EFFECT OF SOCIAL SKILLS TRAINING ON AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOURAMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN ZARIA METROPOLIS,KADUNA STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

This study examined the effect of Social Skills Training Counselling Technique on aggressive behaviour. Three
(3) objectives guided the study. Related to this, three corresponding null hypotheses were formulated and tested.
All hypotheses were tested at the 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted a quasi-experimental design
involving pre-test and post-test only. The population of the study comprised 120 SSII students identified with
symptoms of aggressive behaviour through the use of the aggressive behaviour scale. A multistage sampling
procedure was used to select fifteen (15) students among those who scored 40 – 60 points on the students’
aggressive behaviour scale from the population. All 15 students were exposed to Social Skills Training. The
instrument used for data collection was the Aggressive Behaviour Checklist and aggressive behaviour assessment
scale by Buss and Perry (1992). Data collected from the participants were analysed using descriptive and
inferential statistics. Frequency and percentages were used to present the bio-data of the respondents, paired
sample t-test was used to test all hypotheses 1-3. The results of the findings revealed that social skills training had
significant effect on physical dimension of aggressive behaviour (p= .001, t=11.62, df =14); students exposed to
social skills training on verbal dimension had a reduced on verbal aggressive behaviour (p= .001, t=10.19, df=14);
and on emotional dimension had a reduced on emotional aggressive behaviour (p= .001, t=9.04, df =14); among
secondary school students in Zaria Metropolis, Kaduna State, Nigeria. Based on the findings, it was concluded
that social skills training significantly reduced the physical, verbal and emotional dimensions of aggressive
behaviour among secondary school students. It was recommended among others that Counselling Psychologists
are encouraged to adopt social skills training as an intervention strategy for addressing the physical, verbal and
emotional dimensions of students’ aggressive behaviour.