Efficacy of behaviour contracts in decreasing inappropriate behaviour of Male and Female Secondary School Adolescents with permissive Attitude towards Premarital Sex

International Journal of Research and Scientific Innovation (IJRSI) | Volume VIII, Issue V, May 2021 | ISSN 2321–2705

Efficacy of behaviour contracts in decreasing inappropriate behaviour of Male and Female Secondary School Adolescents with permissive Attitude towards Premarital Sex

Anagbogu, Mercy Aku; Nwokolo Chinyelu; Ezeani, Maritha Ifeyinwa
Department of Guidance and Counselling, Faculty of Education, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka

Abstract: This study investigated the effect of behaviour contracts in decreasing inappropriate behaviour of secondary school adolescents with permissive attitude towards premarital sex. The design for the study is quasi-experimental, non-randomised pre-test and post-test, control group research. The sample comprised 64 students purposively selected from a population of 260 students. A standardised instrument “Premarital Sexual Permissiveness Scale (PSPS)” was used for data collection. The internal consistency reliability coefficient for the instrument is 0.73.Data was collected through direct delivery of the instrument to the respondents. Mean scores were used to answer the research questions, while the null hypotheses were tested using Analysis of Co-variance (ANCOVA). The norm of the instrument guided the decision. The finding of the study revealed among others that contracting technique is effective in reducing adolescents’ permissive attitude towards premarital sex. The findings further revealed that the differences in the effect of Behaviour Contracts on male and female secondary school adolescents with permissive attitude towards premarital sex are not significant. Based on the findings and implications of the study, it was recommended that Guidance Counsellors should adopt the use of the techniques in counselling and therapy among secondary school students to modify their permissive attitude towards premarital sex.

Keywords: Adolescents, permissive Attitude, behaviour contracts, technique, premarital sex

INTRODUCTION

Outside of marriage sex was considered immoral and prohibited in traditional Nigerian society, and people prefer not to publicly share their thoughts and views on love, sex, and marriage. As a result, there seems to be a rigid moral precept that dictated the code of ethics. Individual members’ social behaviours were regulated by an existing moral code. Furthermore, the possibility that social penalties such as songs of scorn and humiliation commonly meted out at marriage to brides who lose their virginity before the wedding night may have caused most girls ten to avoid premarital sexual encounters. However, as formerly perceived, the sexual revolution is no longer limited to the Western world; in essence, it seems to have been one of the most startling aspects of Nigeria’s sociocultural milieu. Today, sex is glorified and commercialised, and all kinds of behaviours,

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