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Article Title: Effects of Cognitive Restructuring on Social Adjustment of Maladjusted In-School Adolescents in Secondary Schools in Ogidi Education Zone of Anambra State
by Egenti, Uju. P. (Ph.D) and Prof. R.C. Ebenebe

Abstract:
The main purpose of the study was to examine the effects of cognitive restructuring on social adjustment of maladjusted in-school adolescents in secondary schools in Ogidi Education Zone in Anambra State. The researchers embarked on this study because of adjustment problems among students in the area of study. In recent time, most secondary schools in Anambra State have witnessed peer cruelty, substances abuse, aggression, loitering, fighting, bullying or threatening others, rioting, stealing, truancy, raping, smoking, lateness, violation of rules and regulation, destruction of school property, among other forms of maladjustment. The study adopted a quasi-experimental design. The population of the study comprised 211 maladjusted senior secondary two (SSII) students of the 2016/2017 in the 40 public secondary schools in Ogidi Education Zone. The sample size of this study consisted of 52 maladjusted SSII students sampled from the population of the study. Through purposive sampling technique, two schools out of 40 with highest population of maladjusted students were selected for both experimental and control groups. The instrument for data collection was School Adjustment Rating Scale (SARS). SARS was validated by experts. The reliability of the instrument was determined by trial-testing of the instrument on a representative sample of 10 SSII maladjusted students randomly selected in two public secondary schools in Onitsha Education Zone. The internal consistency of SARS was subjected to Cronbach Alpha statistical analysis, which yielded coefficient value of 0.79. The conduct of the study took place during the normal school lesson period. The study lasted for six weeks. Mean scores and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions, while analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used to test the hypotheses at .05 level of significance. This study found that there is a significant difference in the mean social adjustment scores of maladjusted adolescent students exposed to cognitive restructuring compared to conventional counselling. It was among others recommended that the use of academic based cognitive restructuring packages addressed to social challenges of the individual should be put in place to tackle the problem of academic maladjustment in adolescents. This study is likely to impact positively on the students, teachers, counsellors and the reading public.

Keywords: cognitive restructuring; social adjustment; maladjustment; in-school adolescents, and secondary school.

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