PREVALENCE OF EMOTIONAL PROBLEMS AND ITS CORRELATION WITH CLASS REPETITION AMONG SCHOOLING ADOLESCENTS IN IBADAN SOUTH WEST LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, NIGERIA

Abstract

Background: Recent studies on the effects of repeating a class due to poor academic performance on adolescent students have consistently shown that the practice produces negative outcomes with regards to the student’s academic achievement, socio-emotional development, behaviour, propensity to remain in school, and future employment possibilities. Earlier studies emphasized the need to discourage class repetition policies and recommended the development of interventions to forestall its negative sequelae in schools. However, there is a paucity of similar studies evaluating these issues in Nigeria. This study therefore aimed to evaluate the relationship between class repetition and emotional problems among adolescent secondary school students in Ibadan south west local government area of Oyo state. Methodology: A cross-sectional study design was employed to assess the relationship between class repetition and emotional problems in the participating schools. Five public secondary schools were randomly selected from the sampling frame of twenty-seven public secondary schools in Ibadan South West Local Government Area of Oyo State. In these schools, a total of 116 adolescent secondary school students, comprising of 58 class repeating and 58 non-repeating students gave consent to participate in the study. The two groups were matched on the basis of class. The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II) was utilized to assess for depression; the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) to screen for behavioural problems, and the Rosenberg’s self-esteem scale was used to assess self-esteem levels of both repeating and non-repeating adolescent students. A socio-demographic questionnaire was used to obtain background information about the students. Results: Data was analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social sciences, 21st version (SPSS - 21). There was a statistically significant relationship between class repetition and emotional problems as measured by the BDI-II, SDQ and RSES scales. The findings revealed that repeating students had more depressive symptoms (especially girls), exhibited some behavioural difficulties, had lower self-esteem and had poorer views about school than non-repeating students at a statistically significant level (p<0.05). Polygamous family background was also found to be associated with class repetition. Conclusion: These study findings revealed that class repetition is significantly associated with depression, low self-esteem and behavioural problems among adolescent secondary school students in Ibadan. It is recommended that school counsellors should be trained to provide psychological support and encouragement, especially for repeating students