
Technique
and Control 107
4.6: Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) on
Bullying Behaviour
Reduction of Students Exposed to Self-Concept and Relapse
Prevention Technique and the Control group 108
4.7:
Interaction Effect of Gender and the
techniques (SC+RPT) on
Bullying Behaviour Reduction among Students 109
4.8: Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) on Interaction Effect of
Gender
and Methods on Bullying Behaviour
Reduction among Students 110
4.9: Bullying
Behaviour Reduction mean Scores of Students exposed to
Self-control and Relapse prevention Techniques and Control Group at
Follow-up 111
4.10: Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) of Mean Bullying Behaviour
Reduction Among Students Exposed to self-control and relapse
prevention techniques and
Control at Follow-up 112
LIST OF FIGURES
2.1: Conceptual
Relationship of the variables of the study 45
3:1 Diagrammatic
Representation of Subject Distribution 68
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
In
Nigeria, secondary school students experience an increase in the rate of
repeated acts of disturbances among them. On daily basis, there are a lot of
media reports on students hurting their fellow students on several occasions
through physical, verbal or cyber means which could lead to suicide action by
the victims to escape the seemingly endless negative relational behaviours.
Bullying behaviours among students are rampant social vices in schools today
carried out through various means as uses of power to suppress the weak seems
to be the order of the day in secondary schools here in Nigeria (Aluede, 2011).
The
manifestation of bullying seems to be one of the most pervasive problems in
schools today. It exists in all levels of the educational system including,
primary, secondary and tertiary (Federal Ministry of Education, 2017). Bullying
in schools is an age long behaviour problem. The incident is increasing daily
and media reports on it are also increasing. Bullying can be defined as
repeated aggressive behaviour within a relationship characterized by a real or
perceived imbalance of power, in which the student exposed to the bullying
actions cannot adequately defend him/herself (Olweus, 2012).
Presently,
there exist two types of bullying namely physical and verbal bullying. Physical bullying is any bullying that hurts someone's body or damages ones
possessions. Stealing, shoving, hitting, fighting, and intentionally destroying
someone's property are types of physical bullying. Physical bullying is rarely
the first form of bullying that a target will experience(American Psychiatric Association,
2010). Physical bullying may often escalate over time,
and can lead to a detrimental ending, and therefore many try to stop it quickly
to prevent any further escalation. Verbal bullying is one of the most common
types of bullying (Gini
& Pozzoli, 2009). This is any bullying that is
conducted by speaking or other use of the voice and does not involve any
physical contact. Verbal bullying includes any of the following: name calling,
teasing someone in a hurtful way, making fun of someone, being sarcastic in a
hurtful way, offensive comments, insults or jokes about someone and their
family because of race, culture, religious, disability or sexuality, hurtful
comment about the way someone looks or behaves, inappropriate sexual comments,
taunting and threatening to cause harm (American Psychiatric Association, 2010).
Bullying is an excessive behaviour. Excessive
behaviours are those behaviours that are called bad behaviours. It causes
inconvenience to the person, public and to the society as a whole. People who
are involved in this type of behaviour are disregarded and may not be trusted
by the family, friends or the society at large. It brings about shame and
disgrace to the individual concerned and to the people around who know him/her.
Bullying is chiefly manifested by using one’s strength, power and position to
frighten or hurt the weaker individual. Such individuals may be of the same age
or younger than the bully or may be the bully’s junior in school. It is a
misconduct that could be carried out by an individual or group (Nnodum, 2015).
In trying to define bullying, Olweus (2012) stated that: a child is being
bullied or victimized when he or she is exposed repeatedly and over time to
negative actions on the part of one or more other children. Bullying,
as defined by the World Health Organization cited in Federal Ministry of
Education (2017), is the intentional use of physical force or power, and threat
against oneself, another person, or against a group of community that either
results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death,
psychological harm, mal-development or deprivation. Bullying, broadly speaking,
includes any condition or act that creates a climate in which the individual
feels fear or intimidation in addition to being victim of assault, theft or
vandalism. This, as a matter of fact, is becoming a growing problem in our
schools (Aluede, 2011).
Bullying is a pervasive problem in schools
that affects a lot of students. In recent times, it is becoming a bigger crisis
with vicious consequences. Bullying is not just a child’s play, but a
terrifying experience many school children face every day (Thornbery, 2010;
Aluede, 2011). Schafer and Korn (2010) pointed out that in psychological
studies, bullying is regarded as a subset of aggression, whereas educational
scientific studies see aggression as subset of violence. In sociological and
criminological contexts, bullying is regarded as a form of deviant behaviour.
In everyday life, bullying is usually associated with physical assaults or
criminal acts. Actions that are perceived as violence by school heads,
teachers, pupils and parents are physical attacks, threatening with weapons,
blackmailing and vandalism, verbal aggression and bullying. Etiologically,
bullying is linked to several factors: it can be learned through modelling
processes and can be reinforced and maintained by a number of rewarding
conditions, which may be found in families, peers and the general environment.
For instance, the kind of movies children watch can motivate bullying
tendencies in them. It can also be caused by frustration of needs (Obiekezie
& Odomelan, 2018).
Bullying is a subcategory of aggressive behaviour
characterized by the following three minimum criteria: (1) hostile intent, (2)
imbalance of power, and (3) repetition over a period of time (Burger,
Christoph, Strohmeier, Dagmar, Spröber, Nina, Bauman, Sheri, Rigby, & Ken,
2015). Bullying is the activity of repeated, aggressive behaviour intended to
hurt another individual, physically, mentally, or emotionally. Meyer (2016) defines a victim
of bullying as when individual is exposed, repeatedly and overtime, to negative
actions. These negative actions are understood as being intentionally inflicted
on someone to cause injury, fear or distress. The goal of bullying is generally
to cause distress in some manner and it usually takes place among children who
are not friends (Garrity, 2010). According to Federal Ministry of Education
(2017), since the last decade, several cases of violence against children such
as torture, kidnapping, shooting, sexual, rape, corporal punishment and so on
have been reported in various newspapers, magazines and television stations all
over the world.
Bullying behaviour infringe on the child’s
right to human dignity, privacy, freedom and security. It has an influence on
the victims physical, emotional, social and educational well-being (Wet, 2010).
Bullies frequently target people who are different from themselves and they
seek to exploit those differences. They select victims they think are unlikely
to retaliate such as persons who are overweight, wear glasses, or have obvious
differences: big ears, noses, eyes or severe acne. Such victims are common
subjects of ridicule in the hands of bullies (Fekkes, Pijpers, & Verloove-Vanhorick, 2015). Bullying is an
ongoing and deliberate misuse of power in relationships through repeated
verbal, physical and/or social behaviour that intends to cause physical, social
and/or psychological harm (Jensen, Alipour, Hagberg, & Jensen, 2013).
Specifically, bullying as a sub-set of
school violence among school-age children occurs in many schools across the
globe (Aluede, 2016). Despite lack of documentation of incidences of bullying
across the globe, studies conducted in various countries have indicated that a
growing percentage of student population is being bullied everyday across the
globe and that the rates of bullying vary from country to country (Duncan,
2009). In Canada, self-report data indicate that 8% to 9% of elementary school
children are bullied frequently (i.e., once or more a week) and about 2 to 5%
of students bully others frequently. In addition, among adolescents, at the
secondary school level, that rate is somewhat higher, with 10 to 11% of
students reporting that they are frequently victimized by peers, and another 8
to 11% reporting that they bully others (Rocke-Henderson & Bananno, 2015).
In the United States of America, bullying
behaviour occurs in many American schools and is perhaps one of the most
under-reported safety problems (Batsche & Knoff, 2014). Specifically, Rigby
(2011) in his study found that 81% of their sample reported at least one act of
bullying behaviour during the last month. Another study found that 82% of the
respondents were bullied at some periods in their academic lives. In addition,
several studies from different parts of the US have reported 10-29 percent of
the student surveyed were either bullied or victimized (Kenny, 2015).
In the United Kingdom, bullying behaviour
is also a pervasive problem. For instance, McEacherns (2015) study of 6,758
students in 24 schools in all areas of the city of Sheffield, UK, revealed that
27% of the elementary and middle schools sampled reported being bullied
sometimes during the term. In a similar vein, in another of his study of 7000
elementary and secondary school students in the UK, he observed that 29% of
boys and 24% of girls in the elementary schools experienced some form of
physical bullying. The study further revealed that approximately 41% of boys
and 39% of girls experienced verbal bullying.
In the Scandinavian countries, research
indicates that approximately 10% of children are frequently victims of
bullying. Specifically, in Norway, 14% of the children are either bullies or
victims. In Denmark, though little systematic research on
bullying has been conducted, one
significant study published in that country revealed that in comparison to 24
other countries, Denmark scored high (top three) on bullying behaviour and in
the top half for students who reported being bullied (McEaschern, 2015).In
Africa, Zindi (2014) revealed in his study of bullying at boarding schools in
Zimbabwe that 16% of the sampled students were bullied now and then, and 18%
were bullied weekly or more often.
In Nigeria, even though cases of bullying
had been reported in many schools, this deviant act is not always given any
desirable attention. Furthermore, there are no available statistical facts to
show the actual number of students that are bullied or victims in Nigerian
schools. This lack of statistical facts and absence of well documented evidence
have made it difficult to appreciate the prevalence of bullying behaviour in
Nigeria (Aluede & Fajoju, in press; Umoh, 2010).Despite the absence of
documented evidence of the prevalent rate of bullying in Nigeria, Egbochuku’s
(2017) study on some Nigerian students in Benin City revealed that almost four
in every five participants (78%) reported being bullied and 85% of the children
admitted to bullying others at least once. Using moderate criteria, the study
further indicated that more than half of the students (62%) were bullied and
30% bullied others. Ehindero (2010) also observed four types of peer
victimization among secondary school students in Osun such as: physical
victimization, social manipulation, verbal victimization and attack on
property. In a somewhat first ever nation-wide situational analysis survey of
school violence in Nigeria conducted by the Federal Ministry of Education
(2017), it was revealed that physical violence and psychological violence
accounted for 85% and 50% respectively of the bulk of violence against children
in schools. Across school location, physical violence was more prevalent in the
rural (90%) than in the urban areas (80%). Across region, physical violence in
schools is higher in the southern Nigeria (90%) than in the Northern region
(79%). So it is the case with psychological violence, which is 61% in Southern
Nigeria and only 38.7% in Northern Nigeria. Furthermore, across gender,
physical and psychological violence are almost evenly distributed among males
and females in Nigerian schools. Nnodum (2015) availed that the victims of
bullying especially females report school phobia, fear of bullying, feeling of
anxiety, physical symptoms of illness, progressive lower levels of self-esteem,
high levels of depression and diminished ability to learn in school. Such
reports indicate that bullying could lower the academic achievement of the
victims and others irrespective of gender.
Gender
is defined as cultural differences rather than biological ones. The term seems
to be used more broadly to denote a range of identities that do not correspond
to established ideas of male and female. Clear difference emerges in the
bullying research among females and males. Commonly, boys bully other boys and
girls; whereas girls are bullied mainly by other girls (Sampson, 2012). When
girls are bullying, they tend to use more indirect forms of bullying (van der
Wal, 2013). Boys tend to use physical might and verbal threats. Girls use
social and verbal threats, such as spreading rumours about one another and
excluding one from the peer group (Hazler, & Oliver, 2011). Girl bullying
also includes actions such as social isolation, ignoring, excluding and
backbiting. Other actions by girl bullies include manipulating friendships and
ostracizing peers. Adolescent girls, particularly, are prone to name calling
and gossiping (Vail, 2010).
Several
measures have been adopted to minimise bullying in Imo State secondary schools
such as suspension to expulsion
yet the rate of bullying is still very worrisome. The researcher therefore wonders
if otherbehaviour modification procedures such as the use of self-control and
relapse prevention techniques could be explored in reducing bullying among
adolescents. Besides, evidence from literature tends to suggest that
self-control and relapse prevention techniques have the potential of helping in-school
adolescents with behaviour behaviours.
Self-control
refers to a state wherein one controls his behaviours, feelings and instincts
despite motivation to action. Mayer and Salovey (2013) introduced self-control
as the correct application of emotions and belief that the power to regulate
feelings leads to the increase of personal capacity to soothe oneself and
understand anxiety, depression or common impatience. Two different types of
self-control are often employed namely internal and external self-control
according to Mayer (2013). People with internal self-control believe that
success or failure depends on their effort or ability; while, people with
external self-control are people who believe that other factors such as luck or
difficulty of tasks is causing their success or failure. People with external
self-control believe that their behaviours and abilities have no effect on the
reinforcements that they receive. They often attach little value to any attempt
for the improvement of their own conditions. When they think they have little
control over their present or future lives, for what reason they should work
hard (Sayed Mohammadi, 2015).
Self-control procedure describes a process
of an individual such as a student assessing whether or not he has performed a
particular behaviour and then recording the result. In other words, applying
self-control requires one to self-assess and self-record accurately ones’
behaviour. Self-control has been shown
to increase accuracy over didactic instruction plus reinforcement. Numerous
studies such as Friese
and Hofmann (2009); Linhadt (2011) have demonstrated the
usefulness of self-control procedures with students such as self-control
techniques are meant to be applied by the individual his/her self who lacks
self-control but is seriously in need of the techniques to achieve his/her life
endeavours. In this study, techniques of self-control include goal setting,
antecedent manipulations, behavioural contract, self-monitoring,
self-evaluation and appropriate use of self-control skills. Here goal setting included both long- and
short-term achievable goals which included specific, measurable, attainable,
relevant and time bound (Hofmann
2009; Linhadt, 2011). The
individual would specify the activities to be engaged in, which enhanced changes
towards the desired direction. Antecedent manipulations often are
used by people in self-management programme to influence their own behaviour.
Epstein in Chand, Sethi (2012)recalled that in an
antecedent manipulation, you modify the environment in some way before the
target behaviour occurs to influence the future occurrence of the target
behaviour. A behavioural contract is
a written document in which you identify the target behaviour and arrange
consequences contingent on a specified level of the target behaviour in a
specific time period. Social support is a self-management strategy when you
specifically arrange for social support to influence the target behaviour.
Self- monitoring and its techniques refer to accurate record keeping specifying
the class of behaviour to be monitored, selecting appropriate recording
instrument; illustrating how to record the graph for visual inspection.
Self-evaluation entails spotlighting the strengths and weakness towards
behaviour change having monitored their behaviour thus far. Self-control
techniques and skills range from goal setting and self-monitoring, to
antecedent manipulation, behaviour contract, reinforcement and punishers,
social support, and self-instruction or self-praise.(Murtagh & Todd, 2014).
Another technique that is suspected to aid
in preventing victims from going back to original undesirable behaviour after treatment is relapse prevention
therapy. Relapse prevention therapy (RPT) refers to a behavioural approach for the prevention of relapse to
excess behaviour such as bullying behaviour and suggests coping strategies
useful in maintaining change (Marlatt & Godman, 2015). Relapse
Prevention Therapy (RPT) was originally designed as
maintenance programme for use following the treatment of excess behaviours
although it can be used as a stand-alone treatment programme (Parks &
Marlatt, 2010). But in this study it is added to Self Control techniques in the
treatment of bulling behaviour of secondary school students to find out if it
could also help in reducing bullying among the student. In the most general
sense, RPT is a behavioural self-control programme designed to teach
individuals who are trying to maintain changes in their behaviour how to
anticipate and cope with the problem of relapse. In this study, it is going to
be used as stated above or in maintaining treatment programme.
Relapse refers to a breakdown or failure
in a person’s attempt to maintain change in any set of behaviours. Relapse prevention (RP) intervention strategies
can be grouped into three categories: coping skills training, cognitive therapy
and lifestyle modification (Kenny, 2015).
Coping skills training strategies include both behavioral and cognitive
techniques. Cognitive therapy procedures are designed to provide clients with
ways to reframe the habit change process as learning experience with errors and
setbacks expected as mastery develops. Finally, lifestyle modification
strategies such as meditation, exercise, and spiritual practices are designed
to strengthen a client’s overall coping capacity.It is
on this premise that this study intends to find out how self-control and
relapse prevention techniques could reduce bullying behaviours among secondary
school students in Imo State.
1.2 STATEMENT
OF THE PROBLEM
School has always
remained one of the safest places, next to the home in a child’s life. One
wonders if this assertion still holds sway in our present society given the
ever-increasing spate of bullying in schools. Bullying among secondary school
students in Imo State is an issue that has become more prominent in the last
few years, as news, articles and whole observations about violent deeds within
the school settings are now on the increase.
In most secondary schools in Imo State
students tend to exhibit bullying behaviour against others that could make
effective learning difficult. Bullying behaviour has potentially damaged many student’s
future in Imo State. This is because bullying affects health and well-being of
secondary students in schools. Some weak students are damaged physically while
others are disturbed psychologically through verbal or cyber harm. Bullying
behaviours affect smooth running of school activities. Ideally, no student goes
to school to be bullied or become a bully. Parents send their children to
school to learn in non-school threatening environments. There is need therefore
to establish lasting solution to bullying behaviour among secondary school
students.
Many schools have applied disciplinary means ranging
from suspension to expulsion, yet the problem of bullying still persist among
the secondary school students. Given the prevalence, consequences and
increasing use of bullying in Imo State among in-school adolescents, it is important to curtail drastically bullying behaviour among
students. It is against this background that the problem of this study as
stated in question form is: what is the effects of self-control and relapse
prevention techniques in reducing bullying behaviour among secondary school
students in Imo State?
1.3 PURPOSE
OF THE STUDY
The
purpose of the study is to find out the effect of Self-control and relapse
prevention techniques on bullying behaviour among secondary school students in
Imo State. Specifically, the study sought to:
1. find out the effect of self-control
techniques on reduction of bullying behaviour among secondary school students
in Imo State at post-test.
2.
ascertain the effect of gender on reduction of bullying
behaviour of the students exposed to self-control at post-test.
3.
determine the effect of self-control and
relapse prevention techniques on reduction of bullying behaviour among
secondary school students at post-test.
4.
find out the interaction effect of
students’ gender on reduction
of bullying
behaviour of the students exposed to self-control and relapse prevention
techniques at post-test.
5.
find out the effect of self-control
techniques and relapse prevention techniques reduction of on bullying behaviour
among secondary schools at 4-weeks follow-up period.
1.4 SIGNIFICANCE
OF THE STUDY
The findings of this study have both practical and
theoretical significance. The findings of this study when published would be
beneficial to
teachers, parents, school counsellors and school administrators.
It is hoped that the findings of this
study would help school teachers to acquire effective techniques for minimizing
bullying behaviour using less coercive and punitive methods. This means that
school teachers would be offered the opportunity for replacing corporal
punishment with safe behaviour modification techniques such as self-control and
relapse prevention techniques for managing behaviour problems among student
bullies.
The finding of the study would help to reduce the incidences of
bullying behaviour and help parents to understand the relevance of paying
attention to issues affecting the wellbeing of their children and henceforth
contribute in ensuring the provision of enabling environment at home and school
for the smooth running of school activities including the social interactions
among students.
The school counsellors on the other hand would be sensitized on
the need for them to place more emphasis during their counselling sessions
towards assisting school bullies to replace their hurtful behaviours with more
adaptive behaviours that are acceptable in the society. This could help in enhancing
the capability of the bullies to develop and maintain peaceful co-existence
with their peers in the school and members of school community. The findings of
the study would make school counsellors more proactive in the discharge of
their primary roles in behaviour modification.
The school administrators would be awakened to their primary
responsibilities of caring for the welfare of both the strong and the weak
among the students. The findings of the study would expose school
administrators to the happenings of negative excess behaviours such as bullying.
The students would also benefit from the findings of this
study because the stakeholders in the education industry would be awakened to
their primary responsibility of caring for the children’s health and wellbeing.
The students would be awakened to their duty of watching their utterances and
actions against others. They would be convinced of the need to develop feeling
of empathy with their peers in school who are weak and vulnerable.
Generally, reduction in the hurtful
behaviours that could result from this study would help provide the rationale
for enabling school environment for effective teaching and learning. The time
wasted on attending to cases related to bully/victim episodes would be
dedicated to effective teaching and learning as well as provision of welfare
services to the students. The findings in this study would also provide future
researchers with background information on bullying behaviour among adolescents.
Above all, the findings would help to authenticate the assumptions of the
theories on which this study is based.
1.5 RESEARCH
QUESTIONS
The following research questions
were posed and answered to guide the study:
1.
What
is the difference in the post-test mean scores on bullying reduction among
secondary school students exposed to self-control techniques and the control?
2.
What is the difference in the post test
mean scores on bullying behaviour reduction between male and female students
exposed to self-control techniques?
3.
What is the difference in the post-test
means scores on bullying behaviour reduction of students treated with self-control
and relapse prevention techniques and the control?
4.
What is the interaction effect of gender
on bullying behaviour reduction among students treated with self-control and
relapse prevention techniques and control?
5.
What is the difference in the post-test
means scores on bullying behaviour reduction among secondary school students
treated with self-control and relapse prevention techniques and the control at
4 weeks follow-up?
1.6 HYPOTHESES
The following null hypotheses were
tested at 0.05 level of significance to further guide the study.
H01: There is no significant difference in the post-test mean
scores on bullying behaviour reduction of students exposed to self-control
techniques and the control group at posttest.
H02: There
is no significant difference betwen the post-test mean scores on bullying
behaviour reduction of male and female students exposed to self-control
techniques.
H03: There is no significant difference
between the post-test mean scores on bullying behaviour reduction among
students treated with self-control and relapse prevention techniques (SCT+RPT) and
the control.
H04:There is no significant interaction
effect of gender and the techniques (SC+RPT) on bullying behaviour reduction of
students.
H05:There is no significant difference in
the pretest and the post-test mean scores on bullying behaviour reduction among
secondary school students treated with self-control and relapse prevention
techniques and the control at 4 weeks follow-up.
1.7 SCOPE
OF THE STUDY
The study was delimited to
finding out the effect of self-control and relapse prevention techniques on
reduction of bullying behaviour among secondary school students in Imo State.
Four (4) public secondary schools were involved in the study. The subjects were
students in 2020/2021 academic session, presently in their senior secondary two
(2) classes from the four public secondary schools who have had cases of
bullying behaviour in their respective schools as was identified by their
teachers, school counsellor and the research instrument-Bullying Behaviour
Identification Questionnaire.
The content scope included
bullying behaviour among students, self-control techniques such as goal setting
and self-monitoring, antecedent manipulation, behaviour contract, reinforcement
and punishers, social support, and self-instruction or self-praise, and relapse
prevention techniques such as coping-skills training, relapse road maps,
strategies to identify and cope and lifestyle modification techniques.
The student participants
were grouped into two treatment and one control groups. The groups were
self-control, self-control and relapse prevention technique groups. Gender was
the moderator variable.
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