QUANTITATIVE EVALUATION OF EMOTIONAL ANXIETY SCHOOL DROP-OUT EFFECTS OF SCHOOL PHOBIA AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE AMONG JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN WUKARI EDUCATION ZONE, TARABA STATE, NIGERIA

¹Obiji Donatus, ²Nwosu Patience Okwudiri, ³Emmanuel Daniel, ⁴Attah Faith

ABSTRACT

The main purpose of this study was to evaluate Emotional Anxiety and school Dropout effects of school phobia and academic performance among Junior Secondary School Students in Wukari Education Zone, Taraba State, Nigeria. Two research objectives, two corresponding research questions and research hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. Descriptive survey research design was used for this study. The population of the study was made up of 3,040 JSS1 students from 15 public secondary school in Wukari Education Zone. The sample size of the study was made up of 750 JSS1 students selected from 15 public secondary schools  in Wukari Education Zone. The researcher adopted both purposive and simple random sampling to select the sample size. An instrument titled “Emotional  Anxiety and school Dropout and academic  performance Questionnaire (EADOAPQ) was developed by the researcher for the purpose of this study. EADOAPQ comprising of 17 items was divided into two sections. Section A comprise of 4 items solicited for respondents’ personal background information such as age, gender, among others. Section B comprised of 13 items that solicited for information with regards to the influence of school phobia on academic performance of JSS1 students in Wukari using four-point rating scale. The instrument was validated through the use of face, content and construct validity.  The reliability of the instrument, was carried out in a pilot test among JSS1 students in Ardo-Kola Local Government Area. The pilot test was made up of 50 respondents selected from two (2) secondary schools through random sampling and a reliability coefficient of 0.83 was obtained. Descriptive statistics such as  frequency distribution tables, simple percentage, mean and standard deviation were used to analyse data of research questions while Chi square was used in testing the research hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The study found that there was impact of emotional anxiety on academic performance and there was significant impact of school dropout due to  school phobia on students academic performance. The study recommended that the school culture and climate should be friendly and accommodating to mitigate the influence of emotional anxiety and school drop out on academic performance of students.

Keywords: School Phobia, Academic Performance, Emotional Anxiety, School Drop out