Coping Strategies and Social Adjustment of Boarding Students in Uyo Local Government Area

Abstract

This study investigated the relationship between coping strategies and social adjustment among boarding students in secondary schools in Uyo Local Government Area, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. Three research questions and corresponding null hypotheses guided the study. A correlational survey design was adopted. The population consisted of all boarding students in selected secondary schools in Uyo, with a sample of 350 SS II boarding students selected via multistage sampling techniques. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire titled "Coping Strategies and Social Adjustment Questionnaire (CSSAQ)", which was face validated and had a reliability coefficient of 0.84. The Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient was used for data analysis at the 0.05 level of significance. The results showed that there is a significant moderate positive relationship between problem-focused coping strategy and social adjustment, a significant low to moderate positive relationship between emotion-focused coping and social adjustment, and a significant moderate negative relationship between avoidance coping strategy and social adjustment among boarding students. The study concluded that coping strategies significantly impact boarding students' social adjustment, with problem-focused and emotion-focused strategies enhancing adjustment, while avoidance coping undermines it. It was recommended that school counsellors, administrators, parents, and teachers develop programmes to teach adaptive coping skills, provide emotional support, identify students using avoidance coping early, and collaboratively reinforce positive coping strategies for better social adjustment in boarding schools.