Effects of three counselling interventions on attitude to and involvement in bullying among senior secondary students in Owerri, Nigeria

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of three counselling interventions on attitude to and involvement in bullying among senior secondary students in Owerri, Nigeria. Four hundred and twenty students drawn from twelve senior secondary schools were chosen for the study. The schools were assigned the social skills training, inhibitory modelling, persuasion or the waiting-list control. The participants were exposed to 6 weeks, one-hour weekly, training designed to change their attitude to and involvement in bulling behaviours. Two research instruments were used for data collection. Similarly, two research hypotheses were formulated in the study. The hypotheses were tested using 2 x 4 Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA). The findings show that the counselling interventions successfully modified students’ attitude to bullying. The counselling interventions were equally effective in reducing the students’ involvement in bullying. However, the inhibitory modelling was superior to persuasion and social skills training in modifying the participants’ involvement in bullying. Based on the findings, it is recommended that an anti-bullying policy be formulated at both junior and secondary school levels.