EFFECTS OF SOLUTION-FOCUSED AND DIALECTICAL BEHAVIOUR THERAPIES ON THE REDUCTION OF REBELLIOUS BEHAVIOUR AMONG UNDERGRADUATES IN THE SOUTH-WEST, NIGERIA

Abstract

Rebellious behaviour is the disposition of individuals to resist or revolt against established authority. Extant literature show that students in Nigerian universities exhibit rebellious behaviour. Previous studies had concentrated more on psychosocial and environmental factors influencing rebellious behaviour than on interventions such as solution-focused and dialectical behaviour. This study, therefore, was carried out to investigate the effects of Solution-Focused Therapy (SFT) and Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) in the reduction of rebellious behaviour among undergraduates in the South-West, Nigeria. The moderating effects of emotional intelligence and peer pressure were also examined. The study was anchored to Bandura Social Learning Theory, while the pretest-posttest control group quasi-experimental design with a 3x2x2 factorial matrix was adopted. The multistage sampling procedure was used. Three states (Oyo, Lagos and Osun) were randomly selected out of the six states in the South-West, Nigeria. The simple random sampling was used to select three federal universities (Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, University of Ibadan, Ibadan and University of Lagos, Lagos) in the selected states. The students were screened with Rebellious Scale and those who fell within the range of 40 – 50 participated. The instruments used were Rebellious Behaviour (α =0.88), Emotional Intelligence (α =0.73) and Peer Pressure (α =0.81) scales. The participants in the schools were randomly assigned to SFT (21), DBT (24) and control (28) groups. The treatment lasted nine weeks. Data were analysed using Analysis of covariance and Bonferonni post-hoc test at 0.05 level of significance. There was a significant main effect of treatment on rebellious behaviour among undergraduates (F (2, 69) = 359.32; partial η2= 0 .91). The participants in DBT displayed the lowest rebellious behaviour (27.86), followed by those in SFT (31.15) and control (58.13) groups. There was a significant main effect of treatment and emotional intelligence on rebellious behaviour (F (1; 70)= 4.19; partial η2= 0.06). The participants with high emotional intelligence in DBT had a lower mean score (33.66) than those with low emotional intelligence (43.55) group. There was a significant main effect of treatment and peer pressure on rebellious behaviour (F (1; 70) = 6.11; partial η2= 0.8). The participants with low peer pressure displayed lower mean score (39.17) than those with high peer pressure (46.74) group. There was a significant interaction effect of treatment and emotional intelligence on rebellious behaviour among undergraduates (F (2; 66) =16.74; partial η2=0.34) in favour of participants with high emotional intelligence in the SFT group. There was a significant interaction effect of treatment and peer pressure on rebellious behaviour among undergraduates (F (2; 66) = 9. 62; partial η2=0.23) in favour of the participants with low peer pressure. There was no significant interaction effect of emotional intelligence and peer pressure. The three-way interaction effect was not significant. Dialectical behaviour, more than solution-focused, psychotherapy was effective in the reduction of rebellious behaviour among undergraduates in the South-West, Nigeria with emphasis on emotional intelligence and peer pressure. Counselling and Educational Psychologists and other helping professionals should utilise these interventions to reduce rebellious behaviour among undergraduates.