Causal modelling of psycho-social variables and socio-reactivity of senior secondary students in Cross River State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study analyzed five psychological factors that influence senior secondary school students' behaviour in their school learning environment. The five factors included neuroticism, openness, agreeableness, conscientiousness and extraversion. It made use of 200 students from four secondary schools across Calabar Education Zone selected through multiple sampling techniques. Research questions were set to guide the study. Data were collected using NED-Five-Factor-Inventory. The collected data were analyzed using two multivariate statistics of multiple correlations and multiple regression and path analysis was used to explain the causal influence of the five variables on students' behavior in their learning environment. The result of the analysis revealed that the model which described the causal effects among the variables was consistent with the observed correlation among the variables. Based on these findings, it was recommended that no single factor can explain why an individual behaves in certain ways, but various variables interrelated to influence adolescents' academic performance and the schools are recognized by the researchers to have a very significant role to play in molding students' experiences