Emotional Intelligence And Life Adjustment For Nigerian Secondary Students

Abstract

In the process of educating adolescents, goodemotional development and life adjustment are two significant factors forteachers to know. This study employed random cluster sampling of seniorsecondary school students in Ondo and Oyo States in south-western Nigeria.  The Random sampling was employed to select 1,070students. The data collected were analyzed using means, standard deviation andfactor analysis. Significant differences were found between students in Ondoand Oyo States concerning emotional intelligence (EI) and life adjustment (LA).Moreover, senior secondary school students in Ondo did not show significantdifferences in EI, according to several background variables, but theirparenting style was associated with significant differences in terms of LA.Furthermore, of the background variables measured, only the factor of parents’marital status was not significantly different in terms of EI of seniorsecondary school students in Oyo. There was no significant difference in thosestudents’ EI according to birth order. A positive and modest correlation wasfound between EI scores of students in Ondo and Oyo. On the basis of thefindings of this study, the researcher recommended that: educators in theseschools implement a student consulting program to reinforce students’ abilitiesof emotional control and to; provide gender education for mutual learning tohelp students learn how to deal with people. Moreover, teachers shouldintegrate daily interaction with more diverse people in order to improve self-understanding.