Influence of Behavioral Counselling on Deviant Behavior among Secondary School Students in Ondo State, Nigeria.  

Influence of Behavioral Counselling on Deviant Behavior among Secondary School Students in Ondo State, Nigeria.  

Olowolabi Segun, ph.D, Sunday Jacob Okiti

Department of Guidance and Counselling Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko Ondo State Nigeria.

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2024.807100

Received: 18 June 2024; Accepted: 29 June 2024; Published: 06 August 2024

ABSTRACT

This study investigated into the influence of behavioral counselling on deviant behavior among secondary school students in Ondo State. The study adopted descriptive research design of the survey type with use of simple random sampling techniques to select 200 samlple.

A Self-constructed questionnaire title influence of behavioral counselling was used to gather information. Data were analyzed with the use of inferential statistics to analysize the data collected. Based on the findings, behavioral counselling can eliminate any act of deviant behavior among students, students can be sensitised against their involvement in social vice such as absenteeism, cultism, and truancy, stealing. Furthermore, cohabitation reduces the level of students, academic performance.

It was concluded that deviant behaviors have become a global challenge that is capable of destroying the world, however, through the assistance of behaviuoral counselling deviant behavior among students can be eradicated.

Therefore, these following recommendations were made; the government through relevant ministries and departments and other non-governmental organizations, should conduct guidance and counselling to the students in the study area on the dangers of engaging in deviant behaviors such as drug abuse and pre-marital which were found to be common in the area. Guidance and counselling should be made compulsory in schools for the students. On a final note, Government should enact laws against deviant behaviors in our secondary schools. This may deter students from getting involved in deviant behavior that will ruin their academic pursuit.

Keywords: Influence, delinquency, behavioral counseling, and secondary school.

INTRODUCTION

One of the major social problems in schools which constitutes a principal setback among student’s secondary schools in Nigeria is indiscipline. Disruptive behaviors are a major concern to parents, school authorities and even to fellow students whose education may be adversely affected as well. Behavioral counselling therefore becomes a veritable process and crucial, as it is tailored towards bringing about well understandable, sound behavior and discipline.

Deviant behavior can be defined as not keeping to rules or norms of society or schools. Deviant behavior is an emerging issue among the students of secondary schools. It is a global phenomenon, posing a serious threat. In a society such as ours, not only parents that train and influence a child, the society and environment in which he/she lives exert some measures of influence. Bergman, J.N. & Stockman, J.K (2015). Reported that deviant behavior is enacting of indiscipline or behavior disorder which serve as a major source of social vices. In schools these days, evidence has shown that the anti-social behaviors of children are now rampant. There is evidence that an individual learns to think in a way as his group defines thinking. That is why we now experience cultism, dropout of schools, gambling, bullying of teachers, truancy, smoking, drugs, student unrest and acts of diligence among others Berne, L. & Bar, H. (2011).

As stated by Changach, J. (2012). Every culture has a set of established norms, customs, rules and laws, which are expected to be obeyed by all members of the society. Nevertheless, as important as the society established norms, customs, rules and laws are in creating an atmosphere for peaceful coexistence, some individuals especially in a school setting still act contrary to these set rules. This kind of behavior is usually term as deviance and the individuals involved are described as deviants. In other words, a deviant is an individual who breaks significant societal or group norms. Deviant behavior is described by Edwards,

A. K. & Friko, E. L. (2014). As any behavior exhibited by members of a group or society that are at variance with the rules established by such a group or society. Deviant behavior could also mean any behavior recognized as violating expected rules and norms Feldman, C. (2015) Any behavior that departs significantly from social expectations could also be termed deviant behavior. It is a deviation from socially accepted, laid down rules of living.

Issues surrounding deviant behavior among secondary school students and discussions on it, are not relatively new ideas, but deviant behavior among adolescents has recently taken complex dimensions and has been on the increase over the years. There seems to be sudden emergence of new obnoxious behaviors now than what used to be.  Many secondary school students especially in Ondo State manifest various forms of deviant behavior to the detriment of their academics and general wellbeing. A good number of them for instance, belong to one cult group or another hence, the incessant violence and fight in most secondary schools, especially in public schools.

local government are parent‘s level of education, parenting style, negligence, peer group and home background in most secondary schools, it has been observed that some of the factors traceable to the causes of deviant behaviors of the children in the Fitzgerald, Scott T. and Jennifer L. Glass. (2012). Stated that peer groups are primary groups of people who have similar interest, age, background or social status that are likely to influence the person‘s beliefs and attitudes. According to Furstenberg, F. (2008). , peer influence is also identified in different types of communication styles which lead to bullying among the students.

Despite all the educative information and preventive measures availed to the adolescents they still engage in deviant behavior like drug use, risky sexual behavior and violence. Such behaviors have irreversible negative effects to the society at large and the individual student. Some of these effects include destruction of self-esteem, early pregnancies and early marriages, destruction of learning facilities, school dropouts and sexually transmitted diseases. The schools in isolation cannot successfully fight deviance and hence the need for all the stakeholders to join hands in fighting deviance through counseling.

Counselling on the other hand, has been variously defined by many scholars. Counselling symbolizes a specialized or professional relationship involving a trained person called counsellor and one who is in need, called client. This interaction is often person-to-person, even though it might from time to time involve more than two persons. Counselling is designed to help client come to terms with, and gain more insight about their lives, and to learn to attain their set goals by making relevant and proper choices and by resolving problems that are both intra and interpersonal. Gustard cited in Akinade E.A  (2020), averred that counselling is ―a learning oriented process, carried on in a simple, one-to-one social environment in which the counsellor, professionally competent in relevant psychological skills and knowledge, seeks to assist the client by methods appropriate to the latter‘s needs within the correct context of the total personnel programme. Counselling is a personal relationship between the counsellor and the client with the aim of assisting the client to understand themselves, effectively take decision and also solve their problems. Aderibigbe (2021) noted that counselling is oriented towards facilitating effective learning skills, acceptable habits and appropriate behavior.

In light of this definition, it is clear that married couples and young people need guidance and counselling these days, than ever before, because they are living in a significantly more complex world than it was decades ago . Kolawole O.E (2023). Since the National Policy on Education (2013) edition clearly stated that ―in view of the apparent ignorance of many young people about career prospects and personality maladjustment among students, counsellors will be appointed in post primary institutions‘‘. Hence, it became compulsory for secondary school administrators to employ professional counsellors. An effective counsellor is a good listener, empathic, warm and sensitive to the needs of others. Counsellors are also trained in modifying maladaptive behavior. Hereafter, behavioral counseling should be adopted in other to curb the incessant of deviant behavior among secondary students in the study.

The term behavioral counselling is used a number of ways. For instance, counselling may be viewed as a series of definite direct contacts between a counselor and client aimed at offering the client assistance in adjusting effectively to himself / herself and the environment, as a series of intentions or as a psychological process in terms of its goals (June, 2003). Therefore, in order to create an atmosphere where deviant behavior can be minimised to a certain and reasonable extent, there is need to give room for the evaluation of behavioral counselling and its relevance in tackle the subject under discussion.

Research Hypotheses

• There is no significant gender difference in deviant behavior among secondary school students in Akure South Local Government.
• There is no influence of behavioral counselling on deviant behavior among secondary school students in Akure South Local Government.

METHODOLOGY

This study investigated into the prevailing influence of behavioral counselling on deviant behavior among secondary school students in Ondo State Nigeria. The study adopted descriptive research design of the survey type with use of simple random sampling techniques to select 200 samples.  A self-constructed instrument titled Influence of Behavioral Counselling on Deviant Behavior Questionnaire (IBCDBQ) with two sections, will be used for data collection. Section ‗A‘ consists of four items (School, Stream, class, age and religion) seeking bio-data responses of respondents while section ‗B‘ comprises of four sub-sections each having five items seeking respondents view on the items using a four-likert scale of Agreed SA, Agreed A, Strongly Disagreed SD and Disagreed D. All those involved in completing the questionnaire chosen on each item, the best statement which corresponds with their opinions.

.The instrument was taken by the researcher to various selected schools of interest as stated in the population. The researcher took permission from the principals to administer the instrument to the target audience and distributed the instrument to respondents in their various classes and collected them when completely filled. The completed instrument will be then sorted by the researchers, the badly filled ones will be discarded, while the good ones will be coded for analysis data collected were analyzed using t-test and ANOVA to test the hypothesis.

RESULTS

Hypothesis 1: There is no significant gender difference in deviant behavior among secondary school students in Akure South Local Government.

Table 1 t-test table showing significant difference on deviant behavior among secondary school students based on gender.

Source: Field Survey, 2022

The research hypothesis one revealed that calculated value (t_cal =59.3055) and table value (t_tab=3.340). By implication, calculated value is greater than table value; therefore, the null hypothesis is hereby rejected. This implies that, there is significant gender difference in deviant behavior among secondary school students in Akure South Local Government.

Hypothesis 2: There is no influence of behavioral counselling on deviant behavior among secondary school students in Akure South Local Government.

Table 10: ANOVA table showing significant influence of behavioral counselling on deviant behavior among secondary school students‘ pregnancy

Source: Field Survey, 2022

Table 18 shows that calculated t-value is (t_cal =5.949) and table value is (t_tab=2.42). Thus, that the calculated value is greater than table value; therefore, the null hypothesis is hereby rejected. This implies that, there is influence of behavioral counselling on deviant behavior among secondary school students in Akure South Local Government.

DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS

The rejection of the first hypothesis revealed that calculated value (t_cal =59.3055) and table value (t_tab=3.340. This implies that, there is significant gender difference in deviant behavior among secondary school students in Akure South Local Government. This result was firmly supported by the work of Aderibigbe, (2023), who research into both types of aggression has shown that young boys and girls more often resort to direct aggression (physical and verbal), and rarely make use of indirect or relational aggression. Concerning school violence during adolescence, there appears to be no clear consensus among researchers regarding sex differences in indirect aggression, although most authors agree that boys engage in physical aggression at school more than girls do. One explanation for this might be that adolescents are subjected to intense gender socialization by family, teachers, peers and the media.

Furthermore, the rejection of the second hypothesis revealed that calculated t-value is (t_cal =5.949) and table value is (t_tab=2.42) therefore, there is influence of behavioral counselling on deviant behavior among secondary school students in Akure South.

According to Agi (2013), the influence of behavioral counselling on examination malpractice among secondary school students in Etche LGA of

Rivers state indicated that behavior counselling positively influences examination malpractice. It was also avowed that the high prevalence of adolescent delinquency among secondary school students can be curbed through counselling the secondary school students and introducing different skills and techniques of dealing with delinquency in schools. According to a lot of deviant behaviors had been corrected through counselling.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, the results have adequately justified the purpose of this study. In the first place, the results confirmed the various type of deviant behavior most students usually engaged. Reasons and effect of the prevalent act of deviant behavior among students in the students was also examined. Hence, the result has actually shown that behaviuoral counselling will go a long way in eradicating deviant behavior among students in the study area. The researchers have however provided adequate information on the subject matter. It is pertinent to point out that deviant behaviors have become a global challenge that is capable of destroying the world. The rate at which norms and societal rules are being violated by youths is an indication that if nothing serious is done now, the future will be very bleak.

RECOMMENDATIONS

The following recommendations in the researcher‘s view will help arrest the problem of deviant behavior among secondary school students in Akure South Local Government, Area of Ondo State.

• The government through relevant ministries and departments and other non-governmental organizations concerned, should conduct guidance and counselling to the students in the study area on the dangers of engaging in deviant behaviors such as drug abuse and pre-marital which was found to be common in the area.
• Guidance and counselling should be made compulsory in schools for the students.
• There should be constant counselling given to students at all levels of schooling.
• Parents should also be careful the kind of things they expose their children to, as this may lead them into acquiring certain deviant behaviors.
• Principals and teachers should device appropriate punitive measures in controlling deviant behavior in schools.
• Principals should use parents-teachers association to sensitize parents and guardians of the need to ensure that that children come early to school and do not absent themselves from school.
• Any student who is found trying to recruit others into what is not acceptable by the society should be expelled from the school with immediate effect.
• Government should enact laws against deviant behaviors in our secondary schools. This may deter students from getting involved in a behavior that will ruin their academic pursuit.

REFERENCES

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