Prevalence, Gender and Level of Schooling Differences in Secondary School Students Level of Shyness

Abstract

This study was conducted to ascertain the prevalence, gender and level of schooling differences in secondary school students’ level of shyness in Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers State.  Population of the study comprised all the senior secondary school class two (SSS II) and all the Junior Secondary school class two (JSS II) students in the Local Government Area.  Sample for the study comprised 400 students.  Stratified random sampling technique and simple random sampling techniques were used to draw four schools and the sample for the study based on gender and level of schooling.  The instrument used for the study was the Revised Check and Bus Shyness Scale (RCBS 1983).  Reliability of the instrument was determined by the authors through test-retest method and the co-efficient of correlation was 0.88.  Three research questions were answered in this study while three hypotheses were tested.  The statistical method of analysis adopted for the study were percentage, mean, standard deviation and T-test. The result showed that prevalence of shyness among secondary school students was 60%; 76% of the female students were found to be  shy, while 44% of male students were found to be shy), 64% of SSS students were shy, while 43% of the JSS students were found to be shy.  There was significant difference between shy and non-shy students,including male and female students’ level of shyness.  Significant difference was also found between JSS and SSS students’ extent of shyness.  Some of the recommendations made include: that parents should strive not to bring up their children in abusive homes and to encourage their children to attend social occasions such as wedding and birthday ceremonies.

Keywords: Shyness, Prevalence, Gender, Level of schooling