ABSTRACT

The study investigated the effects of Rational-Emotive Behaviour Therapy on selfish behaviours exhibited among in-school adolescents in Rivers State of Nigeria. The research design is Experimental, Non-equivalent Pretest-Posttest Control Group Design. Rivers State is made up of twenty-three Local Government Areas. The overall population of the study is 5,681 – the total number of all the SSll students in Port Harcourt and Emohua Local Government Areas. The target schools (Uniport International Secondary School, Nkpolu-Port Harcourt and Government Secondary School, Emohua) used for the study have a population of 293 SSll students. The sample is 144 SSll adolescent students who were selected through stratified random sampling: they met the criterion for high level of selfishness, because they scored 60.0 points and above in the measurement scale, and thus were chosen for the study. ‘Students Selfishness Survey Inventory’ was designed and used to determine student’s level of selfishness. A 40-item questionnaire entitled, ‘Adolescent Selfish Behaviour Scale,’ which is a modified four-point Likert scale, was designed and used for data collection. The reliability of the instrument was determined through Pearson’s Products Moment Correlation Co-efficient (r). A stability co-efficient of 0.71 (r=0.71) was derived. Six research questions and five hypotheses guided the study. An interval rating scale, mean ( ) and standard deviation (SD) were used to respondro to the  research questions, while Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 alpha level of significance. The pre-test mean of the study reveal that: the level of selfishness among in-school adolescents is high; Rational-Emotive Behaviour Therapy treatment drastically reduced the level of selfish behaviours among in-school adolescents; there is a significant difference between the mean response of adolescent students from urban area and those from rural area to treatment. Gender difference did not significantly influence Rational-Emotive Behaviour Therapy (treatment). The general implication of the study’s findings is that there is urgent need for the educational sector and guidance counsellors to step up action and embark on strategies that would encourage prosocial and mutual caring behaviour among adolescent students in other to combat selfishness. The study recommends regular adoption of Rational-Emotive Therapy procedures by school administrators/heads, teachers, parents and other authority figures to solving adolescents’ behavioural, social, academic and moral problems, with the expertise supervision of Rational-Emotive therapists. The study also recommends extensive application of Rational-Emotive Therapy procedure in a single or combined form with other techniques to effectively combat various adolescent problems. Finally, Education Ministry should massively train and make available Rational-Emotive therapists in the school system.