Complete Personality

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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background to the Study
Social adjustment of students is an issue of great concern to many,
especially parents, teachers, counsellors and psychologists. This is based on the
notion that the students social dimension deals with interpersonal or public
interactions with other individuals. Hence, the students, especially those in the
secondary school system of education are faced with social problems with
attendant academic problems that seem to have become part and parcel of the
schools. The condition were student are unable to adjust socially in school has
become a worrisome phenomenon because of its tendency to affect their
academic outputs and the likelihood that they may resort to anti-social
behaviours like drug use and abuse, robbery, alcoholism, rape among others as a
coping mechanism.
Today, many of the students at the secondary school level in Nigeria are
perceived as being predisposed to many such social problems such as drug use
and abuse, robbery, alcoholism, among others, coupled with their normal
academic problems that seem to have become part and parcel of a school
process. The reason as Akpama (2013) noted could be traced to the idea that
these students are many a time faced with problems such as neglect from
parents or guardians, unstable homes, lack of proper home training, lack of love
and care. These problems render the students, emotionally and socially
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imbalanced, thereby pushing them into further problems like drug abuse,
prostitution and other unwholesome behaviours which tend to affect the
likelihood of their being adjusted in the society.
The adjustment for students could mean getting along with the members
of the school as best as each student can. Adjustment according to Nirmala
(2011) is a harmony between a person and his environment, and the extent to
which a person fits happily and harmoniously into the environment or culture in
which he or she finds self without having friction with others and without being
frustrated. According to Azuji (2014), it is the process and condition of being in
harmony with the physical and social environment in which the individual live,
which is signified by the near absence of stress and the ability to maintain good
personal relationship with others.
Within the school settings, students are constantly faced with new
challenges which include ever changing peer groups and different educational
and behavioural expectations of different schools. These challenges according
to Igbo, Nwaka, Mbagwu and Mezieobi (2016) have been recognized as having
some bearing on the way students adjust in schools socially. This is probably
because the ability of students to cope with certain standards, values, and norms
of a community (home, school, and church) hinges on their ability to socially
adjust in every given situation.
Social adjustment from the foregoing could be seen as the extent to which
an individual maintains a cordial relationship with other people. For example, a

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child in secondary school adjusts to the other members of the family, to the peer
group, to teachers, and to other member of the community in which the child
lives. In addition, social adjustment according to Rienties, Beausaert, Grohnert,
Niemantsverdriet, and Kommers (2011), is how an individual maintains a
congruent relationship with other people. Hence, in this study, social adjustment
is an effort made by students to cope with the standards, values and needs of the
social order in order to be accepted and become integrated into the community.
It is measured in terms of good and poor. A child is poorly adjusted when he or
she is unable to cope with everyday social situations and personal relationships.
On the other hand, a child with good adjustment is able to adapt to the
environment or condition and fit to cope with everyday social situations and
subjective interactions.
Furthermore, students who are socially adjusted tend to achieve a
balanced social relationship and operate within the acceptable social norms.
They are therefore more likely to get along with people around them. Social
adjustment for such students is seen as the process by which they become
integrated into the community, build support networks and negotiate new
freedoms afforded by the community and school life. Adjusting to the school
setting, however tend to come with many challenges.
One of the challenges that call for adjustment within the confines of
students‟ social milieu in secondary schools in Anambra State is that of forming
positive cordial relationship with others like peers and living harmoniously with
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them in this present complex society. Many of the students tend to act
aggressive towards others, some are more like loners, they tend not to associate
with other students and many of them may start engaging in drug use and abuse
and other unwholesome behaviours.
As a consequence, achieving such a happy and harmonious life in the
society may become a challenge. Nevertheless, the successful handling of such
challenges in the society could lead to good social adjustment, while improper
handling of such challenges could equally lead to social maladjustment of
individuals. For example, a student adjusts to his or her social environment
comprising of the peer group, the teachers, and other members of the
community in which the individual lives.
Adjustment to social environment according to Kaljahi (2016) is one of
the most critical activities emerging adults undertake that predicts academic
success in school and beyond. The inability of students to adjust to the school
environment, establish and maintain good relationship with people, participate
positively in school activities such as group projects, and social activities such
as other extra-curricular programmes of the school, could affect their becoming
socially adjusted in school. This situation could also portend serious problems
for the school, and perhaps could be the reason researchers such as Burgoon,
Meece and Granger (2012), Farmer, Irvin, Thompson, Hutchins, and Leung
(2006), Wentzel (2013), have worked assiduously to establish crucial factors
that promote positive adjustment of individuals in school, especially at the

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secondary school level. The important factors as noted by Wentzel include such
elements as motivation, participation in school events, personality traits, and
self-efficacy.
Self-efficacy is an important variable which could help in the social
adjustment of students in school. Necessary emotional resources such as self-
efficacious beliefs are essential for effective coping and possible adjustment in
social settings. Self-efficacy is thus seen as an individual's personal judgment of
an individual‟s capabilities in successfully carrying out a given task. Bhagat and
Baliya (2016) viewed self-efficacy as one‟s belief in his or her ability to
produce designated levels of performance that exercise influence over events
that affect their lives. Based on the importance of self-efficacy, many researches
have centred on the concept, in order to understand the process of how
individuals perceive their abilities and capabilities. Hence, Burgoon, Meece and
Granger (2012), noted that in social situations such as the school, students with
high self-efficacy are more likely to be socially adjusted in the school. This was
adjudged based on the notion that a student with high self-efficacy would have
the belief that they have the capabilities to execute the courses of actions
required in managing any given situation.
In the same way, secondary school students have varying perceptions of
their ability to cope with the societal requirements and interpersonal demands of
their educational life. Some of the students may believe in their ability to form
successful friendship and interaction with fellow students, participate in group

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projects, and in social activities such as extra-curricular programmes of the
school, while some other students may not believe that they possess the ability
to actually participate in the social activities of the school. In other words, their
self-efficacy belief tends to reflect their level of social confidence as well as
their competence.
In the same view, Abel and Moyosola (2013), noted that success in the
educational system is not only assessed by the skills and knowledge being
imparted to students in the school but also by the efforts put in, to improve
students beliefs about their capabilities which affects how they would approach
the future. This is perhaps based on the idea that students, who develop a strong
sense of self-efficacy, are likely to be better equipped to establish and maintain
good interaction with people, cope with values and norms of the society, and get
along with people around fairly well, because they believe in their abilities.
Therefore, students in secondary schools may experience difficulty in school,
not necessarily because they lack cognitive ability but probably because they
lack belief in their ability to produce desired result which may lead to their
inability to adjust within the school and the larger society.
Moreover, the students‟ uniqueness in interpreting their surroundings
may also be a factor in developing the students‟ social relationship. So,
understanding of the students‟ social adjustment may require deducing the
personal factors (traits) that are likely to influence their adjustment, and the
specific personality traits responsible for a better social adjustment. The reason
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being that behaviour, if observed, tend to change with at least a slight change in
situation or stimulus according to the individual unique personality traits
structures.
The personality traits of individuals according to Koludrovic, Bubic and
Ercegovac (2014), could be predicted through their interactions with people in
the social environments. Thus, personality trait according to Weiten, Lloyd,
Dunn and Hammer (2009) is seen as a set of psychological traits and
mechanisms within the individuals that are organized and relatively enduring
that influence the individual‟s interactions with, and adaptations to, the physical
and social environs. In such instance, sustainability of any social relationship
could be affected by behavioural adjustment problems relating to personality
traits of the students. Similarly, Daminabo (2008), viewed personality traits as
the sum total of the qualities that differentiates people or the stability of a
person's behaviour across different situations.
Accordingly, an individuals‟ personality is the totality of a person‟s
behaviour which encompasses his thoughts, feelings and observable behaviour.
This means that personality accounts for consistent and persistent behaviour of
individuals. For example, one can be said to be intelligent, cheerful, hopeful,
outgoing or friendly. The impression any of such people have about an
individual is interpreted as the individual‟s personality. Hence, in the context of
this study, personality trait refers to human characteristics that are responsible
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for the difference which distinguishes one individual from another and could be
used to predict ones behaviour.
Personality trait include multiple traits that help to explain why students
do not all act alike in the same situation. The personality traits that have
received much attention in literature is the “Big Five” model by McCrae and
Costa (2006) which consists of five aspects of personality, namely:
extraversion, neuroticism, openness to experience, agreeableness and
conscientiousness. These traits were examined in this study as possible
predictors of students‟ social adjustment in schools.
According to Watson, Stasik, Ro and Clark (2013) people who score high
in extraversion are characterized as outgoing, sociable, upbeat, friendly,
assertive and gregarious. They are referred to as extraverts or positive
emotionality in some trait models. They are usually talkative and always
drawing attention to themselves.
Likewise, people who score high in neuroticism are said to be anxious,
hostile, self-conscious, insecure, and vulnerable. This personality trait is called
negative emotionality. They are always anxious and tend to suffer from
depression. Individuals here are often moody and easily discouraged. This state
of emotion hinders them from thinking clearly, making rational decision and
coping with stress (Shevaun, Mroczek & Avron, 2008).
Openness to experience is a personality trait that people who register high
on it are open to experience, have general appreciation for art, emotion and
adventure. They are not stereotype but try new ideas. They are very imaginative
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and curious. They do not hold tenaciously to traditional or conventional ideas.
They are intelligent, investigative and sensitive to beauty. They are creative;
they can be controversial since they are unconventional. On the contrary people
who score low on openness to experience are more reserved and conventional.
They hold firmly to traditional beliefs. They are sceptical about new ideas and
may not be comfortable with new scientific and technological developments.
Agreeableness is a personality trait that has to do with being
compassionate and cooperative instead of suspicious and antagonistic towards
others. People who score high in agreeableness fancy getting along with others;
they are usually honest, decent and trustworthy. They are considerate and
friendly, generous, helpful and often compromise their interest with others.
They are optimistic of the human nature. Weiten, Iloyd, Dunn and Hammer
(2009) noted that people who score at the opposite end of this personality
dimension are characterized as suspicious, antagonistic and aggressive.
The personality trait of conscientiousness is concerned with people who
tend to be diligent, disciplined, well organized, punctual and dependable.
Conscientiousness is associated with higher productivity in a variety of
occupational areas and with greater longevity (Jackson, Wood, Bogg, Walton,
& Harns, 2010). There is the tendency that there will be conflict between
students who are not similar in their personality traits thereby resulting to social
maladjustment.
From the foregoing, it could be understood that traits are characteristic
behaviours that consistently differentiates one individual from another. They are
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stable predisposition to act or behave in a consistent manner (Nairae, Lindsay,
Paulhus, & Smith, 2004). So, personality characteristics and self-efficacy of
students that are socially adjusted are likely different from those found among
individuals that are not socially adjusted. Studies (example, Christensen, 2012;
Eyong, David & Umoh; 2014; Maurice, Peter & Caleb, 2016; Sanja, Ivanka &
Ines, 2010; Thomas, Sabine, Hanke & Greetje van der, 2017) have investigated
the contribution of personality traits and self-efficacy to college adjustment,
social adjustment, academic achievement and life satisfaction. Some of these
studies were conducted outside Nigeria, while some are conducted within
Nigeria. Many of those conducted within Nigeria do not seem to have addressed
the problem of students social adjustment, neither did any of the studies
investigate whether these variables predict the social adjustment of secondary
school students in Anambra State, Nigeria.
There is therefore the need to determine how far students varying
personality traits could lead to social adjustment or maladjustment and how the
students‟ view of their ability, could determine how they adjust in any given
environment. This study in response to these needs investigated personality
traits and self-efficacy of secondary school students as predictors of their social
adjustment in Anambra State, Nigeria.
Statement of the Problem
The students, especially those at the secondary school level of education
globally are many a time predisposed to numerous social adjustment concerns.

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Their adjustment to those concerns in school is considered one of the main
indicators of success in school as it is an indicator for the student‟s ability to
face problems resulting from fulfilling high academic, social and emotional
needs. Through achieving good social adjustment in school, the student will be
able to form a good relationship with others in the school which would likely
lead to enhanced academic achievement. Consequently, students becoming
socially adjusted, both in and out of school would most likely lead to greater
outcome, both socially and academically.
However, many of the students like those in Anambra State secondary
seem inadequately prepared for the psychological, emotional and academic
realities of the secondary education. Hence, a good number of them are often
times unable to deal with the situation they find themselves. Some of the
students may end up becoming societal nuisance in the secondary schools by
getting involved in delinquent offences like truancy, fighting, refusing to
participate in group projects in the school setting, pilfering and whole lots of
other unwholesome behaviours.
Today, the problem of students poor social adjustment still persist and
could be easily observed in schools, not only in Anambra State, but else were
around the country. Many of the students exhibits characteristics of social
maladjustment such as; rebellious or impulsive actions, anxiousness, feelings of
sadness, hopelessness, and withdrawn attitude, lack of concentration, loss of
self-esteem and suicidal thoughts both within the schools and outside schools.
The situation is not only affecting the students alone but the classroom teachers,
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parents, school authorities and other well-meaning persons in the society. It has
no doubt become a pointer to the need for a research of this nature which sought
to empirically examine factors such as personality traits and self-efficacy as
possible predictors of the students‟ social adjustment in Anambra State.
Purpose of the Study
The main purpose of this study is to investigate personality traits and self-
efficacy, as predictors of social adjustment among secondary school students in
Anambra.
Specifically, the study sought to determine:
1. The extraversion personality trait scores of secondary school students in
Anambra State.
2. The neuroticism personality scores of secondary school students in
Anambra State.
3. The openness to experience personality trait score of secondary school
students in Anambra State.
4. The agreeableness personality trait scores of secondary school students in
Anambra State.
5. The conscientiousness personality trait scores of secondary school
students in Anambra State.
6. The self-efficacy scores of secondary school students in Anambra State.
7. the social adjustment scores of secondary school in Anambra State.

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8. Extraversion personality trait of secondary school students as predictor of
their social adjustment.
9. Neuroticism personality trait of secondary school students as predictor of
their social adjustment.
10. Openness to experience personality traits of secondary school students
as predictor of their social adjustment.
11. Agreeableness personality traits of secondary school students as
predictor of their social adjustment.
12. Conscientiousness personality traits of secondary school students as
predictor of their social adjustment.
13. The big five personality traits jointly predicting social adjustment of
secondary school students.
14. Self-efficacy as predictor of social adjustment of secondary school
students.
15. The bigfive personality traits and self-efficacy jointly predicting social
adjustment of secondary school students.

16.
Significance of the Study
The findings of this study will be beneficial to students, school authorities,
teachers, guidance counsellors, curriculum planners and future researchers.
The findings of the study will be beneficial to students. The findings of
the study, would determine if personality traits and self-efficacy predicts the
social adjustment of the students as it will help them to building and

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maintaining healthy relationships and be socially adjusted in the school. The
findings when published will enable the students see the relationship between
some of their personal traits and their social adjustment. Findings from this
study will also help students to understand their personality traits and discover
how best to build their self-efficacy in order to adjust in their environment
harmoniously. The study will also serve as source of information to secondary
school students because the findings will expose to them how their personality
traits and self-efficacy could predict their social adjustment.
The findings of the study would reveal to the school authorities the
personality traits and self-efficacy of the students and the need for them to
organize seminars for the students in the secondary school so that they can be
taught social skills that would help manage their personality traits, build their
self-efficacy, them get socially adjusted to the school and the society at large.
For the guidance counsellors, the results of the research will broaden the
frontiers of knowledge in the area of guidance and counselling by providing
information on the personality traits and self-efficacy of secondary school
students and their relationship with the students social adjustment. This will be
of great help to the counsellors in designing appropriate guidance and
counselling programmes and services in school to guide and assist students that
are socially maladjusted. Secondary school students that are socially
maladjusted will benefit from programmes designed to enhance perspective and
improve interpersonal skills that will help them to socially adjust in any
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environment they find themselves, so that they can reach their optimum
development in life.
Finally, the findings of the study will be beneficial to future researchers.
The scientific knowledge gained, as provided by the findings of this work could
be utilized for further research in other related areas. The finding will not only
serve as a reference point for academic purposes especially to subsequent
researchers in the subject area but will also add to the existing literature in the
areas of secondary school students‟ personality traits, self-efficacy and their
social adjustment.
Scope of the Study
This study is delimited to investigating personality traits and self-efficacy
of secondary school students as predictors of their social adjustment in
Anambra State. The personality traits investigated focused on the “Big five” or
five-factor model (FFM) of McCrae and Costa (2006) which is extraversion,
neuroticism, openness to experience, agreeableness and conscientiousness. The
dependent variable of the study is social adjustment, while personality traits and
self-efficacy constitute the independent variables. The study covers only senior
secondary school students in the government owned secondary school.
Nevertheless, only students in SS I and SS II from public secondary schools in
Anambra State actually participated in the study. This group of students were
used while those in SS3 were excluded being that they are in examination
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preparatory class. SS1 and SS 2 students are not in an examination class and
this made the group readily available for the exercise.
Research Questions
The following research questions guided the study:
1. What are the extraversion personality trait scores of secondary school
students in Anambra State?
2. What are the neuroticism personality trait scores of secondary school
3. What are the openness to experience personality trait scores of secondary
school students in Anambra State?
4. What are the agreeableness personality trait scores of secondary school
5. What are conscientiousness personality trait score of secondary school
6. What are the self-efficacy scores of secondary school students in
Anambra State?
7. What are the social adjustment scores of secondary school students in
Anambra State?
8. Does personality trait of extraversion predict social adjustment of
secondary school students in Anambra State?
9. Does personality trait of neuroticism predict social adjustment of

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10. Does personality trait of openness to experience predict social
adjustment of secondary school students in Anambra State?
11. Does personality trait of agreeableness predict social adjustment of
12. Does personality trait of conscientiousness predict social adjustment of
13. Do the big five personality traits jointly predict social adjustment of
14. Does self-efficacy predict social adjustment of secondary school students
in Anambra State?
15. Do the bigfive personality traits and self-efficacy jointly predict social
adjustment of secondary school students?
Hypotheses
The following null hypotheses testable at 0.05 level of significance will guide
the study.
1. The personality trait of extraversion is not a significant predictor of social
adjustment of secondary school students in Anambra State
2. The personality trait of neuroticism is not a significant predictor of social
3. The personality trait of openness to experience is not a significant
predictor of social adjustment of secondary school students in Anambra
State
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4. The personality trait of agreeableness is not a significant predictor of
social adjustment of secondary school students in Anambra State
5. The personality trait of conscientiousness is not a significant predictor of
social adjustment of secondary school students in Anambra State.
6. The big five personality traits do not significantly predict social
adjustment of secondary school students in Anambra State.
7. Self-efficacy is not a significant predictor of social adjustment of
secondary school students in Anambra State.
8. The bigfive personality traits and self-efficacy do not significantly predict

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CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
This chapter reviewed literature materials relevant to the study. The review will
be presented under the following subheadings:
Conceptual Framework
Personality Traits
Self-Efficacy
Social Adjustment
Theoretical Framework
The Big Five Personality Traits (Five Factor Theory) by McCrae and Costa
Albert Bandura‟s Social Cognitive Theory of Self-Efficacy

Theoretical Studies
Personality Traits
Personality Traits as Predictor of Social Adjustment
Self-Efficacy as Predictor of Social Adjustment
Factors Influencing Self-efficacy Beliefs
Development of Social Skills
Students‟ Social Adjustment in Schools
Empirical Studies
Studies on Personality Traits
Studies on Self-Efficacy
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Studies on Social Adjustment
Summary of Review of Related Literature
This section provides an interpretation of the underlying ideas of the study.
They include:
Personality Traits
Personality according to Abdul (2016) is the sum total of ways in which
an individual reacts to and interacts with others. Thus, personality explains why
some people are quiet and passive, whereas others are loud and aggressive.
Moreover, Weiten, Lloyd, Dunn and Hammer (2009), posit that personality of
an individual is a unique constellation of consistent behavioural traits. This
means that one‟s personality trait is his durable disposition to behave in a
particular way, in a variety of situations, for example; honesty, dependable,
moody and impulsive situations. It is most often described in terms of
measurable traits that a person exhibits. Oksana and Rita (2009), defined
personality as an enduring system of characteristics that individuals carry from
one situation to another, which affects their behaviour. An individuals‟
personality is the totality of a person‟s behaviour which encompasses his
thoughts, feelings and observable behaviours (Obimba & Iwuama, 2003).
Nirmala (2011) viewed personality as a unique integration of traits which tends
to differentiate one person from another on the basis of quality. Personality

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determines an individual‟s unique adjustment to his environment. In addition to
this, Kendra (2013) maintained that personality arises from within the
individual and remains fairly consistent throughout the person‟s life time. More
so, Mischel, Shoda and Smith (2004), defined personality as individual
differences among people, including his/her characteristic patterns in behaviour,
thinking, feeling, cognition and emotion.
Furthermore, Engler (2009) declared that personality is a dynamic and
organized set of characteristics possessed by a person that uniquely influences
his or her cognitions, motivations and behaviours in various situations. An
individual‟s behaviour towards others, attitude, characteristic and mindset make
up his personality. Personality therefore influences an individual‟s behaviours
and actions, it does not only influence the behaviours and actions but it also
makes the individual to act in certain ways. In this study, the researcher refers to
personality as the unique human individuality characteristics that can be used to
predict one‟s behaviour. This characteristic is referred to as personality traits.
Traits are the sum total of stable characteristics in a person across
different times and situations, which make him or her unique or distinct from
others. Traits also are enduring dimensions of personality characteristics which
differentiates people from one another (Daminabo, 2008). Parks-Leduc,
Feldman, and Bardi (2014), and Ifeagwazi, (2009), opined that traits are
influenced by heredity and environment. Some traits like neuroticism and

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extroversion are inherited while traits such as friendliness and hostility can be
developed as one interacts with his environment. In other words, environmental
factors can also influence the level of inherited traits in an individual. The
dominant traits in a person therefore influence his or her behaviour in a given
situation. This means that the amount of a particular trait or traits in one‟s
personality determines how they influence the person‟s behaviour. Therefore, in
this study, a trait is seen as unchanging characteristics of person across different
times and situations, which makes the individual unique or different from
others.
Larsen and Buss (2005), defined personality trait to be the set of
psychological qualities and mechanisms within the individual that are organized
and relatively enduring that influence his or her interactions with, and
adaptations to the physical and social environments. Personality traits accounts
for consistent and persistent behaviours of individuals. It is perhaps in this
perspective that Weiten, Lloyd, Dunn and Hammer (2009) viewed personality
traits as an individual‟s unique constellation of consistent behavioural traits.
Personality traits are attributes or qualities that account for the way individuals
react to stimuli in their environment. Traits are obvious consistencies in
behaviour. They cannot be seen with the individuals‟ eyes but could be
identified from ones conducts and as a result of one‟s behaviour.

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For instance one can be said to be intelligent, cheerful, hopeful, fearful,
outgoing, shy, bold, friendly, hostile, or withdrawn. These and more are
psychological terms used to describe personality traits (Lahey, 2004).
Personality traits according to Alport in Nirmala (2011), is the dynamic
organization within the individual of those psychological systems that
determine his characteristic behaviour and thought. Personality traits are
attributes in people either inherited or learned that is responsible for individual
differences in behavioural patterns, Daminabo (2008), viewed personality traits
as the sum total of the characteristics that differentiates people, or the stability
of a person's behaviour across different situations. In other words it means those
qualities the individual is noted for. Agbakwuru and Ugwueze (2014) referred
to personality traits as consistent differences between the behaviour
characteristic of two or more people. Each person‟s personality is made up of
traits and each of the trait influences behaviour in one way or the other.
Consequently, for the purpose of this study, personality traits refers to human
characteristics that are responsible for the individual differences in people
which distinguishes an one person from another and can be used to predict the
behaviour.
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Self-efficacy
The words "Self" and "efficacy" are concerned mainly with the question
of "Who am I?" and "What am I good at?". Understanding this important aspect
of self and people's beliefs about their personal capabilities and how these
beliefs influence what they try to accomplish, and how they react to successes
and hindrances along the way gives vivid description of what self-efficacy is all
about.
Self-efficacy according to Bhagat and Baliya (2016) is defined as ones‟
belief about their contributions to produce designated levels of performance that
exercise influence over events that affect their lives. Earlier description of self-
efficacy according to Bandura (1977), showed it as the confidence a person has
in one‟s own ability to solve problems and accomplish tasks. In addition,
Akhtar, Ghavas and Adil (2012), posited that self-efficacy is an individual‟s
belief in their ability to perform a task by utilizing one‟s abilities or action.
Burgoon, Meece, and Granger, (2012), viewed self-efficacy as a construct
linked to motivational aspects, aspects of persistence and aspects of how much
effort individuals put in their actions. Self-efficacy also refers to an individual´s
perceived capability to perform in a way that creates control over events
affecting his/her life. According to Bhagat and Baliya (2016), Self-efficacy is
defined as people‟s belief about their capabilities to produce designated levels
of performance that exercise influence over events that affect their lives. It is a
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belief that one has the capabilities to execute the courses of actions required to
manage prospective situations. Self-efficacy in the context of this study refers to
the students‟ beliefs about their ability that become instrumental to the goals
they pursue and to the control they are able to exercise over their environments.
Social Adjustment
Social adjustment deals with individuals‟ adaptation in a given social
environment. Social adjustment according to Rienties, Beausaert, Grohnert,
Niemantsverdriet, and Kommers (2011), is how an individual maintains a
congruent relationship with other people. Raju and Rahamtulla (2007), defined
social adjustment as an individual‟s ability to enjoy life without any type of
conflict. Thus, social adjustment entails accepting social activities or
participation in social activities. Zhang and Goodson (2011), declared that
social adjustment involves simply understanding others. According to Nwoke
(2004), social adjustment is an innate psychological disposition to cope with
standard, values and needs of a society in order to be acceptable, it involves
coping with new standards of individual value, it refers to coping with social
challenges confronting one in any given situation or environment and the innate
strength to accommodate any possible outcome or change. Stansbury (2004)
viewed social adjustment as influencing others without harming others. This
definition includes the expression of joy, the gratitude of others or other
behaviours that are essential to strengthen interpersonal relationships. Social

26
adjustment entails an individual maintaining a congruent relationship with other
people. For instance, students who are able to maintain a congruent relationship
with people around are said to be socially adjusted, while those who could not
may find it hard getting adjusted.
The ability for one to cope with standards, values and need of a society,
and people in the environment hinges on social adjustment but the lack of it
could spell doom in the achievement of success in life generally. However,
some people‟s behaviour strongly suggests social adjustment or social
maladjustment. For instance, students in secondary schools tend to have
fluctuating social adjustment which could make them unable to adapt to a given
social environment. Students being socially maladjusted in the students could
affect all aspects of their lives and possibly disrupt their ability to get along with
others. Consequently, in the context of this study, social adjustment refers to the
ability of students to function in their immediate environment and participate in
social activities, become adjusted to the school, in such a way that they can
build and maintain reasonable relationships, and accommodate people around
oneself irrespective of the situation that one finds oneself.

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SECONDARY
SCHOOL STUDENTS
BIGFIVE
PERSONALIT
Y TRAITS
SELF-EFFICACY
(INDEPENDENTVARIABLE)
- Extraversion
- Neuroticism
- Openess to
Experience SOCIAL
ADJUSTMENT
- Agreableness
- Conscienciousness (DEPENDENTVARIABLE)
(INDEPENDENT
VARIABLE)
Developed by Ejichukwu, E.C. (2019).
The framework above depicted the relationships that exist between students‟
personality traits, self-efficacy and their social adjustment. It was expected that
students would possess any of or a mix of the personality traits of Extraversion,
Neuroticism, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness and Openness. It was also
expected that students would possess high, moderate or low Self-efficacy and
that both the personality traits and Self-efficacy would positively (good) or
negatively (poor) predict the students social adjustment in a given environment.

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Theoretical Framework
This section explores psychological theories that form the framework of this
study. They include: The Big Five Personality Traits (Five Factor Model) by
McCrae and Costa and Social Cognitive Theory by Albert Bandura.
The Big Five Personality Traits (Five Factor Theory) by McCrae and Costa
This model was developed by McCrae and Costa (1985). These are the five
basic dimensions of personality traits used to describe human personality. The
Five Factor Model breaks personality traits down into five components: these
traits include openness to experience, conscientiousness, extroversion-
introversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism; they are sometimes referred to
collectively by the acronyms OCEAN or CANOE. Each trait measures a unique
aspect of human personality and explains differences in personality and the way
people behave.
Openness to Experience: The openness to experience dimension of personality
is characterised by a willingness to try new activities. People with higher levels
of openness are amenable to unconventional ideas and beliefs, including those
which challenge their existing assumptions. They enjoy artistic and cultural
experiences, visiting art galleries, museums, and theatres, listening to music and
travelling to new destinations. They are more open to unfamiliar cultures and
customs.
29
People with low levels of openness - those who are closed to experience - are
wary of uncertainty and the unknown. They are more suspicious of beliefs and
ideas which challenge their status quo. They feel uncomfortable in unfamiliar
situations and prefer familiar environments. Less open individuals value the
safety of predictability, and like to adhere to well-known traditions and routines.
Openness to experience is often associated with intelligence when measuring
personality factors. Individuals who score highly on verbal and crystallized
intelligence measures have been found to also report being more open to
experience.
Conscientiousness: People who are conscientious are more aware of their
actions and the consequences of their behaviour than people who are
unconscientiously. They feel a sense of responsibility towards other and are
generally careful to carry out the duties assigned to them. Conscientious
individuals like to keep a tidy environment and are well-organized. They are
keen to maintain good timekeeping.
People with high conscientious levels also exhibit more goal-oriented
behaviour. They set ambitious goals and are motivated to achieve them.
Undeterred by hard work, they are keen to driven to succeed in every aspect of
their lives, including academic achievements and in furthering their careers.
Low levels of conscientiousness are reflected in less motivated behaviour.

30
Unconscientious individuals are less concerned by tidiness and punctuality. This
may result in them arriving late to appointments and meetings, and being more
relaxed in setting life goals. Unconscientiously people tend to engage in more
impulsive behaviour. They will act on a last-minute whim rather than
considering the consequences of their choices.
Extraversion: Extraversion is characterised by outgoing, socially confident
behaviour. Extraverts are sociable, talkative and often forward in social
situations. They enjoy being the centre of a group and will often seek the
attention of others. Extraverts enjoy meeting new people and are happy to
introduce themselves to strangers, thriving in company of others. This
personality trait is measured on an introversion-extraversion continuum.
Individuals who fit in the middle of the two traits are described as ambiverts.
Introverts - people with low levels of extraversion, display contrasting
behaviour. They are quieter and often feel shy around other people. They may
feel intimidated being in large groups such as parties, and will often try to avoid
demanding social gatherings. Introverts enjoy being a part of smaller social
groups, preferably with familiar people. Such behaviour results in introverts
tending to enjoy smaller social networks, but instead they maintain a close
group of trusted friends.
Agreeableness: Individuals who score highly on agreeableness measures are
friendly and co-operative. Often considered more likeable by their peers and
31
colleagues, agreeable people are trusting of others and are more altruistic,
willing to help others during times of need. Their ability to work with others
means that they often work well as members of a team. Agreeable people
dislike being involved in arguments, conflict with others and other forms of
confrontation. They seek to pacify and appease others, acting as the mediating
„peace-maker‟ of their group.
Individuals who are disagreeable score lower on this dimension of personality.
They are less concerned with pleasing other people and making friends.
Disagreeable individuals are more suspicious of other people‟s intentions and
are less charitable. Instead, they are motivated to act in accordance with their
self-interest, having less regard for the needs of others. As a result, they are
perceived by others as being more selfish than agreeable personalities. Whilst
disagreeable individuals find it easier to promote their own interests, those who
are more agreeable tend to enjoy better relationships with others. From an early
age, this can be beneficial.
Neuroticism: This personality dimension is measured on a continuum ranging
from emotional stability to emotional instability, or neuroticism. People with
high neuroticism scores are often persistent worriers. They are more fearful and
often feel anxious, over-thinking their problems and exaggerating their
significance. Rather than seeing the positive in a situation, they may dwell on its
negative aspects. Neuroticism can result in a person coping less successfully

32
with common stressors in their day-to-day lives. Instead, they will often become
frustrated with others and may feel angry if events do not occur as they wish.
People with low neuroticism scores are less preoccupied by these negative
concerns. They are able to remain calmer in response to stressful situations, and
view problems in proportion to their importance. As a result, they tend to worry
about such problems to a lesser extent.
The five factor theory in relation to this study is an explanatory account of the
role of the Big Five factors in personality. It includes a number of propositions
about the nature, origins, and developmental course of personality traits and
about the relation of traits to many of the other personality variables like social
adjustment of students in school. The Five-Factor Theory presents a biological
account of personality traits, in which learning and experience play little if any
part in influencing the Big Five.
Explanation for these five core personality traits suggest that these personality
traits represent the most important qualities that could shape students social
landscape. Advocates for using personality factors as the main predictor
variables for adjustment outcome research argue that the objective details of an
event may not be as important as the meaning that an individual attaches to the
event. Similarly, experts who have been critical of this approach assert that an
individual‟s experience of life events is more complicated and nuanced than a
simple “positive” or “negative” event categorization allows for. They propose

33
that the meaning that a person ascribes to important events in their life
contributes to choices and behaviours that either protect or expose them to
future harmful experiences. Thus, a student‟s personality traits could be seen as
instrumental in determining whether their social adjustment would be good or
poor.
This theory though applicable to this study is limited in its scope. The theory
did not cover self-efficacy beliefs which tend to influence how threats and
taxing demands are perceived and cognitively processed. The social cognitive
theory by Albert Bandura was therefore introduced to cover the gap. The theory
explained why people‟s belief that they can or cannot produce desired results by
their actions have little or more incentive to act or to persevere in the face of
difficulties.
Social Cognitive Theory by Albert Bandura
The social cognitive theory was propounded by Albert Bandura (1997).
Bandura in the socio-cognitive theory posits that people are self-organizing,
proactive, self-reflecting, and self-regulating, not just reactive organisms shaped
and shepherded by external events. The theory proposes that people have the
power to influence their own actions to produce certain results. The capacity to
exercise control over one‟s thought processes, motivation, affect, and action
operates through mechanisms of personal agency.

34
The capability to reflect upon oneself and the adequacy of one‟s thoughts
and actions is an exclusively human attribute that figures prominently in social
cognitive theory. People are not only agents of action but self-examiners of their
own cognitive, affective, and behavioural functioning. Effective functioning
requires reliable ways of distinguishing between accurate and faulty thinking. In
verifying the adequacy of thought by self-reflective means, people generate
ideas and act upon them or predict occurrences from them. They then judge
from the results the accuracy and functional value of their thinking and try to
improve it if necessary
Central to the social cognitive theory is the notion of human agency,
which refers to the claim that, to a certain degree, people are capable of
exercising control over what they do and over their life circumstances. The
notion, however, does not propose that humans are sole determinants of what
takes place but rather that they are fully contributing to it. Human agency
includes beliefs of personal efficacy. People who do not trust that they have the
power to bring about desired results will not initiate actions. In other words,
human agency assumes generative and proactive actions rather than just
reactions to environmental stimuli.
The concept of self-efficacy is the focal point of Bandura's social
cognitive theory. Among the self-referent thoughts that influence human
motivation, affect and action, none is more central or pervasive than people‟s
35
judgments of the personal efficacy (Bandura, 1997). Perceived self-efficacy is
concerned with people‟s beliefs in their capabilities to perform in ways that give
them some control over events that affect their lives. Efficacy beliefs form the
foundation of human agency. Unless people believe that they can produce
desired results by their actions, they have little incentive to act or to persevere in
the face of difficulties.
Self-efficacy beliefs are constructed from four principal sources of
information. The most authentic and influential source is mastery experiences.
This can be achieved by tackling problems in successive attainable steps.
Successes build a robust belief in one‟s efficacy. Failures undermine it,
especially in earlier phases of self-development. Moreover, if people have only
easy successes, they are readily discouraged by failure or setbacks.
Development of resilient self-efficacy requires experiences in overcoming
obstacles through perseverant effort.
The second way of creating and strengthening beliefs of personal efficacy
is through vicarious experiences. If people see others like themselves succeed
by sustained effort, they come to believe that they, too, have the capacity to
succeed. Conversely, observing the failures of others instils doubts about one‟s
own ability to master similar activities. Competent models also build efficacy
by conveying knowledge and skills for managing environmental demands.
Social persuasion is the third way of strengthening people‟s beliefs in their
efficacy. If people are persuaded that they have what it takes to succeed, they
36
exert more effort and are more perseverant than if they harbour self-doubts and
dwell on personal deficiencies when problems arise. But effective social
persuaders do more than convey faith in people‟s capabilities. They arrange
activities for others in ways that bring success and avoid placing people
prematurely in situations where they are likely to fail. People also rely on their
physical and emotional states to judge their capabilities. They read their tension,
anxiety and depression as signs of personal deficiency. In activities that require
strength and stamina, they interpret fatigue, windedness, and aches and pains as
indictors of low physical efficacy. Thus, the fourth way of altering efficacy
beliefs is to enhance physical status, reduce negative emotional states and
correct misinterpretations of somatic sources of information.
Efficacy beliefs influence how threats and taxing demands are perceived
and cognitively processed. People who believe they can manage threats and
adversities view them as less inimical and are not distressed by them. Those
who believe they cannot control them experience high anxiety, dwell on their
coping deficiencies, view many aspects of their environment as fraught with
danger, magnify possible risks and worry about perils that rarely happen. By
such thinking, they distress themselves and impair their functioning (Bandura,
1997). On the other hand, Bandura notes that people who have a high sense of
coping efficacy lower their stress and anxiety by acting in ways that transform
threatening environments into peaceful ones. The stronger the sense of efficacy,
37
the bolder people are in tackling the problems that breed stress and anxiety and
the greater is their success in shaping the environment to their liking.
This theory, in relation to this study provides an understanding that
people will be more inclined to take on a task they believe they can succeed in.
This is based on the notion that individuals exercise control over their thoughts,
feelings and actions. People generally avoid tasks where their self-efficacy is
low but will engage in task where their self-efficacy is high. Bandura thus
describes self-efficacy as the belief in one's capabilities to organize and execute
courses of action required to produce given attainments. Efficacy beliefs
influence the particular courses of action a person chooses to pursue, the
amount of effort that will be expended, perseverance in the face of challenges
and failures, resilience, and the ability to cope with the demands associated with
the chosen course of action.
The social cognitive theory posits that an individual‟s self-efficacy belief
influences the individual‟s willingness to initiate behaviour in social situations.
The abilities of students to establish and form sustainable peer relationships,
maintain social bonds, manage different types of interpersonal conflicts, receive
positive peer praise, be socially acceptable, and behave in a pro-social manner
at school are all important tasks for successful social adjustment at school.
38
Theoretical Studies
The section looks at related works based on the position and opinion of different
authors.
The Big Five Personality Traits
The Big Five Personality Traits is often used as a framework for
examining five personality dimensions of extraversion, neuroticism,
agreeableness, conscientiousness and openness. These five factors can be
observed through both self- and peer- reports, in both children and adults, and
across cultures (Kotov, Gamez, Schmidt, & Watson, 2010), suggesting that
personality traits are heritable and stable throughout the lifetime. Personality
predicts various dimensions of wellbeing, including life satisfaction, happiness
and social adjustment. For example, extraversion and neuroticism have been
found to be the strongest predictors of happiness, and neuroticism and
conscientiousness, the strongest predictors of life satisfaction (Quevedo &
Abella, 2011). Similarly, Hayes and Joseph (2003) found that extraversion and
neuroticism best predicted scores on the Oxford Happiness Inventory, and
neuroticism and conscientiousness best predicted scores on the Satisfaction with
Life Scale.
Cheng and Furnham (2003) also found a strong positive correlation
between happiness and extraversion, with extraversion as a direct predictor of
happiness. Taken together, findings suggest that personality traits, including

39
extraversion, neuroticism, and conscientiousness, account for a significant
amount of life satisfaction, happiness and social adjustment (Hayes & Joseph,
2003). Importantly, extraversion and neuroticism as predictors of happiness and
social adjustment have been generalized in cross-cultural studies (Cheng &
Furnham, 2001), supporting the perspective that personality traits are heritable,
stable factors and can be generalized as significant predictors of happiness.
Personality traits theorists, like Allport, Cattell and Eysenck, use
combination of qualities or dimensions to study human behaviour. They
identified recurring patterns of thought and behaviour such as anxiousness,
shyness, openness to new things that exist in individual to individual that make
them unique. The number of personality traits and the degree that a trait exists
in an individual is what trait theorists use to determine the individual
personality. Allport (1936) discovered over 4,000 words on individual
personality traits. He later organized the words into 1,700 traits that determined
how the individual uniquely adapts to his environment. These he classified into
three main categories, viz; cardinal, secondary and central traits. Iroegbu,
Nkwocha and Onyemerekeya (2002) informed that cardinal traits dominate a
person‟s behaviour and manifest always; for instance shyness, intelligence or
honesty. In the same study, they said that secondary traits are less influential
and manifest in persons behaviour in rare occasion, such as disliking being in
closed spaces or crowds. Ifeagwazi (2009) alleged that central traits manifest in
different situations. Occasionally in one‟s lifetime, a central trait emerges as a

40
dominant force in personality. This trait is referred to as cardinal trait, and it
becomes a person‟s defining personality trait that overshadows all others
(Allport, 1936). It can be assumed from the above that the behaviour secondary
school students‟ exhibit that dominate their personality could emerge from
cardinal traits; and this can also account for the understanding change in their
behaviours at a given time.
Cattell (1950) in his factor analysis cut down Allport‟s list of traits to 171
characteristics to arrive at 16 personality factor models consisting of 16 basic
source traits that are underlying causes of overt behaviours in individuals in
different situations. He looked at large number of traits to get a complete picture
of someone‟s personality. McLeod (2014) noted that Cattell collected data from
a range of people through three different source data:
(1) L- data or life data which include record of natural behaviours such as
school grades, absence from work, measuring range of traffic accidents, number
of parties an individual attended, number of illness or divorces.
(2) Q- data; this involves the use of questionnaire to rate individual personality.
(3) T-data; this involves objective test to tap personality construct of observed
and measured behaviour.
Ifeagwazi (2009) found that every surface (overt) behaviour has an
underlying (source) trait. In the same line Cattell (1950) developed 16-item
personality questionnaires to appear in an opposing pole axis which he used in
rating individual personality, for instance, reserved-outgoing, reactive-

41
emotional stability, submissive-dominant, timid-socially bold, tough-minded
shrewd, self-assured apprehensive, relaxed-tensed, and so on. Eysenck (1991)
found that an individual personality is determined to a large extent by a person‟s
genes. This accounts for inherited differences in their physiological functioning.
Eysenck (1967) proposed a three factor model namely: extraversion,
neuroticism and psychoticism. Each of the three dimensional model is
characterized by a number of traits.
For example extraversion is characterized by positive emotions,
impulsivity, sociability, talkativeness, action-orientedness, companionship and
dominance. Eysenck and Eysenck (1985) found that individuals with trait of
psychoticism exhibit antisocial behaviours such as cruelty and rejection of
social customs. He asserted that personality of an individual is dependent of the
balance between excitation and inhibition process of the nervous system since
personality is related to the functioning of the autonomic nervous system
(ANS). Neurotic individual has ANS that respond quickly to stress. Secondary
school students that are extroverts are sociable. They interact actively with
everybody in the school environment. They enjoy the company of other students
while in school. Neurotics are usually emotionally unstable, anxious,
worrisome, moody, tensed up, feel guilty and have low self-esteem. They are
obsessive and easily depressed. Ifeagwazi (2009) found that individuals with
traits of psychoticism behave unkindly toward one another, although Eysenck

42
and Eysenck (1985) believed that people who score low in psychoticism are
empathic, warm, caring, unselfish and peaceful.
Eysenck‟s three-dimensional factor model when related to social
relationship showed that people that rate high in neuroticism and psychoticism
do not make and maintain good relationships due to their personality make-up.
Many of such people are depressed and unstable in their social relationship.
McCrae and Costa (1985) developed five-factor basic dimensions of personality
traits to describe human personality. These factors are extraversion,
neuroticism, and openness to experience, agreeableness and conscientiousness.
John and Srivastava (1999), McCrae (2005), in their separate studies on five-
factor model of personality found that the five basic traits account for
differences in human personality traits; and it shows consistency in interviews,
self-descriptions and observations. For instance, Paunonen (2003) found that
extraversion correlates positively with popularity and being friends with a
greater variety of people. Conscientiousness correlates with greater honesty, a
higher greater point average in college, higher job performance ratings, and
relatively low alcohol consumption. Openness to experience is associated with
playing a musical instrument, whereas agreeableness correlates with honesty.
Also, thousands of studies have been conducted exploring correlations between
the big-five traits and such other characteristics as self-esteem (Watson, Suls
&Haig (2002), transformational leadership (Judge & Bono, 2000), and well-
being at midlife (Siegler & Brummette, 2000). Watson and Clark (1997)
43
conducted extensively on trait of extraversion and found that persons with this
trait are sociable and outgoing.
Mroczek and Almeida (2004) found that individuals who score high in
neuroticism tend to overreact more in response to stress than others. Also
Graziano and Eisenberg (1997) in their studies on agreeableness reported that
the trait has its root in childhood temperament and appears to promote good
behaviour in social interactions. Again Hogan and Ones (1997) found that
conscientiousness is associated with higher productivity in a variety of
occupational areas. In this line, Bogg and Roberts (2004) posited that
conscientiousness is also associated with greater longevity.
The knowledge of the traits of five-factor model of personality could help
the guidance counsellor predict the behaviours of secondary school students and
counsel them wisely for the stability of their social relationship and the society
at large. For instance, people who score high in neuroticism are likely to be
hostile in their relationship and overreact more in response to stress than, others
(Mroczek &Almeida, 2004), while people that score low in extraversion are
socially withdrawn and reserved in social relationship.
Personality Traits as Predictors of Social Adjustment
The Five-Factor Model of personality (FFM) allows researchers to
examine the effects that the five distinct individual traits (extroversion,
emotional stability, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and openness to

44
experience) have on behavioural outcomes. Personality traits also influence and
predict social relationships, as well as social adjustment. According to
Asendorpf and Wilpers (1998), personality traits of extraversion, agreeableness
and conscientiousness influenced the number and quality of participants‟ social
relationships. For instance, Bardi and Ryff, (2007) declared that neuroticism is
linked to poorer social adjustment and extraversion is related to positive social
adjustment. In addition, individuals who scored high in agreeableness were less
irritable (Berry, Willingham & Thayer, 2000). Also, Jensen-Campbell, Adams,
Perry, Workman, Furdella, and Egan (2002) declared that extraversion and
agreeableness have also been associated with both peer acceptance and
friendship. Similarly, Berry, Willingham, and Thayer (2000), found that
extraversion scores predicted the extent to which participants felt close to their
friends, and individuals with high neuroticism scores always had conflicts in
their social relationships. Additionally, Selfhout, Burk, Branje, Denissen, Van
Aken, and Meeus (2010), found that individuals high on agreeableness and
extraversion had more successful relationship with friends, in other words, they
were socially adjusted.
Individuals scoring high on extroversion tend to be sociable, outgoing,
affable, gregarious, warm, expressive, and energized by social interaction.
People scoring high on emotional stability typically present as pleasant, relaxed
and confident. Highly conscientiousness individuals would likely be described
as reliable, consistent, responsible, trustworthy, and rule bound. High scorers on

45
the agreeableness scale tend to be regarded as participative, helpful, obliging,
and motivated to interact peaceably with others. An individual, who scores high
on openness to experience, is characterized as creative, forward thinking,
artistic, rational, and thoughtful (McCrae & Costa, 1980, 2003). The theoretical
premise for the Five Factor Model is known as the lexical-semantic hypothesis
(Bagby, Marshal, & Georgiades, 2005). The lexical-semantic hypothesis
proposes that significant and socially important differences in personality can be
found by examining common personality descriptors that have become
semantically encoded for use in our everyday vocabulary. Since the mid-20th
Century, researchers have used factor analytic methods to demonstrate support
for this Step. Investigations using data collected from both cross-sectional and
longitudinal designs have consistently supported the existence of five factors
underlying personality (Costa & McCrae, 1980). Those five stable traits have
been shown to be independent of time, age, sex, race, and culture (Bagby,
Marshal & Georgiades, 2005; Samuel, et al., 2010). Additionally, since its
development, The Five Factor Model of Personality Assessment has been
rigorously replicated in studies that support both the coherence of the factor
structure and the validity of the content (Costa & McCrae; 1994). Repeated
scientific inquiry has proven the specific traits to be independent of language,
and time. The widespread use of Big Five Personality Inventory in research and
practice is due in large part to the universality and practical parsimony of the
five-factor theory of personality. For example Lounsbury, Saudargas, et al.

46
(2004) found that while an individual‟s expressed satisfaction with various
characteristics of the college environment accounted for 24% of the variance in
global life satisfaction for that individual, the predictive utility of environmental
satisfaction dropped to 6% after controlling for personality factors.
Additionally, researchers such as Lounsbury, Saundargas and Gibson
(2004) have found that the agreeableness, conscientiousness and extraversion
were significantly negatively correlated with expressed intention to withdrawal
from college. While the majority of previous life-events research (Bleindorn,
Kandler, Hulsheger, Angleitner, & Spinath, 2010) has proposed a direct causal
link between life-events and an individual‟s adjustment, recent research has
begun to look at personality factors whose influence on the prevalence of life-
events may contribute to an individual‟s wellbeing. That is to say that an
individual‟s endogenous personality traits determine the likelihood of whether a
person will continue to experience positive or negative life events for the entire
course of their lifespan. Because personality development theoretically precedes
negative outcomes that may occur later in life, it is important to look at the
possibility that an external force such as the interaction between negative life
events and personality may influence the adjustment outcomes. The transition
from the rigidly structured environment of secondary school to the independent
living and autonomy that defines university life marks one of the most stressful
times in a young adult‟s life. Predicting an individual‟s ability to adjust
positively to the social, academic and emotional rigors of secondary school life
47
is thus an area of research that holds important implications for students‟
wellbeing.
Self-Efficacy as Predictor of Social Adjustment
In the educational context, the importance of students‟ self‐efficacy
beliefs has often been investigated and used as a predictor of their social
adjustment. According to Bandura (1977), self‐efficacy is the confidence a
person has in his/her own ability to solve problems and accomplish tasks.
Bandura argues that self‐efficacy is concerned with judgments of how well one
can execute courses of action required to deal with prospective situations.
Students with higher levels of self‐efficacy have confidence in their ability to
solve problems and accomplish tasks than students with lower degrees of
self‐efficacy. Ogoemeka (2011) opined that students with high level of self-
efficacy are socially adjusted in the school. This is because self‐confident
students are more persistent, even in the face of difficulties.
Factors Influencing Self-efficacy Beliefs:
Bandura (1977) defined general self-efficacy as beliefs in one‟s
capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to manage
prospective situation. High general self-efficacy leads to increase in efforts and
prolonged engagement in an activity. People with high general self-efficacy
focus their efforts on what needs to be done to accomplish a particular task
successfully. On the other hand, people with low levels of general self-efficacy
48
focus on personal shortcomings and generally avoid challenging tasks
perceiving them as threatening. They often mistake unsatisfactory performance
with lack of aptitude, which leads to discontinuation of their efforts to succeed
at a task.
General self-efficacy is not an innate trait but rather a generative
capability (Bandura, 1997). However, acquiring a sense of personal efficacy is a
complex process. It is much easier to say that one is capable of succeeding at a
task than it is to actually believe it (Bandura, 1986). Efficacy beliefs greatly
influence our day-to-day functioning and they can be acquired from several
sources (Bandura, 1986). First and foremost, efficacy information can be
conveyed through enactive mastery experiences, which are learners‟ own
experiences of success or failure at a given task. They are usually the most
powerful source of efficacy beliefs (Bandura, 1986). Mastery experiences
contribute to individual‟s self-appraisal.
A second way of acquiring general self-efficacy beliefs is via vicarious
experiences, which refer to observing others succeeding or failing at a task. The
role model has a substantial influence on the learner. The more competent the
role model is, the more likely other individuals are to follow him or her. In
addition, coping models are shown to be more effective than mastery models. In
other words, observing those who initially struggled and had the same fears
before eventually mastering a task is more beneficial for learners than observing
someone who already exhibited mastery performance.

49
A third way of acquiring general self-efficacy beliefs is via verbal
persuasion. Verbal persuasion refers to the information that learners receive
from others about their abilities. Verbal persuasion is likely to result in an
increase in general self-efficacy that will lead to greater effort and more
persistence instead of dwelling on personal shortcomings when faced with
problems.
Students’ development of social skills
Social skills are characterized by a set of behaviours displayed by
individuals in an interpersonal context in which they express feelings, attitudes,
desires, opinions or rights adequately for the situation, respecting the same
behaviour in others (Wagner & Oliveira, 2007). They are therefore
characterized by the performance of the individuals given the demands of a
social situation. These skills are learned and the performance level differs
depending on the developmental stage and on cultural and situational variables
(Del Prette & Del Prette, 2009). The development of social skills is influenced
by two distinct factors: the individual temperament (individual characteristics)
and environment (contextual variables). The temperament is configured by the
tendency that the individual has to relate socially. Thus, for example, children
born with a predisposition to behave in a more inhibited way tend to engage less
in activities that give them the opportunity to learn and practice social
behaviours, which may result in less reinforcement (praise, smiles, caresses etc.)
50
by the people around them. Conversely, it is likely that children who are more
outgoing are involved in social interactions in which they will have the
opportunity to develop their social behavioural repertoire (Caballo, 2003). The
influence of the temperament on the development of social skills can be
counterbalanced by the environmental factor. This is because the environment
acts to reinforce (or not) social behaviours, as well as enabling the learning of
new skills through observation and interactions (Caballo, 2003).
Students’ Social Adjustment in Schools
Students‟ social adjustment to school involves making a successful transition to
a new learning and social environment that can be characterized as taking
advantage of available resources and may require letting go of past attitudes,
values, and behaviours and learning new ones in their place. School education is
filled with social, academic, and emotional stressors. In spite of that, few
students find ways to cope with adversity and achieve their academic goals. At
the same time, a large portion of students seem to be significantly less
successful at attaining their educational goals because they are not socially
adjusted (Gajdzik, 2005). The behaviour of young people at school is a crucial
element in their overall social adjustment. Not only is school the context in
which many youth spend most of their day, it also is where they engage in the
important activities of gaining academic knowledge; learning and practicing
more generalized skills, such as problem solving, being on time, and following
51
directions; and developing formative relationships with peers and adults.
Furthermore, when students are socially adjusted, they would exhibit socially
acceptable behaviours but when the reverse is the case, students‟ inappropriate
behaviour at school can distract both the students themselves and those around
them from their learning tasks. Socially adjusted students can get along with
their fellow students while students that are not adjusted socially, are likely to
engage in fights with their fellow students more often. This situation has many
negative implications such as dropping out of school among others thereby
putting them in an inferior position on the job market.
Empirical Studies
This section examined related empirical studies with relevant findings to this
work. They include:
Studies on Personality Traits and Social Adjustment
Sanja, Ivanka, and Ines (2010) conducted a study on the contribution of
personality traits, academic and social adjustment to life satisfaction and
avoidance of depression in college freshmen, in Croatia. The aim of the study
was to investigate the role of personality traits and students‟ academic and
social adjustment to their overall life satisfaction and avoidance of depression.
The study adopted the correlation research design. The sample of 492 freshmen
52
completed The Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire (SACQ; Baker and
Siryk, 1999) which is a 67 item self-report questionnaire that is widely used to
measure the quality of adaptation to university life. In the study, they used
academic and social adjustment subscales with good internal consistency
(Cronbach`s alpha for academic adjustment of .90, and .83 for social
adjustment). The respondents also completed the Beck Depression Inventory–
Second Edition (BDI-II; Beck, Steer and Brown, 1996), which is a 21-item self-
report measure evaluating depression symptoms. Respondents also completed
the Big Five Inventory which is a self-report measure of five broad personality
traits: extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and
openness to experience. Using a five-point Likert scale, from 5 (strongly agree),
4 (agree), 3 (undecided), 2 (disagree), to 1 (strongly disagree) participants rated
themselves on 44 descriptive phrases, such as, “is talkative” or “is sometimes
rude to others.” The BFI is an internationally well-established instrument for
assessment of the Big Five. Its internal consistency ranged from acceptable to
excellent: 0.80 for Neuroticism, 0.78 for Extraversion, 0.75 for Openness, 0.72
for Agreeableness, and 0.83 for Conscientiousness.
Hierarchical regression analyses was applied to analyze the contribution
of predictor variables such as personality traits, social adjustment and academic
adjustment on life satisfaction and depression in the group of male and female
students. The study found that the Pearson coefficients indicated significant
correlation between predictor variables: extraversion, conscientiousness, and

53
agreeableness, to life satisfaction, besides openness. Also, findings indicated
that Neuroticism had a significant individual contribution to depression. The
study also indicated that social adjustment of students predicted their life
satisfaction and extent of depression. Social adjustment is the significant
predictor of life satisfaction. Academic adjustment had a significant
contribution to student depression and life satisfaction. The study investigated
the contribution of personality traits, academic and social adjustment to life
satisfaction and extent of depression in college students in Croatia.
The study was carried outside Nigeria using university students but it is
however related to the current study because this present study seeks to
investigate similar variable used in the study such as personality traits and how
it predicts social adjustment of secondary school students in Anambra State
Nigeria.
Tracy, Wai, Anchor, Tatia (2010), carried out a study on personality traits
and social behaviors as predictors of the psychological adjustment of Chinese
people with epilepsy, in China. The study examined the association of
psychological morbidity, with a broad array of personality traits and social skills
in a sample of 54 Chinese PWE. Respondents completed the Temperament and
Character Inventory (TCI), the Social Performance Survey Schedule (SPSS),
and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) via semi-structured
interview. Regression analyses revealed that high levels of positive social skills
were predictive of low depressed mood. In other words, having and making
54
effective use of social skills reduced depression. Also that adaptive social skills
help facilitate higher relational quality and interpersonal cooperation. The
findings of the study further indicated that personality traits predicted
adjustment.
The study is related to the present study in the sense that they both
examine similar variables. However, while the study focused on predictors of
psychological adjustment of a small sample Chinese people with epilepsy, the
current study sought to examine predictors of social adjustment of larger sample
of secondary school students in Nigeria.
Schnuck and Handal (2011) carried out a study on adjustment of college
freshmen as predicted by both perceived parenting style and the Five Factor
Model of Personality, in USA. The study explored the relationships among
freshmen students‟ personality traits, their perceptions of the parenting styles
employed by their mothers and fathers, their positive and negative adjustment,
and their adaptation to college. Participants of the study were 190 students- 74
men and 116 women. Parenting styles were measured using the Parental
Authority Questionnaire (PAQ) developed by Buri, (1991). To assess for the
students‟ adjustment to college, the Student Adaptation to College
Questionnaire (SACQ; Baker & Siryk, 1999) was administered. The SACQ is a
self-report measure consisting of 67 items that are ranked by participants on a 9-
point scale. The SACQ assesses 4 different areas of adjustment including:

55
academic adjustment, personal-emotional adjustment, social adjustment, and
attachment to the institution.
The NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI; McCrae & Costa, 1992) was
used to measure the personality of each student as measured by the five factor
model of personality. The NEO-FFI is a 60-item short-form of the NEO
Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R; Costa & McCrae, 1992), and consists of the
Big Five trait dimensions of personality: Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness
to Experience, Conscientiousness, and Agreeableness. In order to investigate the
relationships among personality traits and adjustment, perceived parenting
styles and adjustment, and perceived parenting styles and personality traits,
correlations between variables were calculated.
Findings of the study indicated among others that Neuroticism was most
strongly associated with poor social adjustment while extraversion, openness to
experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness were all significant predictors
of social adjustment and were all associated with positive social adjustment.
The study is however related to this present study because they both examine
personality traits and how they predict social adjustment. The study differed
from the current study being that it was conducted outside the Nigeria and may
not represent what could be obtained in Nigeria. The sample size of the study is
also small relative to the sample of the current study.
Caprara, Vecchione Alessandri, Gerbino, and Barbaranelli (2011)
investigated the contribution of personality traits and self-efficacy beliefs to

56
academic achievement, in Italy Rome. The study aimed to examine the unique
contribution and the pathways through which traits (i.e., openness and
conscientiousness) and academic self-efficacy beliefs are conducive to
academic achievement at the end of junior and senior high school. 412 Italian
students, 196 boys and 216 girls, ranging in age from 13 to 19 years,
participated in the study. Personality traits were measured by participants rating
their openness and conscientiousness by means of the „Big Five Questionnaire‟
– Children version (BFQ-C, Barbaranelli et al., 2003). The BFQ-C contained 65
items (13 for each dimension) designed to assess the Big Five in childhood and
early adolescence.
In order to measure academic performance, children‟s achievement was
assessed at the end of the junior high school (8th grade) by their respective
teachers, using a five-level gradation. The researchers created a composite
measure of academic achievement from the grades assigned by the group of
teachers on different school subjects (mathematics, science, language, and
social studies). Academic performance at the end of the senior high school was
self-reported by students. They indicated their final grades which ranged from
60 to 100, according to the Italian educational system. Socio-economic status
(SES) was based on the occupation and education of the fathers and the
mothers. The researchers performed a confirmatory factor model, where SES
was defined by parent‟s education and occupation. The weighted least square
57
estimators with robust standard errors and mean and variance adjusted chi-
squared test statistics (WLSMV) was used as method of estimation.
The Academic self-efficacy scale included 15 items related to two broad
domains of self-efficacy beliefs. The first domain referred to the perceived
capability to successfully master different curricular areas (e.g., „how well do
you do in mathematics?‟). The second domain concerned the perceived capacity
for self-regulating learning activities, as the capacity to plan and organize the
academic activities, to structure environments conducive to learning and to
motivate themselves to do their school work (e.g., „how well can you study
when there are other interesting things to do?”). For each item, participants
rated their belief in their level of capability to execute the designed activities
using a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (cannot do at all) to 5 (highly certain
can do).
Data collected was analyzed using multi-variate analysis. Findings of the
study indicated that conscientiousness affected high school grades through its
effect on academic self-efficacy beliefs. Conscientiousness also contributed to
academic self-efficacy. Findings also showed that Openness and academic self-
efficacy contributed to junior high-school grades. Findings further revealed that
openness, conscientiousness, and academic self-efficacy beliefs were
significantly and positively related with junior high-school grades.
While the study investigated the contribution of personality traits and self-
efficacy beliefs to academic achievement, it is linked to this present study on

58
personality traits and self-efficacy as predictors of social adjustment since they
both examine similar personality traits such as conscientiousness and openness.
Soraya, Elaheh, and Masoud (2011) carried out a study on the
relationships between personality traits and students‟ academic achievement, in
Iran. This research aimed at studying the relationships between personality traits
and academic achievement among students. Participants were 285 students (191
female and 94 male). Instruments used were NEO Big Five Personality Factors
and student‟s GPA. Results revealed personality traits were significantly related
to academic achievement. Furthermore, findings from the study showed
regression analysis indicated personality characteristics accounted for 48
percent of variance in academic achievement. Results also showed
conscientious, which explained 39 percent of variance in academic
achievement, was the most important predictor variable. Most of the students
had conscientiousness personality trait. Finally MANOVA and t-test indicated
there is no significant gender difference in the personality characteristics and
academic achievement.
Soraya, Elaheh, and Masoud study differs from this study in the following
ways: they used NEO Five Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) by Costa and McCrae
(1992), but this study will use international Personality Item Pool of Renner
(2002) adapted from Costa and McCrae (1992). Again, their study was
conducted in tertiary institutions in Tehran University, Iran, but this study will
59
be conducted in government owned secondary schools in Anambra State,
Nigeria.
Christensen (2012) conducted a study on how personality, life events, and
gender interact to affect college adjustment in Colorado. The study examined
the relationship of the Big Five personality variables and college adjustment
using Life Events and gender as moderators. Participants consisted of 301
undergraduate psychology students currently attending a large western
university. Data was collected using Life Events Questionnaire (Masten, 1988).
Personality was measured using the Internal Personality Item Pool-Interpersonal
Circumplex (IPIP), which is a brief 50-item assessment version of the 64-item
Five Factor Personality Inventory (Markey & Markey, 2009). Negative life
events scores were obtained from the Life Events Scale using a modification of
the Life Events Questionnaire-Adolescent version (LEQ-A; Gest et al., 1999;
Masten et al., 1994). Students‟ College Adjustment was measured using the
College Adjustment Questionnaire (CAQ) developed by Shirley and Rosén
(2010). Items of the instrument were designed to cover three major domains of
academic, social and emotional adjustment. The Academic Adjustment subscale
focused on the individual‟s ability to meet educational demands by asking
questions related to motivation for learning, and university scholastic
achievement. The Social subscale looked at the social aspects of the
undergraduate experience by asking questions about relationship satisfaction
and socialization. The Emotional Adjustment subscale was designed to

60
contribute to understanding the individual‟s emotional/psychological experience
by asking questions related to the coping success in adapting to the unique
stresses related to college life.
Data collected was analyzed using hierarchical regression analyses.
Findings of the study indicated among others that personality traits predicted
social adjustment and that people who are high in certain dispositional
personality traits like Extraversion, Conscientiousness and Openness to
Experience are better able to be socially adjusted and adapt to the stress that
comes with the transition into school. Conversely, people with Neuroticism
demonstrated poor social and emotional development, limited social integration
and higher rates of anxiety. The study is related to this present study because
they both examine similar variables such as personality traits and social
adjustment. Nevertheless, the study differ from the current study based on the
small sample size, different population of the study and the study was
conducted outside Nigeria
Nagle and Anand (2012) carried out a study on empathy and personality
traits as predictors of adjustment in Indian Youth, in Delhi, India. The study
evaluated personality traits and empathy predicted adjustment. A random
sample of 52 young male adults was used for the study. The 52 male
participants filled up questionnaires relating to personality (The Jackson
Personality Inventory). Empathy was measured using the Empathy Quotient and
adjustment (Bell adjustment inventory).

61
Data collected were analyzed using correlation and regression analysis.
Personality traits like interpersonal affect (extraversion), conformity
(agreeableness), facilitated the process of social adjustment, whereas traits like
anxiety (neuroticism) worked in the opposite direction. Empathy also emerged
as a significant contributor to the social adjustment. Results showed that both
empathy and personality traits accounted for unique variance in social
adjustment. Results of the study further indicated that personality plays a very
important role in people‟s social interactions and dealings.
Though the study evaluated empathy and personality traits as predictors of
adjustment in Indian Youth, it is however related to this present study in the
sense that both studies focus on similar variables such as personality traits and
social adjustment. The study was carried outside the shores of Nigeria. This
present study seeks to determine what is obtainable in Nigeria.
Ghazi, Shahzada, and Ullah (2013) explored the relationship
between students‟ personality traits and their academic achievement in Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Theoretical framework of this study based on Big Five
Personality Trait Theory (Cattell‟s & Eysenck‟s 1973). Descriptive survey
design was used for this study. All the secondary school students of Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan constituted population of the study. Out of 25 districts 2
districts were randomly selected (Bannu & Lakki Marwat). Out of 12009
students who were studying in the secondary schools of these districts 800
students of 10th class were selected through multistage random sampling method
62
using proportional allocation technique as a sample of the study. The
researchers developed a questionnaire which was used as a research instrument.
Personally collected data was entered in SPSS-16. Percentage, Mean,
Standard Deviation and Pearson Product Moment Correlation were applied as
statistical test to achieve the objectives of the study. Results of the study
revealed that “conscientiousness” and “agreeableness” personality traits were
found high while “extroversion”, “neuroticism” and “openness to experience”
personality traits were found low in secondary school students. Overall there
was no significant relationship found between the students‟ personality traits
and their academic achievement.
The present study explored the relationship between secondary school
students‟ personality traits and their academic achievement in Pakistan while
this present study will focus on personality traits and self-efficacy as predictors
of social adjustment among secondary school students in Anambra state,
Nigeria.
Eyong, David, and Umoh (2014) investigated the influence of personality
traits on academic achievements of secondary school students in Cross River
State. Two research questions and hypotheses were tested at .05 levels of
significance to guide the conduct of the study. The research design used was
casual-comparative or ex-post facto. The population of the study consisted of
13, 838 SSI students in all 239 public secondary schools throughout Cross
Rivers State. A total of 7 Local Government Areas were randomly drawn out of
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23. Then 20 schools were randomly selected, from which a sample of 8530 SSI
students was finally drawn.
The instrument adapted for the study was the 44-item standardized
questionnaire known as the big five personality model by Robert McCrae and
Paul Costa (1999). The instrument was validated by expert in the field of
measurement and evaluation; the reliability was established using the test re-test
method and the reliability coefficient was calculated using Pearson moment
correlation coefficient (r) and the reliability indices obtained were, 0.68, and
0.62 respectively for conscientiousness and agreeableness. The data collected
were analyzed using the mean (x) and standard deviation (SD) to answer the
research question. The independent sample t- test was used to test the
hypothesis in order to determine whether there is a significance difference
between the means two independent groups being compared for each trait.
Findings of the study showed a significant difference between the
achievements of students with high level of conscientiousness and
agreeableness, and those with low levels of the traits. Findings also indicated
that majority of the students had conscientiousness personality trait and most of
the students had agreeableness personality trait. The study resolved that
conscientiousness and agreeableness personality traits correlated with academic
performance.
The study is related to the current study based on their investigation of
personality traits. However, while the study investigated the influence of

64
personality traits on academic achievement of secondary school students, the
researcher will investigate the traits of the Big five to find whether they have
significant predictive power on social adjustment of secondary school students
in Anambra State.
Bjurberg (2014) investigated Academic achievement and personality
traits: An empirical and neurobiological investigation, among Swedish senior
high school students in Sweden. The thesis explored how personality traits are
connected to academic achievement. The population of the study consisted of
90 students in the last year of Swedish senior high school. Instrument of the
study consisted of the Big Five Inventory (BFI). The BFI assessed the Big Five
personality factors and underlying facets such as; extraversion (assertiveness,
activity), neuroticism (anxiety, depression), conscientiousness (order, self-
discipline), agreeableness (altruism, compliance) and openness (aesthetics,
ideas). The respondents answered on a 5-point Likert scale, ranging from 1
(disagree strongly) to 5 (agree strongly). The BFI scales had an internal
consistency of.83. The Academic achievement was assessed using the grades
from year one and two in Swedish senior high school. This was used in the
statistical analysis, including courses in Swedish 1 and 2, English 1 and 2,
Maths 1 and 2, History, Sports and Health and Social Sciences. These courses
are obligatory for every student enrolled in Swedish senior high school. Data
collected was analysed using Spearman‟s rank correlation coefficient was used
65
for correlations. Findings of the study indicated positive correlations for the
personality trait conscientiousness, and academic achievement.
The study is related to the present study because both studies examine similar
variable such as personality traits. This present study seeks to determine how
personality traits and self-efficacy predicts social adjustment of secondary
school students in Anambra State.
Redhwan, Muhamed, Zaliha, Yuri, Muhammad, and Manuel (2015)
investigated the relationship between type of personality and academic
performance among Malaysian health sciences students, in Malaysia. The study
was carried out to determine the relationship between types of personality and
level of academic performance among health sciences students in Malaysia. A
total number of 246 students were participated in this study. The questionnaire
was distributed randomly from students of each semester. Data were entered
and analyzed using PASW Statistics Version 18.0. Relationship between GPA
and BFA were analyzed using the multiple linear regressions. The Spearman‟s
correlation, multiple linear regression were used in this study. Findings were
presented with adjusted OR, 95% CI and p-value. Results of the study indicated
that majority of the students had the students had the personality trait of
openness to experiences and the least dominant personality trait was
neuroticism. Spearman‟s correlation analysis showed that there was correlation
between GPA and the following types of personality: openness to experience,

66
conscientiousness, and extraversion. Multiple linear regression analysis showed
that openness and conscientiousness personalities were positively associated
with academic performance.
The study concentrated on relationship between type of personality and
academic performance but this research will be concerned with personality traits
and self-efficacy as predictors of social adjustment among secondary school
students. The study is however related to this present study because they
examine similar variable personality traits. Nevertheless, while the study
focused on university students outside Nigeria, this present study will focus on
secondary school students in Nigeria.
Gleckel (2015) carried out a study on friendship quality and personality
as predictors of psychological well-being in emerging adults, in United States of
America. The study was made up of 394 participants. Data for the study was
collected using the following instruments: The Network of Relationships
Inventory (NRI; Furman and Buhrmester, 1985), Big Five Inventory (BFI; John
and Srivastava, 1999), and The Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS; Diener et
al., 1985). The Network of Relationships Inventory (NRI; Furman and
Buhrmester, 1985) was used as a measure of friendship quality. The Big Five
Inventory (BFI; John and Srivastava, 1999) questionnaire was used to measure
personality. The Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS; Diener et al., 1985) was
used to assess happiness. The Belongingness in College Students Questionnaire
(Asher & Weeks, 2012) was used to assess participants‟ feelings of

67
belongingness. The Generalized Anxiety Disorder Inventory (GAD-7; Spitzer et
al., 2006) was used to measure anxiety.
Data collected was analyzed using means, standard deviations and
regression analysis. The study found that personality and friendship quality are
predictors of happiness. Extraversion, conscientiousness and neuroticism
accounted for a significant amount of variance in happiness. There was a
positive correlation between extraversion and happiness and between
conscientiousness and happiness; there was a negative correlation between
neuroticism and happiness.
Findings of the study further indicated that positive friendship features
predicted happiness, and that negative friendship features predicted anxiety.
Findings of the study also indicated the importance of having high quality
friendships. Although the study investigated the relationship between
personality traits, friendship quality, and wellbeing, it is however related to this
present study in the sense that both studies examine personality traits and how
they could predict people forming and maintaining good relationships.
Maurice, Peter, and Caleb (2016), investigated the influence of
introversion personality trait on social adjustment among re-admitted teen
mothers in Kenyan secondary schools, in Kenya. The study adopted a
concurrent triangulation design. The study‟s target population of 217 consisted
of all re-admitted teen mothers, 34 teacher counsellors and 34 deputy principals
in the 34 day mixed secondary schools in Rarieda Sub-County. The sample size
68
consisted of 149 teen mothers, 10 teacher counsellors and 10 deputy principals.
Data collection tools were Eysenck personality questionnaire, social adjustment
questionnaire and interview schedules. Validity was ensured by the assistance
of the two university supervisor‟s judgments while reliability was ensured by
the internal consistency technique and Cronbach‟s coefficient of r =0.85 was
reported.
Quantitative data was analyzed by Pearson correlation while qualitative
data was analyzed using thematic analysis. Findings of the study revealed a
strong negative correlation of -0.889 between introversive personality traits on
social adjustment among re-admitted team mothers. The study further
concluded that neurotic individuals‟ were poorly adjusted socially. The study is
related to this present study because they both focus on how personality traits
predict social adjustment in school. However, the study did not cover the Big
Five personality traits but choses only introvert and extroverts. More so, the
study has a small sample which might limit the possible generalisation of the
research findings.
Studies on Self-Efficacy and Social Adjustment of Students
Hermann (2005) investigated the Influence of Social Self-Efficacy, Self-
Esteem, and Personality Differences on Loneliness and Depression in Ohio
State University. This study investigated the relationship of social self-efficacy

69
with various personality and psychological adjustment variables in a sample of
696 college students. The study made use of the Scale of Perceived Social Self-
Efficacy (PSSE; Smith & Betz, 2000) to measure social self-efficacy. The study
measured instrumentality and expressiveness, using the Bem Sex Role
Inventory (BSRI; Bem, 1974). Depression was measured using the Beck
Depression Inventory – Second Edition (BDI-II; Beck et al., 1996). The Self-
Monitoring Scale (SMS; Snyder 1974) was used to measure the degree to which
an individual desires and is able to adjust his or her behavior across social
situations. Loneliness was measured using the Revised UCLA Loneliness Scale
(R-UCLA; Russell et al., 1980) to measure an individual‟s dissatisfaction with
social relationships, both related to lack of intimate relationships and a lack of a
social network of friends.
Data collected was analyzed using descriptive statistics Means and
Standard Deviations and Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA),
findings of the study indicated among others that social self-efficacy correlated
and predicted depression. Social self-efficacy also predicted loneliness.
Findings of the study further indicated that social self-efficacy which is the
belief an individual has in his/ her ability to adjust his or her behaviour across
social situations, protected against depression and loneliness.
Even though the study sought to examine Influence of Social Self-
Efficacy, Self-Esteem, and Personality Differences on Loneliness and
Depression among university students‟, it is however related to this present

70
study which seeks to examine personality traits and self-efficacy as predictors
of social adjustment among secondary school students in the sense that both
studies focus on similar variables such as self-efficacy and personality.
Habibah, Nooreen, and Rahil (2010) conducted a study on achievement
motivation and self-efficacy in relation to adjustment among university students
in Malaysia. The study was carried out to find out how students adjust
themselves especially in the initial years at university. The sample of the study
comprised 178 students from junior to senior students enrolled in education
courses in a university in Malaysia. Achievement motivation, Self-efficacy and
student adjustment were measured using questionnaires such as Academic
Efficacy of the Patterns of Adaptive Learning Survey (PALS) and Students‟
Adaptation to College Questionnaire Manual (SACQ). The SACQ assessed 4
different areas of adjustment including: academic adjustment, personal-
emotional adjustment, social adjustment, and attachment to the institution. The
instruments reliability levels were tested and findings revealed that the alpha
values for the variables are as follows: Adjustment scale: 0.889, Self-efficacy
scale: 0.892. Achievement motivation scale: 0.915.
Data collected was analyzed using Mean Standard Deviation and Pearson
r. The results showed that overall the students‟ level of adjustment was
moderate (M = 5.05, SD = 0.31) suggesting that they are facing some problems
in adjusting to the campus environment. The senior students were better
adjusted (M = 5.12, SD = 0.32) compared to the junior students (M = 4.95, SD

71
= 0.27), t (177) = -3.66, p = 0.001). Achievement motivation and self-efficacy
range from moderate (M = 3.17, SD = 0.43) to high levels (M = 5.15, SD =
0.78) indicating that they have the potentials to succeed. The three variables
namely adjustment, achievement motivation and self-efficacy were found to be
correlated positively with one another. Self-efficacy correlated positively to
predict social adjustment. The study is related to this present study because they
both examine similar variables like self-efficacy and adjustment. However,
while the study found out how students adjust themselves especially in the
initial years at university, the current study sought to determine the relationship
between self-efficacy and social adjustment of secondary school students.
Ogoemeka (2011) carried out a study on correlate of social problem-
solving and adjustment among secondary school students in Ondo State,
Nigeria. The main purpose of this study was to find out the relationship between
social problem solving and adjustment of senior secondary III students. A total
of 300 students of both sexes were randomly selected from 3 local governments
of Ondo state. The participants responded to a standardized instrument with
seven valid scales; these are: self-efficacy, social problem solving, adjustment,
emotional intelligence, Ibadan creativity assessment, social support, and
cognitive processing inventory.
Using Pearson Correlation and Multiple Regression Procedure, the result
indicated that the five independent variables including self-efficacy, correlated
with adjustment and when put together, were effective in predicting adjustment
72
and social problem-solving except social support. Similarly, when the variables
are taken individually, only creativity was a potent predictor of social problem-
solving while creativity, cognitive ability and self-efficacy were strong
predictors of adjustment to social situations.
Although the study examined correlates of social problem-solving and
adjustment among secondary school students in Ondo State, it is however
related to the present study which sought to determine self-efficacy as
predictors of social adjustment. It is related to the present study in the sense that
both studies examine self-efficacy as predictors of social adjustment but differ
in terms of area of study, population and sample of the study.
Thomas, Robert, Reidar and Monica (2015) investigated the impact of
personality and self-efficacy on academic and military performance and the
mediating role of self-efficacy in Norway. The study addressed the impact of
the Big Five personality trait, conscientiousness, on academic performance and
instructor performance ratings and examines the mediating role of self-efficacy.
Analysis of longitudinal data (Time 1: n = 166 (conscientiousness); Time 2: n =
161 (self-efficacy); Time 3: n = 136 (military performance) and n = 156
(academic performance)) from three military academies in Norway showed that
conscientiousness was related to both military and academic performance.
Moreover, self-efficacy emerged as a partial mediator for the relationship
between conscientiousness and performance. The study is related to the present

73
study in the sense that both studies examine similar variables such as
personality traits and self-efficacy. However, while the study singled out
conscientiousness to determine its relationship with academic performance, the
current study investigated the five personality traits as possible predictors of
students‟ social adjustment.
More so, Bita and Parisa (2016) study investigated the role of self-
efficacy and perfectionism in predicting social adjustment. The study aimed to
determine social compatibility on the basis of efficacy and perfectionism of
couples in Garmsar city. The study made use of the descriptive research design.
The population of the study consisted of 250 married individuals.
Questionnaires were used to measure self-efficacy, perfectionism and social
adjustment. To analyze the data collected Pearson correlation and multivariate
regression was used. The results of the study revealed that there is a significant
relationship between self-efficacy and social adjustment. Also the study
indicated that there is a significant relationship between perfectionism (positive
and negative) and social adjustment. Furthermore, findings from the study
showed that self-efficacy and positive perfectionism are able to predict changes
in social adjustment.
The study investigated the role of self-efficacy and perfectionism in
predicting social adjustment of couples. The study was carried outside Nigeria
using couples but it is however related to the present study. Both studies
examine similar variables self-efficacy and social adjustment. The study did not
74
examine personality traits but this present study will examine personality traits
and self-efficacy as predictors of social adjustment among secondary school
students in Anambra State in order to determine what is obtainable in Nigeria.
Sabine, Hanke, and Greetje van der (2017), carried out a study on
benefits of personality characteristics and self‐efficacy in the perceived
academic achievement of medical students in Netherland. The study
investigated the joint impact of personality characteristics and self‐efficacy on
the perceived academic achievement of medical students on top of their prior
high school performance. The sample consisted of 291 medical students in their
pre‐clinical years. The students‟ grade point average scores at high school were
used for the academic achievement of the students. The Five Factor Model of
Personality was used for the study. The study examined variables such as
self‐discipline, social activity and emotional stability. The study was based on
the social cognitive theory of Bandura. The logistic regression analyses
confirmed that conscientiousness and extraversion positively predicted social
activity, indicating that students who scored higher scores were communicative
and preferred being with other students. Additionally, the study found that
self‐efficacy positively predicted students‟ achievement. The study also found
that social interaction can certainly be beneficial for students in completing their
study successfully. Personality characteristics and self‐efficacy had a significant
predictive impact on the students‟ perceived academic achievement.

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Although the study was carried out on the benefits of personality
characteristics and self‐efficacy in the perceived academic achievement of
medical students in Netherland, it is however related to this present study
because they both examine variables such as personality characteristics and self-
efficacy. The study however differs from the current research because it was
carried outside the shores of Nigeria. This present study seeks to determine
what is obtainable in Nigeria.
Studies on Social Adjustment of Secondary School Students
The study by Oni (2010) investigated peer group pressure as a
determinant of adolescents' social adjustment in Nigerian schools, with a focus
on the Ikeja Local Government Area of Lagos State. Two null hypotheses were
tested using a random sample of one hundred and twenty adolescents from four
secondary schools in the Ikeja Local Government Area. The instrument was a
self-designed questionnaire. The collected data were analysed using an
independent t-test and a Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient. The
results of the analysis showed that peer group pressure among adolescents is
related to their social adjustment and that the gender of the adolescents affects
their social adjustment as well.
This study is related to the present study in the sense that both studies
examine factors that could lead to social adjustment of secondary school
students. Though the studies examined peer pressure as a determinant, the

76
current study examine personality traits and self-efficacy as predictors of social
adjustment to fill a gap left by the previous study.
Furthermore, Deepshikha (2011) study assessed family environment of
adolescent girls and its impact on their socio-emotional adjustment in
Kumarganj, Faizabad District of Eastern Uttar Pradesh, India. One hundred
adolescent girls of age group between 17-18 years comprised the sample of the
study. Family Environment Scale (FES) and Adjustment Inventory for School
Students (AISS) were administered. Data was analysed using percentage and
multiple regression analysis. The statistical analysis revealed that all the eight
family environment factors, viz. cohesion, expressiveness conflict, acceptance
and caring, independence, active-recreational orientation, organization and
control together showed significant role in socio-emotional and educational
adjustment of adolescent girls.
Although the study sought to assess family environment of adolescent
girls and its impact on their socio-emotional adjustment, it is however related to
this present study which sought to determine personality traits and self-efficacy
as predictors of social adjustment in the sense that both studies focus on social
adjustment. The study sought to determine the social adjustment of students
through the family environment. This present study seeks to predict the social
adjustment of secondary school students, through their personality traits and
self-efficacy.
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Nirmala (2011) conducted a study on adjustment of students in relation to
personality and achievement motivation in Haryana India. The study sample
consisted of 699 students studying in high school classes in the state of
Haryana, India. Three tests - Adjustment inventory for school students A.K.P.
Sinha and R.P. Singh, Agra; Eysenck‟s Personality Questionnaire (Junior) for E
and N-Hindi adaptation by Dagar and Achievement Motivation Test- P. Mehta,
Delhi were applied.
Data collected was analyzed using the Pearson correlation r and Analysis
of Variance (ANOVA). Findings of the study revealed that achievement
motivation has no effect on the adjustment, Extraversion has positive effect on
social, educational and general adjustment and Neuroticism has negative effect
on the emotional, social, educational and general adjustments.
Although the study was carried outside the shores of Nigeria to predict
students‟ adjustment in the social, educational and emotional areas in relation to
their personality, it is however related to this present study which seeks to
determine personality traits as predictors of social adjustment among secondary
school students, in the sense that both studies examine how personality traits
could predict social adjustment of secondary school students. The study was
carried outside the shores of Nigeria. This current study seeks to find out what
is obtainable in Nigerian settings, specifically in Anambra State.

78
Moreover, Salami (2011) study investigated the psychosocial predictors
of adjustment among first year college of education students in Kampala
international university, Kampala, Uganda. A total of 250 first year students
from colleges of education completed measures of social support and
adjustment, self-esteem, emotional intelligence, and stress. Regression analyses
revealed that all the independent variables predicted adjustments. Social support
interacted with stress to predict adjustment. Implications for the counselors,
parents and college authorities in enhancing students‟ adjustment to college
were discussed. Further, the findings implicated the need for college authorities
to integrate activities designed to improve students‟ adjustment into college co-
curricular activities meant for youth development. Although the study was
conducted outside the shores of Nigeria, it is however relevant to the present
study in the sense that they both focus on the adjustment of students to the
school environment. The study however left a gap as it did not cover personality
traits and self-efficacy as predictors of students‟ social adjustment in Anambra
State.
Rashid (2011) explored the correlation between the social, personal and
academic adjustment among high school students in the middle governorate in
Bahrain. The study compared between males and females individual, social and
academic adjustment. The study was made up of 203 participants. In the study,
90 were male and 113 female students. A correlation was found between the
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academic adjustment and the social and personal adjustment. Statistical
significant differences were found between male and female students‟ personal,
social and academic adjustment, in favor of the female students.
Even though the study explored the correlation between the social,
personal and academic adjustment among high school students, it is still linked
to this presents study that seeks to investigate personality traits and self-efficacy
as predictors of social adjustment in the sense that the study was centered on
variables that correlate with social adjustment such and however although the
study assed variables that correlate with social adjustment, this present study
seeks to assess personality traits and self-efficacy as predictors of social
adjustment among secondary school students in Anambra state.
Kurtz , Puher and Cross (2012) carried out a study on prospective
prediction of college adjustment using self- and informant-rated personality
traits, The researchers conducted a prospective study of high school seniors with
a follow-up assessment made near the end of the freshmen year of college. 90
students participated in the study. Self-ratings of personality traits and college
adjustment were obtained from 90 students using the Revised NEO Personality
Inventory NEO PI–R; Costa & McCrae, 1992, Costa, P. T. and McCrae, R. R.
1992. The Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire (SACQ) by Baker and
Siryk, 1989 was used to measure students‟ adjustment to college. The SACQ
assessed 4 different areas of adjustment including: academic adjustment,

80
personal-emotional adjustment, social adjustment, and attachment to the
institution. Findings of the study indicated that academic adjustment was
correlated with Conscientiousness ratings by all three sources and with
Openness ratings by parents and peers. SACQ Social Adjustment was correlated
with self-ratings of Neuroticism and peer ratings of Extraversion. SACQ
Personal-Emotional Adjustment was correlated with self-ratings and parent
ratings of Neuroticism. Ratings by parents and peers showed significant
incremental validity over self-ratings in the prediction of certain trait-
adjustment relationships.
Findings of the study are related to the current study having indicated a
correlation of the personality trait factors with social adjustment. However, the
study also differs from the current study because it was conducted outside
Nigeria, so the findings may not reflect what is obtainable with Nigeria
population. Also, the study was carried out with a small sample size; the current
study will be carried out with a relatively larger sample size.
Valentina and Gulati (2014) studied the social adjustment profile of
adolescents of Ludhiana city. The study examined the relationship between
socio-personal characteristics and social adjustment of adolescents if there
exists any. The sample consisted of 100 boys and 100 girls from 4 Government
schools comprising a total of 200 adolescents of the age group 16 to 18 years
from intact two parent families. Self-designed socio-demographic questionnaire

81
was used to study the socio-demographic characteristics of respondents. Deva‟s
Social Adjustment Inventory was used to assess social adjustment of
adolescents. Statistical analysis using mean, standard deviation and chi square
reveals that there is no significant gender difference in social adjustment among
adolescents. Social adjustment of adolescents was also found to be independent
of gender, birth order and type of family. The study is relevant to the present
study because both studies examine how personal characteristics are linked to
the social adjustment of students in the secondary schools.
Nader-Grosbois and Mazzone (2014) investigated emotion regulation,
personality and social adjustment in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders
in Belgium. The purpose of this study was to examine how emotion regulation
and emotion dysregulation in children with autism spectrum disorders are linked
with the five factors of personality and their social adjustment. The population
of the study was made up of 39 children. Children were assessed by means of
the Differential Scales of Intellectual Efficiency-Revised edition (EDEI-R), to
estimate children‟s global developmental age. The Bipolar Rating Scales based
on the Five Factor Model (EBMCF) was used to assess the different five factors
of personality. This questionnaire measured the child‟s personality and was
completed by their teachers. The French version of Emotion Regulation
Checklist (ERC-vf) was used to measure the children‟s emotional regulation,
and a Social Adjustment scale (including items related to Theory of Mind,

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EASEToM, and items related to social rules, EASE-Social-Skills) was used to
assess each child‟s socio-emotional adjustment in daily social relationships.
Data collected was analysed using correlation analysis. The study found that
social adjustment is positively and significantly correlated with personality
traits such as consciousness, openness, agreeableness, and extraversion in
children.
The study is related to the current study as it was carried out to assess
how emotion regulation and emotion deregulation in children are linked with
the five factors of personality and their social adjustment. It is however left a
gap of investigating self-efficacy as predictors of social adjustment among
secondary school students. The study sought to determine the personality and
social adjustment of children through emotional regulation. This present study
seeks to predict the social adjustment of secondary school students, through
their self-efficacy.
Olugbode (2014) carried out a study on effect of social problems on the
academic performance and social adjustment of senior secondary students in
Shomolu education district II of Lagos state. The purpose of this study was to
identify the common types of social problems exhibited by students and to
determine the impact of these social problems on the social adjustment of
students. This study employed the use of descriptive survey design. The
descriptive survey design was employed to examine the effects of Social

83
problems on the academic performance and social adjustment of Senior
Secondary School Students in Shomolu Education District II of Lagos State.
The population of the study was comprised of all Students of Senior Secondary
Schools in Shomolu Education District II of Lagos State. The sample for the
study comprised three hundred (300) SS II students. Students were assessed by
means of two (2) self-constructed instruments: a 20 item multiple choice
achievement test in Government/Current Affairs to determine the academic
performance of students and a 25 item questionnaire on social problems
(covering Social problem / social adjustment questions) in Likert-type of 5
rating scales. Data collected was analyzed using Pearson Product Moment
Correlation and „independent t-test‟ statistical tool for analysis. The study found
that among others that there was a significant relationship between students‟
social problems and their social adjustment.
Although the study was carried out to identify the common types of social
problems exhibited by students and to determine the impact of these social
problems on the social adjustment of students, it is however related to this
present study which seeks to determine personality traits and self-efficacy as
predictors of social adjustment among secondary school students in the sense
that both studies examine similar variable such as social adjustment. The study
was carried out using secondary school students. This present study will also be
carried out using secondary school students. The study sought to investigate
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social problems of students as determinants of their social adjustment. This
present study seeks to predict the social adjustment of secondary school
students, through their personality traits and self-efficacy.
Janet, Ruth, Felicia and Dan (2016) investigated Emotional Intelligence
as a correlate of social and academic adjustment of first year university
students in South East Geo–Political Zone of Nigeria. The study was carried out
to find out how emotional intelligence correlates with social and academic
adjustment of first -year university students. A total of 200 first –year students
from four functional faculties of education in federal universities in south-east
geo-political zone of Nigeria with an objective to find out how emotional
intelligence correlates with social and academic adjustment of first year
university students. Two tools were used for the study. They are Students‟
Emotional Intelligence Scale (SEIS) and Students Adjustment Rating Scale
(SARS). Students‟ Emotional Intelligence Scale (SEIS) was adapted from
Schutte, Malloff, Hall, Haggertry, Copper, Golden and Dornheim (1998)
emotional intelligence scale while the researchers developed Students
Adjustment Rating Scale (SARS) was developed after they extensively
reviewed some related studies. The instruments ranged from strongly agree (4)
to strongly disagree (1) and were used to elicit information about the students‟
emotional intelligence as well as their social and academic adjustment.

85
The instruments were directly administered to the respondents in other to
raise relevant information from them. In answering the research questions
Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient was used while Regression
Analysis was applied to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The
researchers applied Pearson product moment correlation in analyzing the data
and for answering the research questions and regression analysis for testing the
two research hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. Results of the study
showed that emotional intelligence correlated positively with social and
academic adjustment of first- year students and that emotional intelligence
significantly predicted first -year students‟ social and academic adjustment in
school.
The study is related to the present research in the sense that they both
focus on what contributes to students‟ social adjustment. However, while the
study determined how emotional intelligence correlates with social and
academic adjustment of students while the current research sought to determine
the personality traits and self-efficacy as predictors of social adjustment of
students.
Maurice, Peter, and Caleb (2016) investigated the Influence of
Introversion Personality Trait on Social Adjustment among Re-admitted Teen
Mothers in Kenyan Secondary Schools, in Kenya. Eysenck‟s personality traits
theory and Social comparison theory were used in this study. The study adopted
a concurrent triangulation design. The study‟s population consisted of 217 re-

86
admitted teen mothers, 34 teacher counsellors and 34 deputy principals in the 34
day mixed secondary schools in Rarieda Sub-County. The sample size consisted
of 149 teen mothers, 10 teacher counsellors and 10 deputy principals. Data
collection tools were Eysenck personality questionnaire, social adjustment
questionnaire and interview schedules. Validity was ensured by the assistance
of the two university supervisor‟s judgement while reliability was ensured by
the internal consistency technique and Cronbach‟s coefficient of r =0.85 was
reported. Quantitative data was analysed by Pearson correlation while
qualitative data was analysed using thematic analysis. The study revealed a
strong negative correlation between introversive personality traits on social
adjustment among re-admitted team mothers.
Even though the study was conducted outside the shores of Nigeria, the
study is related to this present study because the study examined correlates of
social adjustment. Both studies examine similar variables such as social
adjustment. The study established that introversive personality correlated
negatively with social adjustment. This present study will examine personality
traits and self-efficacy as predictors of social adjustment. The study made use of
quantitative and qualitative data. This present study will make use of
quantitative data to determine what is obtainable in Anambra State.
Samson (2016) carried out a study on relationship between social,
emotional adjustment with academic achievement of undergraduate student of

87
Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, and Kaduna State, Nigeria. The study
investigated the relationship among social, emotional adjustment and academic
achievement of undergraduate students of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, and
Kaduna State Nigeria. The study adopted a correlational survey research design.
The population of the study was six thousand, six hundred and thirty five (6,
635) male and female undergraduate student of Ahmadu Bello University,
Zaria, Kaduna State Nigeria. The sample of the study was 351 respondents
drawn from 300 level students.
Data was collected using social adjustment inventory (SAI), Emotional
Adjustment Inventory (EAI) and CGPA for the academic achievement of the
student. The collected data was processed and analyzed using descriptive
(frequencies, mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (Pearson
product moment correlation and T- test). All tests were done at a 0.05 level of
significance. Findings of the study showed that positive relationship exist
between social, emotional adjustment and academic achievement among
undergraduate student with the following values; social adjustment and
academic achievement of the undergraduate student r=0.889, p=.000. Emotional
adjustment and academic achievement of the undergraduate student r=.575,
p=.000. Social economic background of undergraduate student r=.506, p=001.
Emotional adjustment and social – economic background of undergraduate
student r=.469, p=0.125. Social adjustment relationship in male and female

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undergraduate student, 0.125 p=0.332. Emotional adjustment difference in male
and female undergraduate students r=0.076.
The study was conducted in Nigeria and is related to this present study
because the study examined correlates of social adjustment. Both studies
examine similar variables such as social adjustment. The study established that
positive relationship exist between social adjustment and academic achievement
among undergraduate students in Kaduna State. The study was carried out using
undergraduate students. This present study will examine personality traits and
self-efficacy as predictors of social adjustment among secondary school
students in Anambra State. The study adopted a correlational research design.
This study will make use of a correlational research design. The study made use
of quantitative data. This present study will make use of quantitative data to
determine what is obtainable in Anambra State.
Summary of the Reviewed Related Literature
The literature review of this study was conducted in sections: conceptual
framework, theoretical framework, theoretical studies and empirical studies.
Personality trait was described as the stability of a person's behaviour across
different situations that differentiate an individual from others. Social
adjustment was described as how an individual maintains a congruent
relationship with other people. The theoretical perspectives on personality traits,
self-efficacy and social adjustment were also discussed. Such theories include
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the Big Five Personality theory by McCrae and Costa, and the Social Cognitive
Theory of Self-Efficacy by Albert Bandura. Theoretical studies were reviewed
which were organised in themes centred on personality traits, self-efficacy and
social adjustment. The predictive power of personality traits and self-efficacy
on social adjustment were also discussed.
Finally, empirical studies were reviewed. These are empirical studies
whose findings are related to the current study. From the findings of the studies
reviewed, there were indication of both positive and negative relationships
among the traits of the five factor model of students in some studies conducted
both in Nigeria and other countries. Self-efficacy equally indicated both positive
and negative relationships between the correlated variables in different studies.
The researcher thus observed from the review of related literature, that majority
of the studies that examined personality traits and self-efficacy as predictors of
social adjustment known to the researcher were conducted outside the shores of
Nigeria. The ones conducted in Nigeria were correlated with other variables and
mostly concentrated either on married persons or working class women, or
gender, and age. To the best knowledge of the researcher, there is no work on
personality traits and self-efficacy as predictors of social adjustment of
secondary school students in Anambra State. A gap in knowledge thus appears
to exist. It was the attempt to fill the existing gap that formed the motivation for
this research, to find out whether personality traits and self-efficacy that
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individually predicted the social adjustment of students outside the shores of
Nigeria as established in the literature would also individually and jointly
predict social adjustment of secondary school students in Anambra State,
Nigeria.
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CHAPTER THREE
METHOD
This chapter describes the procedure that was used in this study under the
following sub-headings: Research Design; Area of the Study; Population of the
Study; Sample and Sampling Technique; Instruments for Data Collection; and
Method of Data Analysis.
Research Design
The research design for this study is correlational research. The
correlation design tries to gather data concerning the degree and direction of
relationship between independent and dependent variables. According to
Akuezilo and Agu (2015), correlational research design studies the extent and
direction of relationship between two or more variables. The design normally
indicates the direction and magnitude of the relationship. Also, Nwankwo
(2013) opined that correlational research design is also used in making
prediction in research works. Thus, the use of this correlation research design is
justified on the basis that this study sought to investigate personality traits and
self-efficacy predictors of social adjustment of secondary school students in
Anambra State.
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Area of the Study
This study was carried out in Anambra State. Anambra State is one of the
thirty-six states of Nigeria. It is located in the South-Eastern part of the six
geopolitical zones in the country. The state is bounded in the East by Enugu
State, in the West by Delta State, in the North by Kogi State and in South by
Abia and Imo State. The capital city of Anambra state is Awka while its most
commercial town is the ancient city of Onitsha.
The people in the area under study comprise traders, farmers, artisans,
civil and public servants. The major languages of the people are Igbo and
English. There are six education zones in the State with 261 secondary schools
owned by the State Government and managed by the State Post- Primary
Schools Service Commission (PPSSC, 2017). So, education is a large industry
and a flourishing enterprise of both public and private entrepreneurship in
Anambra State.
Anambra State is thickly populated with people from all works of life,
mostly young people within the school age. The large numbers of schools, as
well as the large population of secondary school students are well spread to
supply the data needed for the study. Secondly, observation has shown that
many students are exhibiting some characteristics of maladjustment such as
rebellious or impulsive actions, anxiousness, feelings of sadness, hopelessness,

93
lack of concentration and suicidal thoughts which is gradually becoming
rampant. The choice of the area therefore is necessitated by the foregoing.
Population of the Study
The population comprised 40,161 SSI and SS2 senior secondary school
students from the six education zones in Anambra State. (Source: Planning and
Research Section, Anambra State Post Primary Commission, 2017).The choice
of the senior secondary school students for this study was predicated on the
notion that their level of reasoning makes them suitable to respond to the
research instrument.
Sample and Sampling Technique
The sample size for this study was 2,400 students. The sample size
comprised six percent of the population which was selected through a multi
stage sampling method. This was done in accordance with Alreck and Settle
(1995) and Weisberg and Bowen (1977) who cited three to four percent as the
acceptable level in survey research for forecasting results. The sampling process
went thus: Firstly, four education zones were randomly selected from the six
education zones in Anambra State. Secondly, 6 secondary schools with highest
population of students were purposively selected from each of the education
zones, thereby making a total of 24 secondary schools. Then disproportionately
stratified random sampling technique was further employed to choose 100
students from each of the 24 selected schools, making a total of 2,400 students.
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The researcher made use of random selection by choosing the second number of
student in every count, in accordance with their classroom desk arrangement in
the schools. The stratification was based on the education zones which formed
the stratum. The sample size of each stratum in this technique is
disproportionate to the population size of the stratum when viewed against the
entire population. This means that the each stratum do not have the same
sampling fraction. A total of 600 students were selected from each zone,
irrespective of their population strength.
Instruments for Data Collection
Three research instruments were used in collecting data from the students
for the study, namely; Personality Traits Assessment Questionnaire (PTAQ)
developed from International Personality Item Pool (IPIP), General Self-
Efficacy Scale (GSES) developed by Schwarzer and Jerusalem (1995) and
Social Adjustment Questionnaire (SAQ) developed by Weisman and Paykel
(1974). The choice of these instruments is guided by the type of study being
conducted and the research questions. Clark-Carter (2001) suggests adopting or
adapting established tests for measuring peoples‟ personalities or attitudes, and
only developing new ones if there are no existing tools in the area. This study
therefore adopted standardised questionnaires for data collection.
The Personality Trait Assessment Questionnaire is a standardized
instrument developed by McCrae and Costa (2006) and was adopted for use in
this study. This test uses the Big-Five Factor Markers from the International
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Personality Item Pool, developed by Goldberg (1992).The instrument consists
of 50 statements, ten items for each facet of five dimensions corresponding to
the five factors of personality. The five factors of personality are; extraversion,
neuroticism, openness to experience, agreeableness and conscientiousness.
These traits are called the Five-Factor Model or „The Big Five‟ personality
structure of McCrae and Costa (2006). The fifty item scale is rated on a five-
point Likert scale of Strongly Agree (SA); Agree (A); Undecided (UD);
Disagree (D); and Strongly Disagree (SD) weighted 5,4,3,2, and 1 respectively.
Higher points indicated a higher value in the assessed construct. The instrument
was both positively and negatively worded. The negatively worded statements
were weighted 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 respectively.
General Self Efficacy Scale: This is a standardised instrument developed
by Schwarzer and Jerusalem (1995) and was adopted for this study. The scale is
a self-report measure of self-efficacy. The scale is a 10-item scale that assesses
a general sense of perceived self-efficacy with the aim in mind to predict coping
with daily hassles as well as adaptation after experiencing all kinds of stressful
life events. Responses from the scale are made on a 4-point rating scale, ranging
from 1= not at all true, 2 = hardly true, 3 = moderately true, to 4 = exactly true.
Social Adjustment Questionnaire (SAQ): The instrument is a modified
version of a standardised self-report questionnaire developed by Weisman and
Paykel (1974) and used in Nigeria by Ogini and Ofodile (2014). The instrument
as used by Ogini and Ofodile was adopted for this study. The instrument has 28
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items assessing the functioning in each of the five role areas (house work; social
and leisure activities; relationships with extended family and functioning in the
family unit). It has a response option which ranges from not at all (1),
occasionally (2), about half the time (3), most of the time (4) and all the time
(5).
Validation of the Instrument
The three instruments which were used in the study, namely; Personality
Traits Assessment Questionnaire (PTAQ), General Self Efficacy Scale (GSES)
and Social Adjustment Questionnaire (SAQ) are standardized questionnaires
which have been previously validated by experts and used in conducting studies
in many countries, including Nigeria. They are being adopted for this study.
Evidence of construct validity for the PTAQ was present the individual
pattern and structure coefficients. Each item loaded significantly ( p _ .05) on its
factor. This signifies that each item contributes significantly within its factor.
Also important are the correlations between factors. The results suggest that the
PTAQ can be a viable measure of the BigFive traits.
For the GSES, the face and content validity were measured by expert
educators and researchers with the feedback that the questionnaire was clear and
addressed the skills needed to measure student self-efficacy in the classroom.
Scale was compared to the well-established General Self-Efficacy (GSE) Scale
to assess the concurrent criterion-related validity. A highly significant

97
correlation of r = 0.70 was found between the two scales. This is an indication
that the GSES does in fact measure the construct under study and is a valid
scale.
For the SAQ, Pearson product-moment correlations between the SAS-SR
scores and the GHQ score among the non-clinical sample indicated that the
correlation between the work subscale and the job time for the past 3 years was
-0.23 (95% CI:-0.17 to - 0.30, P< 0.001). All these correlations were in the
expected direction. The scale proved to have satisfactory construct validity.
Reliability of the Instrument
The three instruments have all been subjected to internal consistency
reliability test using Cronbach Alpha. The coefficient alpha is 0.87 for General
Self-efficacy Scale as reported by Ugwu, Onyishi and Tyoyima (2013). The
reliability coefficient of personality Trait Assessment scale (PTAS) facets as
reported by Nkechukwu (2017) were extraversion,0.87; neuroticism, 0.85;
openness to experience, 0.70; agreeableness, 0.79; and conscientiousness, 0.83;
while that of social adjustment as reported by Ogini and Ofodile (2014) is 0.73.
This researcher however went further to establish the internal consistency
reliability of the instruments among secondary school students using Cronbach
Alpha statistics. Copies of the qquestionnaires were distributed to 30 SS 1 and 2
students from schools in Asaba, Delta State, through purposive sampling
technique. The participants were chosen from Delta State as they seem to share
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similar characteristics with the participants of the current study. The reliability
coefficient for the five facets of personality trait assessment scale (PTAS) were
extraversion, 0.930; neuroticism, 0.883; openness to experience, 0.786;
agreeableness, 0.648; and conscientiousness, 0.903. The coefficient alpha is
0.864 for Self-efficacy Scale and 0.869 for Social Adjustment Scale.
Method of Data Collection
The administration of the instruments was done through direct delivery
approach. By this method, copies of the questionnaires were distributed
personally to the respondents by the researcher with the help of 6 research
assistants who were briefed on content of the instruments and the procedure that
will be taken in administering the instrument to the respondents. Therefore, the
research assistants were duly informed on what was expected of them as regards
distribution and collection of the instruments. The researcher with the help of
the research assistants then directly distributed copies of the instrument to the
respondents in schools and equally retrieved them after they were duly
completed. Out of the 2400 copies of the questionnaire distributed, a total of
2,369 copies were dully retrieved and used for analysis. Thus, the data
collection yielded a return rate of 98.7% which was perceived as being adequate
for the study.

99
Method of Data Analysis
Copies of the instruments were collated, scored and then sent for analysis.
Research questions 1 to 7 were answered using summated scores, while
research questions 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 14 were answered using simple
Regression Analysis while research question 13 and 15 were answered using
Multiple Regression analysis. The null hypotheses were tested using Simple and
Multiple Regression analysis. The decision rules were as follows:
10.0 to 30.0 = Do not have the personality trait
31.0 to 50.0 = Have the personality trait
For social adjustment:
23.0 to 57.27 = Poor adjustment
57.50 to 92.0 = Good adjustment
For Self-efficacy:
10 – 19 = Low self-efficacy
20 – 40 = High self-efficacy
The decision rule for judging the variables prediction included the used of r-
square value and standardized beta coefficient. According to Cohen (1992) r-
square value .12 or below indicate low, between .13 to .25 values indicate
medium, .26 or above and above values indicate high effect size.
A standardized beta coefficient on the other hand compares the strength of the
effect of each individual independent variable to the dependent variable. The

100
higher the absolute value of the beta coefficient, the stronger the effect of the
prediction.
For the hypotheses: Where r-calculated > than r-critical, reject null
hypothesis and where r-calculated < than r-critical do not reject the null
hypothesis. Also, where significant value (P) is less than 0.05, reject null
hypothesis, however, when the value (P) is greater than 0.05, do not reject the
null hypothesis.
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CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA
In this chapter, the data collected from the field for this study were analyzed and
the summaries were presented in tables to highlight the findings. The
presentation was done in sequence starting with answering the research
questions and then the testing of the hypotheses.
Research Question 1
What are the extraversion personality trait scores of secondary school students
in Anambra State?
Table 1: Range of scores of Extraversion personality trait of secondary school students

Range of scores N % Remarks
10 – 30 717 30.3 No Extraversion
31 – 50 1652 69.7 Extraversion
Table 1 reveals that with scores ranging from 31 to 50, 1652 (69.7%) secondary
school students possess extraversion personality trait, while 717 (30.3%) of
secondary school students who scores between 10 to 30 do not possess
extraversion personality trait,
Research Question 2
What are the neuroticism personality trait scores of secondary school students in
Anambra State?
Table 2: Range of scores of secondary school students’ Neuroticism personality trait

10 – 30 1130 47.7 No Neuroticism
31 – 50 1239 52.3 Neuroticism
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Table 2 reveals that with scores ranging from 31-50, 1239(52.3%) secondary
school students possess neuroticism personality trait, while secondary school
students who scored between 10 to 30, 1130(47.7%) do not possess neuroticism
personality trait.
Research Question 3
What are the openness to experience personality trait scores of secondary school
Table 3: Range of scores of secondary school students’ openness to

experience personality trait
10 – 30 568 24.0 No Openness
31 – 50 1801 76.0 Openness
Table 3 indicates that with scores ranging from 31to 50, 1801(76.0%) secondary
school students possess openness to experience personality trait, while with
scores ranging from 10 to 30, 568(24.0%) of secondary school students do not
possess openness to expression personality trait.
Research Question 4
What are the agreeableness personality trait scores of secondary school students
in Anambra State?
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Table 4: Range of scores of secondary school students’ agreeableness personality trait

10 – 30 551 23.3 No Agreeableness
31 – 50 1818 76.7 Agreeableness
Table 4 reveals that with scores ranging from 10 to 30, 551(23.3%) of
secondary school students do not have agreeableness personality trait, while
1818(76.7%) secondary school students who scored between 31 and 50 have
agreeableness personality trait.
Research Question 5
What are conscientiousness personality trait score of secondary school students
in Anambra State?
Table 5: Range of scores of secondary school students’ conscientiousness personality

trait

10 – 30 437 18.4 No Conscientiousness
31 – 50 1932 81.6 Conscientiousness
Table 5 reveals that with scores ranging from 10 to 30, 437(18.4%) of
secondary school students do not have conscientiousness personality trait, while
1932(81.6%) secondary school students who scored between 31 and 50 have
conscientiousness personality trait.

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Research Question 6
What are the self-efficacy scores of secondary school students in Anambra
State?
Table 6: Range of scores on students’ self-efficacy in secondary schools

10-19 154 6.5 Low self-efficacy

20 – 40 2215 93.5 High self-efficacy
Table 6 reveals that 2215(93.5%) of the secondary school students with
the scores ranging from 20 to 40 have high self-efficacy, while 154(6.5%)
students who scored between 10 and 19 have low self-efficacy.
Research Question 7
What are the social adjustment scores of secondary school students in Anambra
State?
Table 7: Range of scores on students’ social adjustment in secondary schools

28 – 69 2039 86.1 Poor social adjustment

70-112 330 13.9 Good social adjustment
Table 7 reveals that 330 (13.9%) of the secondary school students with the
scores ranging from 70 to 112 have good social adjustment, while 2039(86.1%)
of the students who scored between 28 and 69 have poor social adjustment.
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Research Question 8
Does personality trait of extraversion predict social adjustment of secondary
Table 8: Simple Linear Regression analysis of secondary school students’ extraversion

personality trait as a predictor of their Social adjustment
Variable r R2 R2change B BETA % var added
Extraversion 0.082 0.007 0.007 0.115 0.082 0.70
Table 8 showed that extraversion personality trait of school students in
Anambra State had standardized Beta coefficient of 0.082 which shows that
with every increase of one standard deviation in extraversion personality traits,
secondary school students‟ social adjustment rises by 0.082 standard deviations.
Personality trait of extraversion thus predicts social adjustment of secondary
Research Question 9
Does personality trait of neuroticism predict social adjustment of secondary
Table 9: Simple Linear Regression analysis of secondary school students’ neuroticism

personality trait as a predictor of their Social adjustment
Neuroticism -0.106 0.011 0.011 -0.122 -0.06 1.10
Table 9 revealed that neuroticism personality trait of school students in
Anambra State had standardized Beta coefficient of -0.06 which shows that with
every increase of one standard deviation in neuroticism personality traits,

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secondary school students‟ social adjustment rises by -0.06 standard deviations.
Thus, neuroticism personality trait is a predictor of secondary school students‟
social adjustment.
Research Question 10
Does personality trait of openness to experience predict social adjustment of
Table 10: Simple Linear Regression analysis of secondary school students’ openness to
experience personality trait as a predictor of their Social adjustment
Openness to
experience 0.041 0.002 0.002 0.064 0.041 0.20
Table 10 showed that openness to experience personality trait of school students
in Anambra State had standardized Beta coefficient of 0.041 which shows that
with every increase of one standard deviation in openness to experience
personality trait, secondary school students‟ social adjustment rises by 0.041
standard deviations. Thus, openness to experience personality trait is a predictor
of secondary school students‟ social adjustment.
Does personality trait of agreeableness predict social adjustment of secondary

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Table 11: Simple Linear Regression analysis of secondary school students’

agreeableness personality trait as a predictor of their Social adjustment
Agreeableness -0.048 0.002 0.002 - 0.085 -0.048 0.20
Table 11 indicated that agreeableness personality trait of school students in
Anambra State had standardized Beta coefficient of -0.048 which shows that
with every increase of one standard deviation in agreeableness personality trait,
secondary school students‟ social adjustment rises by -0.048 standard
deviations. Thus, agreeableness personality trait is a predictor of secondary
school students‟ social adjustment.
Does personality trait of conscientiousness predict social adjustment of
Table 12: Simple Linear Regression analysis of secondary school students’

conscientiousness personality trait as a predictor of their Social adjustment
Conscien-
tiousness -0.012 0.000 0.000 - 0.023 -0.012 0.00
Table 12 revealed that conscientiousness personality trait of school students in
Anambra State had standardized Beta coefficient of -0.012 which shows that
with every increase of one standard deviation in conscientiousness personality
trait, secondary school students‟ social adjustment rises by -0.012 standard
deviations.
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Do the Bigfive personality traits jointly predict social adjustment of secondary
Table 13: Multiple Regression analysis on secondary school students Bigfive personality
traits as joint predictors of their social adjustment in Anambra State
Variable r R2 R2 change B BETA % var added
BigFive Traits -0.021 0.000 0.000 63.603 -0.021 0.0
Table 13 showed that the big five personality traits of secondary school students
in Anambra State have standardized Beta coefficient of -0.021 which shows that
with every increase of one standard deviation in the big five personality traits,
secondary school students‟ social adjustment rises by -0.021 standard
deviations.
Does self-efficacy predict social adjustment of secondary school students in
Anambra State?
Table 14: Regression analysis of secondary school students’ self-efficacy as a predictor

of their Social adjustment
Variable r R2 R2change B BETA % var. added
Self-Efficacy 0.224 0.050 0.050 0.296 0.224 5.00
Table 14 showed that self-efficacy of school students in Anambra State had
standardized Beta coefficient of 0.224 which shows that with every increase of
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one standard deviation in self-efficacy, secondary school students‟ social
adjustment rises by 0.224 standard deviations. Thus, self-efficacy is a predictor
of secondary school students‟ social adjustment.
Do the Bigfive Personality Traits and self-efficacy predict social adjustment of
Table 15: Multiple Regression analysis of secondary school students’ Bigfive Personality
Traits and self-efficacy as a predictors of their Social adjustment
Variables r R2 R2 change B BETA % var added
0.224 0.050 0.050 54.071 5.00
Bigfive Traits -0.009 -0.016
Self-efficacy 0.296 0.223
Table 15 reveals that the big five personality traits and self-efficacy of
secondary school students in Anambra State have R2 change of 0.050. This
indicates that both the Bigfive personality traits and self-efficacy contribute 5.0
percent for the students‟ social adjustment.

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The Null Hypotheses
Null Hypothesis 1
Extraversion personality trait does not significantly predict social adjustment of
secondary school students in Anambra State
Table 16: Regression Analysis Test of Significance of Secondary School Students’

Extraversion Personality Trait as a Predictor of Their Social Adjustment
Variable r R2 R2change B BETA % var added Cal. t Pvalue df Remark
Extraversion 0.082 0.007 0.007 0.115 0.082 0.70 4.014 0.000 2367 S
Table 16 reveals that at 1df numerator, 2367df denominator and 0.05 level of
significant, the calculated t value is 4.014 and has probability value of 0.000
which is less than the critical Pvalue of 0.05. Therefore the first null hypothesis
is rejected. Extraversion personality trait is a significant predictor of secondary
school students‟ social adjustment in Anambra State.
Null Hypothesis 2
The personality trait of neuroticism does not significantly predict social

Neuroticism Personality Trait as a Predictor of Their Social Adjustment
Variable r R2 R2change B BETA % var added Cal. t Pvalue df Remark
Neuroticism -0.106 0.011 0.011 -0.122 -0.06 1.10 -5.162 0.000 2367 S
Table 17 above reveals that at 1df numerator, 2367df denominator and 0.05
level of significance, the calculated t value is -5.162 and has probability value
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of 0.000 which is less than the critical Pvalue of 0.05. Therefore the second null
hypothesis is rejected. Neuroticism personality trait is a significant predictor of
secondary school students‟ social adjustment in Anambra State.
Null Hypothesis 3
The personality trait of openness to experience does not significantly predict
social adjustment of secondary school students in Anambra State

Openness to Experience Personality Trait as a Predictor of Their Social
Adjustment
Variable r R2 R2change B BETA % var added Cal. t Cal.Pvalue df Remark
Openness to
experience 0.041 0.002 0.002 0.064 0.041 0.20 2.019 0.041 2367 S
Table 18 indicated that at 1df numerator, 2367df denominator and 0.05 level of
significance; the calculated t value is 2.019 and has probability value of 0.041
which is less than the stipulated 0.05 level of significance. Therefore the third
null hypothesis is rejected, indicating that openness to experience personality
trait is a significant predictor of secondary school students‟ social adjustment in
Anambra State.
Null Hypothesis 4
The personality trait of agreeableness does not significantly predict social

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Agreeableness Personality Trait as a Predictor of Their Social Adjustment
Variable r R2 R2change B BETA % var added Cal. t Cal.Pvalue Cal. t df Remark
Agreeableness -0.048 0.002 0.002 - 0.085 -0.048 0.20 -2.339 0.019 -2.339 2367 S
significance, the calculated t value is -2.339 and has probability value of 0.041
which is less than the stipulated 0.05 level of significance. Therefore the fourth
null hypothesis is rejected, indicating that agreeableness personality trait is a
significant predictor of secondary school students‟ social adjustment in
Anambra State.
Null Hypothesis 5
The personality trait of conscientiousness does not significantly predict social

Conscientiousness Personality Trait as a Predictor of Their Social Adjustment
Variable r R2 R2change B BETA % var added Cal. t Cal.Pvalue df Remark
Conscien-
tiousness -0.012 0.000 0.000 - 0.023 -0.012 0.00 -0.600 0.549 2367 NS
Table 20 shows that at 1df numerator, 2367df denominator and 0.05 level of
significance, the calculated t value is -0.600 and has probability value of 0.549
which is more than the stipulated 0.05 level of significance. Therefore the fifth
null hypothesis is accepted. This indicates that conscientiousness personality

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trait is not a significant predictor of secondary school students‟ social
adjustment in Anambra State.
Null Hypothesis 6
The Big five personality traits does not significantly predict social adjustment of
secondary school students in Anambra State
Table 21: Multiple Regression analysis on secondary school students Big five
personality traits as predictors of their social adjustment in Anambra State
Variable r R2 R2 change B BETA % var added df Cal.F pvalue Remark
BigFive Traits -0.021 0.000 0.000 63.603 -0.021 0.0 2367 13.527 0.296 S
P>0.005
significance, the calculated F value is 13.527 with pvalue of 0.001 which is less
than the stipulated 0.05 level of significance. Therefore the null hypothesis is
rejected. The Bigfive personality traits jointly, significantly predict social
adjustment of secondary school students in Anambra State.
Null Hypothesis 7
Self-efficacy does not significantly predict social adjustment of secondary

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Table 22: Regression Analysis Test of Significance of Secondary School Students’ Self-
Efficacy as a Predictor of Their Social Adjustment
Variable r R2 R2change B BETA % var. added Cal.t Pvalue df Remark
Self-Efficacy 0.224 0.050 0.050 0.296 0.224 5.00 10.425 0.000 2367 S
Table 22 above shows that at 1df numerator, 2367df denominator and 0.05 level
of significance, the calculated t value are 10.425 with has probability value of
0.000 which is less than the stipulated 0.05 level of significance. Therefore the
7th null hypothesis is rejected. This indicates that self-efficacy is a significant
predictor of secondary school students‟ social adjustment in Anambra State.
Null Hypothesis 8
The Big five personality traits and Self-efficacy does not significantly predict
Table 23: Regression analysis Test of Significance of secondary school students’ Bigfive
Personality Traits and self-efficacy as a predictors of their Social adjustment
Variables r R2 R2 change B BETA %var added Cal. F Pvalue df Remark
0.224 0.050 0.050 54.071 5.00 62.636 0.000 2366 S
Bigfive Traits -0.009 -0.016
Self-efficacy 0.296 0.223
Table 23 above shows that at 1df numerator, 2366 df denominator and 0.05
level of significance, the calculated t value is 62.636 with calculated pvalue of
0.000 which is less than the stipulated 0.05 level of significance. Therefore the
8th null hypothesis is rejected. This indicates that the personality traits and self-
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efficacy jointly, significantly predict secondary school students‟ social
Summary of the Findings
From the analysis the following findings were made:
1. Majority of the secondary school students in Anambra State possess
extraversion personality trait
2. Moderate number of the secondary school students in Anambra State
possess neuroticism personality trait.
openness to experience personality trait.
agreeableness personality trait.
5. More of the secondary school students in Anambra State possess
conscientiousness personality trait.
6. Most of the secondary school students in Anambra State have high self-
efficacy.
7. More of the secondary school students in Anambra State have poor social
adjustment.
8. Extraversion personality trait had standardized Beta coefficient of 0.082
for secondary school students‟ social adjustment.

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9. Neuroticism personality trait had the standardized Beta coefficient of -
0.106 for secondary school students‟ social adjustment.
10. Openness to experience had standardized Beta coefficient of 0.041 for
secondary school students‟ social adjustment.
11. Agreeableness personality trait had standardized Beta coefficient of -
0.048 for secondary school students‟ social adjustment.
12. Conscientiousness personality trait had standardized Beta coefficient of -
0.012 for secondary school students‟ social adjustment..
13. The big five personality traits have joint standardized Beta coefficient of
-0.021 for the students‟ social adjustment.
14. Self-efficacy had standardized Beta coefficient of 0.224 for secondary
school students‟ social adjustment.
15.Extraversion personality trait is a significant predictor of secondary
16.Neuroticism personality trait does significantly predict secondary school
students‟ social adjustment in Anambra State.
17. Openness to experience personality trait does significantly predict
18. Agreeableness personality trait does significantly predict secondary
19. Conscientiousness personality trait does not significantly predict

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20. Secondary school students‟ bigfive personality traits jointly are
significant predictors of their social adjustment in Anambra State.
21. Self-efficacy does significantly predict secondary school students‟ social
22. The Bigfive personality traits and Self-efficacy jointly does significantly
predict secondary school students‟ social adjustment in Anambra State.

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CHAPTER FIVE
DISCUSSION, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
This chapter presents the discussion of the findings, conclusion, implications of
the findings, recommendations, limitations of the study and suggestions for
further studies.
Discussion of the Results
Findings of this study are discussed under the following sub-headings:
Secondary school students‟ personality traits and self-efficacy
Secondary school students‟ social adjustment
Personality traits as predictor of social adjustment
Self-Efficacy as predictor of social adjustment
Secondary School Students’ Personality Traits and self-efficacy
Findings of the study shows that majority of the secondary school
students in Anambra State possess extraversion personality trait. This finding
implies that majority of the students are high in extraversion and are likely to
seek out social stimulation and opportunities to engage with others. These
students thus could be described as being full of life, energy and positivity.
Therefore, in group situations, such students are likely to talk often and assert
themselves which is in agreement with the outcome of studies of

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Mmaduakonam and Obi (2015), Nkechukwu (2017) and Ozowa and Aba (2017)
on their investigation of personality traits in Nigeria. Mmaduakonam and
Nkechukwu studied the contribution of personality traits of secondary school
teachers while that of Ozowa and Aba was centred on the personality traits of
students. Perhaps, based on the geographical similarity, the findings thus were
found related.
The findings of the study show that moderate number of the secondary
school students possess neuroticism personality trait. This finding implies that
the students are moderately emotionally reactive and vulnerable to stress, hence
they could be flippant in the way they express emotion and are more likely to
interpret ordinary situations as threatening, and minor frustrations as hopelessly
difficult. These negative emotional reactions may persist for unusually long
periods of time, thereby often placing them in a bad mood. The finding is in
agreement with the study of Schnuck and Handal (2011) in their studies on
personality traits where moderate number of students was identified with
neuroticism personality traits. Although the study investigated personality traits
of students outside Nigeria, the finding goes on to show that students could
possess the personality trait of neuroticism irrespective of geographical
difference.
Findings of the study further revealed that majority of the secondary
school students in Anambra State possess openness to expression personality
trait. This finding seems to reflect the degree of intellectual curiosity, creativity
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and a preference for novelty and variety of the secondary school students in
Anambra State. It is also described as the extent to which the students are
imaginative or independent and depicts a personal preference for a variety of
activities over a strict routine. This finding seem to be in tandem with the
outcome of the study of Redhwan, Muhamed, Zaliha, Yuri, Muhammad, and
Manuel (2015) whose similar observation revealed that majority of the
secondary school students possess openness to experience personality trait.
The findings of this study also reveal that majority of the secondary
school students possess agreeableness personality trait. This finding implies that
majority of secondary school students in Anambra State place self-interest
above getting along with others. Thus they are more likely to be unconcerned
with others' well-being, and are less likely to extend themselves for other
people. This finding is similar to the finding of Ghazi, Shahzada and Ullah
(2013) which held that majority of students in their study have agreeableness
personality trait.
Furthermore, findings of the study revealed that most of the secondary
school students in Anambra State possess conscientiousness personality trait.
What this finding denotes is that most of the students have the tendency to
display self-discipline, act dutifully, and strive for achievement against
measures or outside expectations are in line with the previous findings of
Soraya, Elaheh, and Masoud (2011), and Eyong, David, and Umoh, (2014)
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which respectively noted in their studies that most of the secondary school
students possess conscientiousness personality trait.
Additionally, the findings of the study revealed that most of the
secondary school students in Anambra State have high self-efficacy. This
finding shows that secondary school students in Anambra State belief in their
innate ability to achieve goals. This implies that they are likely to exert
sufficient effort that, if well executed, leads to successful outcomes. The finding
is in line with Ogoemeka (2011) and Omoniyi (2014) whose studies
respectively revealed high self-efficacy of Nigeria students. These studies
shows that the optimum level of self-efficacy is slightly above ability; in this
situation, students are likely to be most encouraged to tackle challenging tasks
and gain experience.
Secondary school students’ social adjustment
The result of the study indicates that most of the secondary school
students have poor social adjustment. This finding implies that secondary
school students function poorly in their immediate environment, participation in
social activities and their satisfaction with various social aspects of the school
experience. This finding is in line with the findings of Olugbode (2014) whose
study showed that students were not socially adjusted. Olugbode‟s study
examined the social adjustment of secondary school students in Nigeria who
possibly share the same characteristics with the participants of the current study.
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What the finding portends for this study is that the psychological process
through which the students cope with the demand and challenges of everyday
life may be greatly hampered and could lead to other maladaptive behaviours
among students.
Personality Traits as Predictor of Social Adjustment
The findings of the study revealed that extraversion personality trait is a
significant predictor of secondary school students‟ social adjustment in
Anambra State. What this implies is that extraversion personality trait could
predict whether a student will have good or poor adjustment. The findings of
the study are in agreement with Nirmala (2011), Schnuck and Handel (2011),
and Christensen (2012) which indicated that extraversion personality trait
predicted social adjustment. Since this study revealed that students have poor
social adjustment, the finding thus revealed that though students high in
extraversion tend to seek out social stimulation and opportunities to engage with
others, it is nowhere a guarantee that such students would have good social
adjustment. Nevertheless, the finding is not supported by the previous study of
Hayes and Joseph (2003) which showed that extraversion was linked to a person
being socially adjusted. This does not seem to be the case with the finding of the
current study as majority of students‟ indicted poor adjustment. The reason for
this could be attributed to the idea that people who are high in extraversion need
social stimulation to feel energized. They gain inspiration and excitement from
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talking and discussing ideas with other people. It could be possible therefore
that the students are not getting enough social stimulation they need to feel
thrilled which might also be necessary for their social adjustment.
More so, the findings of the study revealed that neuroticism personality
Anambra State. This finding implies that neuroticism personality trait could
forecast whether students would have good or poor social adjustment. This
finding is in agreement with the findings of Gleckel (2015), Maurice, Peter, and
Caleb (2016), and Quevedo and Abella (2011). These studies indicated that
neuroticism predicted social adjustment and that neurotic individuals were
poorly adjusted socially. This leads to the conclusion that, as many scholars
proposed, neuroticism has a negative effect on performance, by creating
negative emotions, withdrawal tendencies and a negative reaction to the fear of
failure which would likely affect the students‟ social adjustment negatively.
The reason for this finding could be attributed to the notion that students
with neurotic personality traits more likely to interpret ordinary situations as
threatening, and minor frustrations as hopelessly difficult. Their negative
emotional reactions tend to persist for unusually long periods of time, which
means they are often in a bad mood. For instance, Fiske, Gilbert, Lindzey
(2009) noted that neuroticism is connected to a pessimistic approach toward
work, confidence that work impedes personal relationships, and apparent

124
anxiety linked with work. Hence, problems in emotional regulation can
diminish the ability of the students that scored high on neuroticism to think
clearly, make decisions, and cope effectively with social situations.
Findings of the study further revealed that openness to experience
personality trait is a significant predictor of secondary school students‟ social
adjustment in Anambra State. This implies that openness to experience
personality trait could foretell whether students will have poor or good social
adjustment. This finding is in accord with the findings of Schnuck and Handel
(2011) that openness to experience is a significant predictor of social
adjustment. The finding thus suggests that students who have openness to
experience personality traits tend to reflect the degree of intellectual curiosity,
creativity and a preference for novelty. They may likely adopt a more logical
approach to interacting actively with their fellow students in school which
would likely lead to their social adjustment. However, the fact that majority of
the students in this study have poor social adjustment means that their being
adjusted may not be dependent on the student‟s personality traits, but possibly
on other factors.
Further, the findings of this study revealed that agreeableness personality
Anambra State. This shows that students with agreeable personality traits would
much likely have either good or poor social adjustment. However, in this study,
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it was indicated that secondary school students have poor social adjustment.
This implies that agreeableness personality trait predicted poor social
adjustment. The finding is in line with the study of Selfhout, Burk, Branje,
Denissen, Van Aken, and Meeus (2010), Nagle and Anand (2012) that indicated
that agreeableness predicted social adjustment. In other words, agreeableness
personality trait plays a very important role in people‟s social interactions and
dealings. The findings thus represent changes over time of adjustment
experienced by the students as they live, learn and socialise in schools.
Finding of the study further revealed that personality trait of
conscientiousness is not a significant predictor of social adjustment in Anambra
State. This implies that personality traits of conscientiousness do not forecast
whether a student will have good or poor social adjustment. This finding differs
from those of Christensen (2012), Gleckel (2015), and Sabine, Hanke, and
Greetje van der (2017) where conscientiousness was found to predict social
adjustment. This finding seems surprising because conscientiousness
personality trait is related to the way in which people control, regulate, and
direct their impulses. So, based on the notion that a good number of students
scored high on conscientiousness which is an indication that they have a
preference for planned rather than spontaneous behaviour, it was naturally
expected by this researcher that it would lead to the students having good social
adjustment in school. However, that was not the case as the findings of this
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study, with predictive power of 0.00 percent show that conscientiousness is
nowhere a determinant factor to social adjustment of secondary school students
in Anambra State.
This means that the fact that a student is self-disciplined, and
hardworking, does not put the individual at an advantage as regards being
socially adjusted. On the other, since the findings of the study revealed that
majority of the students have poor social adjustment, it could be speculated that
that conscientiousness may actually predict good social adjustment of students.
Such speculative assertion may go a long way to address the observed
difference between what is obtained in the current study and what was obtained
in literature in studies like Christensen (2012), Gleckel (2015), and Sabine,
Hanke, and Greetje van der (2017). In the same manner, the observed
difference between the findings of the studies and the present study could be
attributed to the fact that the researches were all carried out outside Nigeria
which is a different setting with a different way of doing things.
Moreover, findings of the study revealed that the personality traits of the
big five (when jointly considered) are not significant predictors of secondary
school students‟ social adjustment. The findings showed that the big five
personality traits jointly put together are not important forecaster of social
adjustment. This finding provides clear evidence of the Big Five personality
factors in predicting the social adjustment of secondary school students. The

127
finding is surprisingly different but share some elements of the findings of
previous studies conducted by researchers such as Bardi and Ryff (2007), Sanja,
Ivanka and Ines (2010), Tracy, Wai, Anchor, Tatia (2010), Christensen (2012),
Nagle and Anand (2012) whose studies revealed that the big five personality
traits are significant predictors of social adjustment. Bardi and Ryff (2007)
reported that neuroticism is linked to poorer social adjustment and extraversion
is related to positive social adjustment. The finding by Bardi and Ryff may
explain the negative correlations observed in this study equally indicating that
neuroticism personality traits is related to poor social adjustment of secondary
school students.
The study by Christensen (2012) found that people who are high in
certain dispositional personality traits like extraversion, conscientiousness and
openness to experience are better able to be socially adjusted and adapt in the
stress that comes with the transition into school. Conversely, people with
Neuroticism demonstrated poor social development. Nagle and Anand (2012)
found that personality traits like extraversion, agreeableness, facilitated the
process of social adjustment, whereas traits like neuroticism worked in the
opposite direction and did not facilitate the process of social adjustment.
However, besides conscientiousness personality traits, all the other facets
of the Big Five personality traits predicted the social adjustment of secondary
school students. Based on these findings, one could see that to some degree,
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there is an observable influence of the Big Five traits on some social factors that
leads to student's social adjustment. More so, among the bigfive personality
traits observed in the study, only Extraversion and Openness to experience
appeared to have correlated positively with measures of students‟ social
adjustment. This means that to some degree, the findings may have differed a
little from other studies such as Ghazi, Shahzada, and Ullah (2013) in which
conscientiousness has been to shown to be a predictor of academic motivation
and academic achievement. This difference may be attributed to the difference
in the variables of study. Ghazi, Shahzada, and Ullah and other similar studies
investigated the Bigfive personality traits as predictors of academic
achievement while the current study investigated the Bigfive as predictor of
social adjustment of secondary school students.
Self-Efficacy as predictor of social adjustment
Findings of the study revealed that self-efficacy is a significant predictor
of secondary school students‟ social adjustment. This finding of the study show
that self-efficacy emerged as an important predictor of social adjustment. This
finding is consistent with the previous studies such as Bita and Parisa (2016),
Habibah, Nooren, and Rahil (2010), and Ogoemeka (2011) who found that self-
efficacy is a significant predictor of social adjustment. Habibah, Nooren, and
Rahil (2010) found that students with high self-efficacy have the potential to be
socially adjusted and succeed in school. The reason for this finding could be
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attributed to the idea that students with high self-efficacy are more likely to be
highly motivated and would believe that they would succeed in the end,
whereas those with low self-efficacy as also found to limit the extent to which
they participate in an endeavour and are more apt to give up at the instance of
any difficulty. The finding thus is an empirical evidence of the predictive ability
of students‟ self-efficacy in foretelling their social adjustment in school. The
finding clearly suggests that higher self-efficacy were important in predicting
the relative difficulty or ease experienced by students in adapting to the cultural
and educational challenges of their schools.
Findings from the study further revealed that secondary school students‟
Bigfive personality traits and Self-efficacy jointly are significant predictors of
their social adjustment. This means that both the Bigfive personality traits and
Self-efficacy jointly predicted weather the secondary school students Anambra
State are adjusted or not. In this study however, majority of the students have
poor social adjustment. The findings show that both the Bigfive personality
traits and Self-efficacy played a role, with self-efficacy, more than other
variables, contributing more to the students‟ social adjustment.
Findings from this study corroborate previously reported results that
endorse the value of exploring the relationship between personality traits-related
measures and Self-efficacy. The present findings are consistent with research
findings of Ogoemeka (2011) whose findings indicated that the Bigfive

130
variables and self-efficacy, correlated with adjustment and when put together,
were effective in predicting adjustment and social problem-solving. Similarly,
Sabine, Hanke, and Greetje van der (2017) study revealed that personality
characteristics and self‐efficacy had a significant predictive impact on the
students‟ perceived academic achievement. The findings go on to show that
factors in favour of students‟ academic achievement may not really be different
from factors in favour the students‟ social adjustment.
Although personality traits and self-efficacy have often been presented as
expressions of rival views about personality functioning in literature, above
findings attest that both are fundamental to account for secondary school
students‟ social adjustment. In reality, as observed in the current study, self-
efficacy may have shown more positive correlations to students social
adjustment, individual differences in both the personality traits and self-efficacy
beliefs have proved to play a unique and distinctive role in contributing to
students‟ social adjustment across different stages of schooling like seen this
study among those in SS 1 and those in SS 2 classes.
Based on the interpretation of the results, one would conclude from the
present study that personality traits of the students have little to do with their
social adjustment. Nevertheless, results from joint analysis suggest the opposite,
students with substantially mix of different profiles of personality and self-
efficacy would likely be more adjusted than those with just one single
131
personality trait. These groups would include students with lower neuroticism,
higher extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness and believe in
their ability to achieve or overcome challenges. The second, “less adjusted”
group would comprised of students who reported elevated levels of neuroticism
and lower self-efficacy (i.e., lower levels of emotional awareness, and higher
levels of lack of emotional clarity, nonacceptance of emotional responses,
impulse control difficulties, difficulties engaging in goal-directed behaviour and
lack of believe in ones ability) along with lower levels of extraversion. In
keeping with these results, the researcher thus argues that it might be better to
understand the predictive role of personality traits and self-efficacy considering
them collectively rather than individually.
Conclusions
Based on the findings of the study, the study concludes that personality
traits of extraversion, neuroticism, openness to experience, agreeableness and
self-efficacy are significant predictors of secondary school students‟ social
adjustment in Anambra state while the personality trait of conscientiousness is
not a significant predictor of social adjustment among secondary school
students in Anambra state. The study also concludes that secondary school
students‟ big five personality traits jointly are not significant predictors of their
social adjustment while the Bigfive personality traits and Self-efficacy jointly
are significant predictors of secondary school students social adjustment in

132
Anambra State. Manifestations of personality traits and self-efficacy may be the
means by which students maintain their social adjustment goals in schools.
Implication of the Study
Based on the findings of this study, the following implications are noted:
Education authorities could see the need for school guidance counsellors
to be equipped with necessary tools both material and intellectual to enable
them render useful counselling services that would go a long way in helping to
build the self-efficacy of students with neurotic personality trait so that students
with the neurotic personality trait can make up in areas where they need help to
adjust socially. This suggests that school guidance counsellors have a duty to
give quality time to students on issues regarding their social adjustment during
counselling sessions.
Similarly, School guidance counsellors would understand personality
traits that contribute to social adjustment. The understanding of these
personality traits will help school guidance counsellors to apply counselling
strategies and skills that can help maintain and possibly improve the social
adjustment of secondary school students.
Furthermore, since self-efficacy contributes to the social adjustment of
students, school management need to work towards building the self-efficacy of
secondary school students in Anambra state by organising seminars and
workshops geared towards helping students maintain high self-efficacy.

133
Through the findings of this study, teachers would probably understand
the need for them to be more concerned with social adjustment of students in
school. Similarly, teachers need to work closely with the school guidance
counsellors to ensure that measures such as organizing seminars and workshops
are taken to improve students‟ social adjustment.
Recommendations
Based on the findings of this study, the following recommendations are made:
1. School guidance counsellors should be equipped with necessary tools
both material and intellectual to enable them render counselling services
that is directed towards social adjustment of students which would go a
long way in helping to build the self-efficacy of students with neurotic
personality trait so that students with the neurotic personality trait can
make up in areas where they need help to adjust socially.
2. Teachers should be informed on how to identify students with social
adjustment problems and the need to make appropriate referral to the
guidance counsellor for counselling.
3. School guidance counsellors should work towards ensuring that the high
self-efficacy of secondary school students in Anambra state is
maintained.
4. School administrators should work towards organizing programmes for
the students in the schools to get them acquainted with social skills.
134
Limitations of the Study
The study was conducted among secondary school students in Anambra
State, Nigeria; it may therefore be limited in its generalisation to primary or
secondary school students in other states.
Suggestion for Further Studies
Based on the findings of the study, the following suggestions are made for
further studies. A number of areas related to this study could be carried out as
follows:
1. The study can be replicated on secondary school students in other states.
2. Personality traits and self-efficacy as predictors of marital satisfaction
among married public servants in Anambra State.
3. Personality traits and self-efficacy as predictors of sports participation
and performance among secondary school students.
4. Personality traits and self-efficacy as predictors of entrepreneurial interest
among secondary school students.

135
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LIST OF APPENDICES
APPENDIX I
Letter of Transmittal
Dear Respondents,
I am a Postgraduate student at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. I am

conducting an academic study on the relationship between personality traits,
self-efficacy and social adjustment of secondary school students in Anambra
State. You have been randomly selected to participate in this study. Your
answers will remain strictly confidential and they will be used only for the
research purposes. Your sincere assistance will help fulfil the objectives of this
study. Information given will be used only for the purpose of this research and
will be accorded utmost confidentiality. Thanks for your time and assistance.
Esther Ejichukwu,
The researcher.
149
APPENDIX II
Research Instrument: Personality Traits Assessment Questionnaire

(PTAQ)
Strongly Agree (SA), Agree (A), Undecided (UD), Disagree (D), Strongly
Disagree
S/N Personality Traits Assessment Scale Questionnaire SA A UD D SD
(PTAQ)
1 I am the life of the party (always lively)

2 I do not talk a lot
3 I feel comfortable having people around me
4 I have control over people under me.
5 I initiate conversations
6 I have little to say
7 I talk to a lot of different people at social gathering
8 I don‟t like to draw attention to myself
9 I don‟t mind being the centre of attention
10 I keep quiet when i am around strangers
11 I feel little concern for others
12 I am interested in others
13 I insult people always
14 I sympathize with other‟s feelings
15 I am not interested in other people‟s problems
16 I have a soft heart
17 I am not really interested in others
18 I make out time for others
19 I feel others‟ emotions
20 I make people feel at ease
21 I am always prepared to carry out any duty assigned to me
22 I leave my belongings scattered around
23 I pay attention to details
24 I make mess of things
25 I get chores done right away
26 I often forget to put things back in their proper place.
27 I like orderliness
28 I shirk my duties
29 I follow a schedule
150
30 I always accomplish a task at a given time

31 I get stressed easily
32 I am relaxed most of the time
33 I worry too much about things
34 I do not get stressed easily
35 I am easily disturbed
36 I get upset easily
37 I change my mood a lot
38 I have frequent mood swings
39 I get irritated easily
40 I often feel depressed without any reason
41 I have a rich vocabulary
42 I have difficulty understanding abstract ideas
43 I have clear view about things
44 I am not interested in abstract ideas
45 I have excellent ideas
46 I do not have good imagination
47 I am quick to understand things
48 I use difficult words
49 I spend more time reflecting on things
50 I am full of ideas
151
General Self Efficacy Questionnaire
Below are ten statements about you which may or may not be true. Using the 1-
4 scale of Not at all true, Hardly true, Moderately true and Exactly true below,
please indicate your agreement with each item by placing the ticking () on the
appropriate response option for each item. Please be open and honest in your
responding.
S/N RESPONSE OPTION

Not Hardly Moderately Exactly
at all true true true
true
1 I can always manage to solve difficult
problems if I try hard enough
2 If someone opposes me, I can find the
means and ways to get what I want.
3 It is easy for me to stick to my aims and
accomplish my goals.
4 I am confident that I could deal efficiently
with unexpected events.
5 Thanks to my resourcefulness, I know how
to handle unforeseen situations.
6 I can solve most problems if I invest the
necessary effort
7 I can remain calm when facing difficulties
because I can rely on my coping abilities
8 When I am confronted with a problem, I
can usually find several solutions.
9 If I am in trouble, I can usually think of a
solution
10 I can usually handle whatever comes my
way.
Social Adjustment Questionnaire

This questionnaire asks about how you have been during the last two weeks at work, spare
time activities and in family life – please read each statement and then put a tick () in the
box to the right to indicate how much the statement has applied to you.
Not at all – 1
Occasionally – 2
About half the time 3
Most of the time – 4
All the time - 5
152
ITEMS 1 2 3 4 5
1. You do the necessary housework each day
2. You feel ashamed of how I have been doing the housework
3. You do get angry with or argued with my brothers/relatives/friends
4. You do feel upset, worried or uncomfortable while doing the
housework
5. You do find the housework boring, unpleasant or a drudge
6. You have been in touch with any of your friends
7. You have been able to talk about your feelings openly with your
friends
8. You have done things socially with your friends (e.g. visiting,
entertaining, and going out together)
9. You spent your available time on hobbies or spare time interests
10. You have gotten angry with or argued with your friends
11. You have been offended or had your feelings hurt by your friends
12. You feel ill at ease, tense or shy when with people
13. You feel lonely and wished for companionship
14. You feel bored in your free time
15. You get angry with or argued with any of your relatives
16. You made an effort to keep in touch with your relatives
17. You have been able to talk about your feelings openly with you
relatives
18. You have depended on your relatives for help, advice or friendship
19. You have been feeling that you have let your relatives down at some
time.
20. You have been feeling that your relatives have let you down at some
time.
21. You have been worrying more than necessary about things
happening to your family.
22. You have been feeling that you have let your immediate family down
at all.
23. You have been feeling that your immediate family has let you down
at some point.
24 You are satisfied with extracurricular activities in school
25 You are very involved with the social activities in school
26 You are pleased about decision to attend this school
27 I have difficulty feeling at ease with others at this school
28 There are several people at the school you trust to help solve your
problems.
153
APPENDIX III
SPSS DATA ANALYSIS OUTPUT

Frequencies
Statistics
EXTRAVERSIO
N Range of Scores
N Valid 2369 2369
Missing 0 0
Mean 33.2313 1.6973
Median 33.0000 2.0000
Mode 34.00 2.00
Std. Deviation 5.73099 .45951
Frequency Table
EXTRAVERSION
Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent
Valid 15.00 10 .4 .4 .4
19.00 10 .4 .4 .8
20.00 29 1.2 1.2 2.1
21.00 20 .8 .8 2.9
22.00 48 2.0 2.0 4.9
23.00 29 1.2 1.2 6.2
24.00 58 2.4 2.4 8.6
26.00 49 2.1 2.1 10.7
27.00 96 4.1 4.1 14.7
28.00 87 3.7 3.7 18.4
29.00 87 3.7 3.7 22.1
30.00 194 8.2 8.2 30.3
31.00 77 3.3 3.3 33.5
32.00 156 6.6 6.6 40.1
33.00 242 10.2 10.2 50.3
34.00 288 12.2 12.2 62.5
35.00 157 6.6 6.6 69.1
36.00 95 4.0 4.0 73.1

37.00 154 6.5 6.5 79.6
38.00 85 3.6 3.6 83.2

154
39.00 66 2.8 2.8 86.0
40.00 115 4.9 4.9 90.8
41.00 68 2.9 2.9 93.7
42.00 29 1.2 1.2 94.9
43.00 10 .4 .4 95.4
44.00 54 2.3 2.3 97.6
45.00 10 .4 .4 98.1
46.00 9 .4 .4 98.4
47.00 10 .4 .4 98.9
48.00 18 .8 .8 99.6
49.00 9 .4 .4 100.0
Total 2369 100.0 100.0
Range of Scores
Cumulative
Valid 1.00 717 30.3 30.3 30.3
2.00 1652 69.7 69.7 100.0
Total 2369 100.0 100.0
Frequencies
Statistics
AGREEABLENE
SS Range of Scores
N Valid 2369 2369
Missing 0 0
Mean 33.5192 1.7674
Median 33.0000 2.0000
Mode 31.00 2.00
Frequency Table
AGREEABLENESS
Cumulative
Valid 15.00 10 .4 .4 .4
21.00 9 .4 .4 .8
23.00 28 1.2 1.2 2.0

155
24.00 20 .8 .8 2.8
25.00 20 .8 .8 3.7
26.00 38 1.6 1.6 5.3
27.00 48 2.0 2.0 7.3
28.00 95 4.0 4.0 11.3
29.00 97 4.1 4.1 15.4
30.00 186 7.9 7.9 23.3
31.00 244 10.3 10.3 33.6
32.00 224 9.5 9.5 43.0
33.00 173 7.3 7.3 50.3
34.00 224 9.5 9.5 59.8
35.00 173 7.3 7.3 67.1
36.00 134 5.7 5.7 72.7
37.00 184 7.8 7.8 80.5
38.00 190 8.0 8.0 88.5
39.00 113 4.8 4.8 93.3
40.00 56 2.4 2.4 95.7
41.00 39 1.6 1.6 97.3
43.00 9 .4 .4 97.7
44.00 28 1.2 1.2 98.9
45.00 9 .4 .4 99.2
47.00 9 .4 .4 99.6
50.00 9 .4 .4 100.0
Total 2369 100.0 100.0
Range of Scores
Cumulative
Valid 1.00 551 23.3 23.3 23.3
2.00 1818 76.7 76.7 100.0
Total 2369 100.0 100.0

156
Frequencies
Statistics
CONSCIENTIO
USNESS Range of Scores
N Valid 2369 2369
Missing 0 0
Mean 33.8666 1.8155
Median 34.0000 2.0000
Mode 34.00 2.00
Frequency Table
CONSCIENTIOUSNESS
Cumulative
Valid 15.00 10 .4 .4 .4
22.00 10 .4 .4 .8
23.00 10 .4 .4 1.3
24.00 48 2.0 2.0 3.3
26.00 18 .8 .8 4.1
27.00 39 1.6 1.6 5.7
28.00 89 3.8 3.8 9.5
29.00 86 3.6 3.6 13.1
30.00 127 5.4 5.4 18.4
31.00 239 10.1 10.1 28.5
32.00 186 7.9 7.9 36.4
33.00 209 8.8 8.8 45.2
34.00 308 13.0 13.0 58.2
35.00 223 9.4 9.4 67.6
36.00 124 5.2 5.2 72.9
37.00 126 5.3 5.3 78.2
38.00 200 8.4 8.4 86.6
39.00 134 5.7 5.7 92.3
40.00 50 2.1 2.1 94.4
41.00 57 2.4 2.4 96.8
42.00 19 .8 .8 97.6
43.00 28 1.2 1.2 98.8
157
45.00 19 .8 .8 99.6
48.00 10 .4 .4 100.0
Total 2369 100.0 100.0
Range of Scores
Cumulative
Valid 1.00 437 18.4 18.4 18.4
2.00 1932 81.6 81.6 100.0
Total 2369 100.0 100.0
Frequencies
NEUROTICISM
Cumulative
Valid 16.00 10 .4 .4 .4
17.00 20 .8 .8 1.3
18.00 47 2.0 2.0 3.3
19.00 39 1.6 1.6 4.9
20.00 65 2.7 2.7 7.6
21.00 59 2.5 2.5 10.1
22.00 68 2.9 2.9 13.0
23.00 66 2.8 2.8 15.8
24.00 58 2.4 2.4 18.2
25.00 80 3.4 3.4 21.6
26.00 105 4.4 4.4 26.0
27.00 128 5.4 5.4 31.4
28.00 96 4.1 4.1 35.5
29.00 164 6.9 6.9 42.4
30.00 125 5.3 5.3 47.7
31.00 38 1.6 1.6 49.3
32.00 203 8.6 8.6 57.9
33.00 182 7.7 7.7 65.6
34.00 145 6.1 6.1 71.7

35.00 94 4.0 4.0 75.6
158
36.00 59 2.5 2.5 78.1
37.00 107 4.5 4.5 82.7
38.00 46 1.9 1.9 84.6
39.00 30 1.3 1.3 85.9
40.00 39 1.6 1.6 87.5
41.00 76 3.2 3.2 90.7
42.00 77 3.3 3.3 94.0
43.00 39 1.6 1.6 95.6
44.00 29 1.2 1.2 96.8
45.00 47 2.0 2.0 98.8
46.00 18 .8 .8 99.6
48.00 10 .4 .4 100.0
Total 2369 100.0 100.0
Range of Scores
Cumulative
Valid 1.00 1130 47.7 47.7 47.7
2.00 1239 52.3 52.3 100.0
Total 2369 100.0 100.0
Frequencies
OPENNESS TO EXPERIENCE
Cumulative
Valid 15.00 10 .4 .4 .4
19.00 9 .4 .4 .8
22.00 9 .4 .4 1.2
24.00 20 .8 .8 2.0
25.00 38 1.6 1.6 3.6
26.00 58 2.4 2.4 6.1
27.00 38 1.6 1.6 7.7
28.00 85 3.6 3.6 11.3
29.00 119 5.0 5.0 16.3
30.00 182 7.7 7.7 24.0
31.00 137 5.8 5.8 29.8

32.00 165 7.0 7.0 36.7
159
33.00 164 6.9 6.9 43.6
34.00 182 7.7 7.7 51.3
35.00 148 6.2 6.2 57.6
36.00 144 6.1 6.1 63.7
37.00 213 9.0 9.0 72.6
38.00 179 7.6 7.6 80.2
39.00 135 5.7 5.7 85.9
40.00 76 3.2 3.2 89.1
41.00 77 3.3 3.3 92.4
42.00 56 2.4 2.4 94.7
43.00 28 1.2 1.2 95.9
44.00 39 1.6 1.6 97.6
45.00 20 .8 .8 98.4
46.00 9 .4 .4 98.8
47.00 20 .8 .8 99.6
56.00 9 .4 .4 100.0
Total 2369 100.0 100.0
Range of Scores
Cumulative
Valid 1.00 568 24.0 24.1 24.1
2.00 1801 76.0 75.9 100.0
Total 2360 100.0 100.0
Frequencies
Statistics
SELF-
EFFICACY Range of Scores
N Valid 2369 2369
Missing 0 0
Mean 30.4892 1.9350
Median 32.0000 2.0000
Mode 37.00 2.00
160
SELF-EFFICACY
Cumulative
Valid 10.00 10 .4 .4 .4
13.00 9 .4 .4 .8
14.00 9 .4 .4 1.2
15.00 29 1.2 1.2 2.4
16.00 29 1.2 1.2 3.6
17.00 10 .4 .4 4.1
18.00 39 1.6 1.6 5.7
19.00 19 .8 .8 6.5
20.00 28 1.2 1.2 7.7
21.00 47 2.0 2.0 9.7
22.00 40 1.7 1.7 11.4
23.00 57 2.4 2.4 13.8
24.00 66 2.8 2.8 16.5
25.00 77 3.3 3.3 19.8
26.00 86 3.6 3.6 23.4
27.00 76 3.2 3.2 26.6
28.00 137 5.8 5.8 32.4
29.00 96 4.1 4.1 36.5
30.00 117 4.9 4.9 41.4
31.00 175 7.4 7.4 48.8

32.00 154 6.5 6.5 55.3
33.00 191 8.1 8.1 63.4
34.00 172 7.3 7.3 70.6
35.00 144 6.1 6.1 76.7
36.00 137 5.8 5.8 82.5
37.00 231 9.8 9.8 92.2
38.00 128 5.4 5.4 97.6
39.00 38 1.6 1.6 99.2
40.00 18 .8 .8 100.0
Total 2369 100.0 100.0
Range of Scores
Cumulative
Valid 10-19 154 6.5 6.5 6.5

161
20-40 2215 93.5 93.5 100.0
Total 2369 100.0 100.0
Frequencies
SOCIAL ADJUSTMENT
Cumulative
Valid 40.00 9 .4 .4 .4
42.00 10 .4 .4 .8
44.00 9 .4 .4 1.2
45.00 20 .8 .8 2.0
47.00 19 .8 .8 2.8
48.00 49 2.1 2.1 4.9
49.00 29 1.2 1.2 6.1
50.00 36 1.5 1.5 7.6
51.00 58 2.4 2.4 10.1
52.00 28 1.2 1.2 11.3
53.00 58 2.4 2.4 13.7
54.00 56 2.4 2.4 16.1
55.00 77 3.3 3.3 19.3
56.00 136 5.7 5.7 25.1
57.00 167 7.0 7.0 32.1
58.00 89 3.8 3.8 35.9
59.00 132 5.6 5.6 41.5
60.00 105 4.4 4.4 45.9
61.00 105 4.4 4.4 50.3
62.00 144 6.1 6.1 56.4
63.00 85 3.6 3.6 60.0
64.00 122 5.1 5.1 65.1
65.00 124 5.2 5.2 70.4
66.00 88 3.7 3.7 74.1
67.00 105 4.4 4.4 78.5
68.00 69 2.9 2.9 81.4
69.00 110 4.6 4.6 86.1
70.00 49 2.1 2.1 88.1

71.00 40 1.7 1.7 89.8
72.00 28 1.2 1.2 91.0

162
73.00 69 2.9 2.9 93.9
74.00 20 .8 .8 94.8
76.00 29 1.2 1.2 96.0
77.00 9 .4 .4 96.4
78.00 19 .8 .8 97.2
79.00 19 .8 .8 98.0
81.00 10 .4 .4 98.4
82.00 9 .4 .4 98.8
83.00 9 .4 .4 99.2
87.00 10 .4 .4 99.6
92.00 10 .4 .4 100.0
Total 2369 100.0 100.0
Range of Scores
Cumulative
Valid 28-69 2039 86.1 86.1 86.1
70-112 330 13.9 13.9 100.0
Total 2369 100.0 100.0
Regression
Descriptive Statistics
Mean Std. Deviation N
SOCIAL ADJUSTMENT 61.6813 8.04733 2369

EXTRAVERSION 33.2313 5.73099 2369
Correlations
SOCIAL EXTRAVERSIO
ADJUSTMENT N
Pearson Correlation SOCIAL ADJUSTMENT 1.000 .082
EXTRAVERSION .082 1.000

Sig. (1-tailed) SOCIAL ADJUSTMENT . .000
EXTRAVERSION .000 .
N SOCIAL ADJUSTMENT 2369 2369
EXTRAVERSION 2369 2369

163
Variables Entered/Removeda
Variables
Model Variables Entered Removed Method
1 EXTRAVERSIONb . Enter
a. Dependent Variable: SOCIAL ADJUSTMENT

b. All requested variables entered.
Model Summaryb
Std. Error Change Statistics
Adjusted R of the R Square F Sig. F

Model R R Square Square Estimate Change Change df1 df2 Change
1 .082a .007 .006 8.02177 .007 16.112 1 2367 .000
a. Predictors: (Constant), EXTRAVERSION

b. Dependent Variable: SOCIAL ADJUSTMENT
ANOVAa
Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
1 Regression 1036.758 1 1036.758 16.112 .000b
Residual 152313.624 2367 64.349
Total 153350.382 2368

b. Predictors: (Constant), EXTRAVERSION
Coefficientsa
Unstandardized Standardized Collinearity
Coefficients Coefficients Correlations Statistics
Std. Zero-
Model B Error Beta t Sig. order Partial Part Tolerance VIF
1 (Constant) 57.845 .970 59.635 .000
EXTRAVERSION .115 .029 .082 4.014 .000 .082 .082 .082 1.000 1.000
Regression

NEUROTICISM 31.0675 6.97611 2369
164
Correlations
SOCIAL
ADJUSTMENT NEUROTICISM
Pearson Correlation SOCIAL ADJUSTMENT 1.000 -.106
NEUROTICISM -.106 1.000

NEUROTICISM .000 .
NEUROTICISM 2369 2369
Variables Entered/Removeda
Variables
Model Variables Entered Removed Method
b
1 NEUROTICISM . Enter

b. All requested variables entered.
Model Summaryb
Change Statistics
Adjusted R Std. Error of R Square Sig. F

Model R R Square Square the Estimate Change F Change df1 df2 Change
a
1 .106 .011 .011 8.00409 .011 26.650 1 2367 .000
a. Predictors: (Constant), NEUROTICISM

ANOVAa
1 Regression 1707.349 1 1707.349 26.650 .000b
Residual 151643.032 2367 64.065
Total 153350.382 2368

b. Predictors: (Constant), NEUROTICISM
Coefficientsa
Std. Zero-
1 (Constant) 65.463 .751 87.197 .000
NEUROTICISM -.122 .024 -.106 -5.162 .000 -.106 -.106 -.106 1.000 1.000
165
Regression

OPENNESS TO
34.3774 5.23286 2369
EXPERIENCE
Correlations
SOCIAL OPENNESS TO
ADJUSTMENT EXPERIENCE
Pearson Correlation SOCIAL ADJUSTMENT 1.000 .041
OPENNESS TO
.041 1.000
EXPERIENCE
OPENNESS TO
.022 .
EXPERIENCE
OPENNESS TO
2369 2369
EXPERIENCE
Model Summaryb
Change Statistics
Sig. F
Adjusted R Std. Error of R Square df Chang
Model R R Square Square the Estimate Change F Change 1 df2 e
1 236
.041a .002 .001 8.04210 .002 4.077 1 .044
7
a. Predictors: (Constant), OPENNESS TO EXPERIENCE

ANOVAa
Sum of
Model Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
1 Regression 263.678 1 263.678 4.077 .044b
Residual 153086.704 2367 64.675
Total 153350.382 2368

b. Predictors: (Constant), OPENNESS TO EXPERIENCE
Coefficientsa
166
Standardize
d
Unstandardize Coefficient Collinearity
d Coefficients s Correlations Statistics
Zero
-
Std. orde Partia Par Toleranc
Model B Error Beta t Sig. r l t e VIF
1 (Constant) 59.48 54.16 .00

1.098
9 9 0
OPENNESS
TO .04 .04 1.00
.064 .032 .041 2.019 .041 .041 1.000
EXPERIENC 4 1 0
E
Regression

AGREEABLENESS 33.5192 4.55176 2369
Correlations
SOCIAL AGREEABLENE
ADJUSTMENT SS
AGREEABLENESS -.048 1.000

AGREEABLENESS .010 .
AGREEABLENESS 2369 2369
Model Summaryb
Change Statistics
Adjusted R Std. Error of R Square Sig. F

Model R R Square Square the Estimate Change F Change df1 df2 Change
1 .048a .002 .002 8.03974 .002 5.473 1 2367 .019

a. Predictors: (Constant), AGREEABLENESS
167
ANOVAa
1 Regression 353.752 1 353.752 5.473 .019b
Residual 152996.630 2367 64.637
Total 153350.382 2368

b. Predictors: (Constant), AGREEABLENESS
Coefficientsa
Std. Zero-
1 (Constant) 64.528 1.228 52.555 .000
AGREEABLENESS -.085 .036 -.048 -2.339 .019 -.048 -.048 -.048 1.000 1.000
Regression

CONSCIENTIOUSNESS 33.8666 4.37427 2369
Correlations
SOCIAL
ADJUSTMENT CONSCIENTIOUSNESS
Pearson SOCIAL
1.000 -.012
Correlation ADJUSTMENT
CONSCIENTIOUSNESS -.012 1.000

Sig. (1-tailed) SOCIAL
. .274
ADJUSTMENT
CONSCIENTIOUSNESS .274 .
N SOCIAL
2369 2369
ADJUSTMENT
CONSCIENTIOUSNESS 2369 2369

b
Model Summary
168
Change Statistics
Adjusted R Std. Error of the F Sig. F

Model R R Square Square Estimate R Square Change Change df1 df2 Change
a
1 .012 .000 .000 8.04841 .000 .360 1 2367 .549
a. Predictors: (Constant), CONSCIENTIOUSNESS

ANOVAa
1 Regression 23.310 1 23.310 .360 .549b
Residual 153327.071 2367 64.777
Total 153350.382 2368

b. Predictors: (Constant), CONSCIENTIOUSNESS
Coefficientsa
Standardize
d
Unstandardize Coefficient Collinearity
d Coefficients s Correlations Statistics
Zero
-
Std. orde Partia Toleranc
Model B Error Beta t Sig. r l Part e VIF
1(Constant) 48.36 .00
62.449 1.291
7 0
CONSCIENTIOUSNE -
.54 - 1.00
SS -.023 .038 -.012 -.600 -.012 .01 1.000
9 .012 0
2
169
Multiple Regressions

BigFive_Traits 166.06 14.926 2369
Correlations
SOCIAL
ADJUSTMENT BigFive_Traits
BigFive_Traits -.021 1.000

BigFive_Traits .148 .
BigFive_Traits 2369 2369

b
Model Summary
R Adjusted R of the R Square F Sig. F

Model R Square Square Estimate Change Change df1 df2 Change
a
1 .021 .000 .000 8.04717 .000 1.091 1 2367 .296
a. Predictors: (Constant), BigFive_Traits

a
ANOVA

b
1 Regression 70.678 1 70.678 1.091 .296
Residual 153279.703 2367 64.757
Total 153350.382 2368

b. Predictors: (Constant), BigFive_Traits
a
Coefficients
Unstandardized Standardized 95.0% Confidence

Coefficients Coefficients Interval for B Correlations
Std. Lower Upper Zero-

Model B Error Beta t Sig. Bound Bound order Partial Part
1 (Constant) 63.603 1.847 34.431 .000 59.981 67.226
BigFive_Traits -
-.012 .011 -.021 -1.045 .296 -.033 .010 -.021 -.021
.021

170
Regression

BigFive_Traits 166.06 14.926 2369
SELF-EFFICACY 30.4892 6.07178 2369
Correlations
SOCIAL
ADJUSTMENT BigFive_Traits SELF-EFFICACY
Pearson Correlation SOCIAL ADJUSTMENT 1.000 -.021 .224
BigFive_Traits -.021 1.000 -.025
SELF-EFFICACY .224 -.025 1.000

Sig. (1-tailed) SOCIAL ADJUSTMENT . .148 .000
BigFive_Traits .148 . .108
SELF-EFFICACY .000 .108 .
N SOCIAL ADJUSTMENT 2369 2369 2369
BigFive_Traits 2369 2369 2369
SELF-EFFICACY 2369 2369 2369

b
Model Summary
R Adjusted R of the R Square F Sig. F

Model R Square Square Estimate Change Change df1 df2 Change
a
1 .224 .050 .049 7.84570 .050 62.636 2 2366 .000
a. Predictors: (Constant), SELF-EFFICACY, BigFive_Traits

a
ANOVA

b
1 Regression 7711.069 2 3855.535 62.636 .000
Residual 145639.312 2366 61.555
Total 153350.382 2368

b. Predictors: (Constant), SELF-EFFICACY, BigFive_Traits
a
Coefficients
Unstandardized Standardized 95.0% Confidence

Model Coefficients Coefficients t Sig. Interval for B Correlations
171
Std. Lower Upper Zero-

B Error Beta Bound Bound order Partial Part
1 (Constant) 54.071 1.994 27.118 .000 50.161 57.981
BigFive_Traits -
-.009 .011 -.016 -.787 .431 -.030 .013 -.021 -.016
.016
SELF-
.296 .027 .223 11.141 .000 .244 .348 .224 .223 .223
EFFICACY

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1

Background to the Study

Social adjustment of students is an issue of great concern to many,

especially parents, teachers, counsellors and psychologists. This is based on the

become a worrisome phenomenon because of its tendency to affect their

prostitution and other unwholesome behaviours which tend to affect the

likelihood of their being adjusted in the society.

of the school as best as each student can. Adjustment according to Nirmala

frustrated. According to Azuji (2014), it is the process and condition of being in

personal relationship with others.

and behavioural expectations of different schools. These challenges according

of a community (home, school, and church) hinges on their ability to socially

adjust in every given situation.

an individual maintains a cordial relationship with other people. For example, a

lives. In addition, social adjustment according to Rienties, Beausaert, Grohnert,

Niemantsverdriet, and Kommers (2011), is how an individual maintains a

It is measured in terms of good and poor. A child is poorly adjusted when he or

Furthermore, students who are socially adjusted tend to achieve a

setting, however tend to come with many challenges.

students‟ social milieu in secondary schools in Anambra State is that of forming

and other unwholesome behaviours.

As a consequence, achieving such a happy and harmonious life in the

society may become a challenge. Nevertheless, the successful handling of such

handling of such challenges could equally lead to social maladjustment of

individuals. For example, a student adjusts to his or her social environment

community in which the individual lives.

Adjustment to social environment according to Kaljahi (2016) is one of

environment, establish and maintain good relationship with people, participate

as other extra-curricular programmes of the school, could affect their becoming

(2006), Wentzel (2013), have worked assiduously to establish crucial factors

that promote positive adjustment of individuals in school, especially at the

elements as motivation, participation in school events, personality traits, and

Self-efficacy is an important variable which could help in the social

adjustment of students in school. Necessary emotional resources such as self-

social settings. Self-efficacy is thus seen as an individual's personal judgment of

an individual‟s capabilities in successfully carrying out a given task. Bhagat and

Baliya (2016) viewed self-efficacy as one‟s belief in his or her ability to

produce designated levels of performance that exercise influence over events

have centred on the concept, in order to understand the process of how

required in managing any given situation.

In the same way, secondary school students have varying perceptions of

successful friendship and interaction with fellow students, participate in group

projects, and in social activities such as extra-curricular programmes of the

self-efficacy belief tends to reflect their level of social confidence as well as

sense of self-efficacy, are likely to be better equipped to establish and maintain

Therefore, students in secondary schools may experience difficulty in school,

inability to adjust within the school and the larger society.

Moreover, the students‟ uniqueness in interpreting their surroundings

may also be a factor in developing the students‟ social relationship. So,

understanding of the students‟ social adjustment may require deducing the

situation or stimulus according to the individual unique personality traits

The personality traits of individuals according to Koludrovic, Bubic and

Ercegovac (2014), could be predicted through their interactions with people in

the social environments. Thus, personality trait according to Weiten, Lloyd,

Dunn and Hammer (2009) is seen as a set of psychological traits and

and social environs. In such instance, sustainability of any social relationship

could be affected by behavioural adjustment problems relating to personality

traits of the students. Similarly, Daminabo (2008), viewed personality traits as

person's behaviour across different situations.

Accordingly, an individuals‟ personality is the totality of a person‟s