School climate as correlate of bullying behaviour among secondary school students in Yagba West of Kogi State, Nigeria

Abstract

Bullying is the most common form of violence in schools. The current study examined the relationship between school climate and bullying behaviour among secondary school students in Yagba West, Kogi State, Nigeria. The research design employed for this study was a descriptive research method of the correlational survey type. The target population consisted of all SSS II secondary school students in Yagba West of Kogi State. Simple random sampling technique was used to select 300 students as sample for the study. Questionnaire was used to collect relevant data. Frequency counts and percentage were used to describe the demographic characteristics of the respondents. Also, summated mean rating was used to answer the research questions, while the Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC) and the t-test statistical tools were used to test the formulated hypotheses. Finding revealed that there was a significant relationship between school climate and bullying behaviour among secondary school students in Yagba West of Kogi State. Another, finding revealed that there was no significant difference in the bullying behaviour of secondary schools students in Yagba West of Kogi State based on gender. Hence, it was recommended that School management should create a conducive environment for students to feel safe and victims of bullying should be encouraged to report and not to stereotyped. Cases of bullying should also be referred to the school counsellors Keywords: Bullying Behaviour, School Climate, Correlate, Yagba West