Psychosocial influence of loneliness on secondary school students in Andoni Local Government Area, Rivers State, Nigeria

Abstract

Loneliness is the absence of satisfying social relationships, accompanied by symptoms of psychological distress that are related to the actual or perceived absence. The study investigated the psychosocial influence of loneliness on secondary school students in Andoni Local Government Area, Rivers State, Nigeria. The sample of 382 students was used for the study using simple random sampling technique via balloting. Two research questions were answered while two hypotheses were tested in the study at 0.05 level of significance. The instrument for the study was a questionnaire tagged “Psychosocial Influence of loneliness Questionnaire (PILQ)”. The data collected were analyzed with mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions while the hypotheses were tested with z-test. From the analysis, it was found out that poor family relation significantly influences loneliness among secondary school students in Andoni local government area. More so, the result of the study showed that self-esteem significantly influence loneliness among secondary school students in Andoni local government area. Based on the findings, it was recommended that there is need for personal social, group counselling and individual counselling in schools where students with challenged environment and personality are counselled. And students should develop positive self-esteem in life to assist them in their academic achievement.