INFLUENCE OF TELEVISED VIOLENCE ON SOCIO-EMOTIONAL AND ACADEMIC ADJUSTMENT OF STUDENTS IN FEDERAL TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS IN ANAMBRA STATE

ABSTRACT

The major focus of this study is to assess the influence of television violence on socio-emotional and adjustment of student of federal tertiary institution in Anambra state comprising Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, Federal Polytechnic Oko and College of Education, Umunze. The study assessed what kinds of program me’s/films contain violence and how it affects the respondent and influence their lifestyle and behaviour particularly undergraduates. The respond that formed the sample size were 300 in numbers randomly selected from the three Federal tertiary institution understudy. The questionnaire was designed to measure the rate of influence of television violence as well as socio-emotional and academic adjustment of student understudy. This was done in order to determine the nature and the extent of the effect of TV violence on undergraduates. In the findings of this study, it was found that youths initiate violence they observed on TV and the effect of TV violence on them is profound.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

The overwhelming influence of television on the lives of people since its invention has over the years become not only un-debatable, but equally stunning. Television according to Onwuegbu, (2001) is an electronic cum audio-visual device through which viewers watch recorded and live programmes on air. The influence of television on the lives of people stems not only from the three roles it plays – as a medium of information, education and entertainment. Also many groups have taken solace in television and its programmes as means of relaxation, recreation, withdrawal, goal setting and socialization.

Teaching and learning in schools have strong social, emotional, and academic components (Zins, Weissberg, Wang, & Walberg, 2004). Students typically do not learn alone but rather in collaboration with their teachers, in the company of their peers, and with the encouragement of their families using several gadgets and television in particular. Sometimes, violent programmes are shown on the television.

Violence on society has been widely studied and vigorously debated. Based on the cumulative evidence of studies conducted over several decades, the scientific and public health communities overwhelmingly conclude that viewing violence poses a harmful risk to children. Critics of the research challenge this conclusion and dispute claims that exposure to TV violence leads to real-life aggression. As we move into the digital era with enhanced images and sound, media violence will undoubtedly continue to be a focus of public concern and scientific research.

In recent times, it appears the rate at which violence is aired on television is increasing. Osuji (2009) defined violence as an act accompanied by attack or force inflicting injury or pains on another person. Enyi (2003) has also defined violence as the act of showing in motion pictures and movies the acts accompanied with attacks and injuries. Moreso, violence on the streets as well as the tendency of youths (including students) to act violently, after viewing violence has become an increasingly disturbing issue among many concerned groups.

The combination of sound and vision has made television exert tremendous influence in shaping the lives of students in tertiary institutions. It is informing, educating, entertaining and persuasive. As a result of this, it is a powerful force in determining the socio-emotional and academic adjustments of students. Despite the importance of television, its harmful effects cannot be overemphasized as it shapes the students’ socio-economic and academic aspects of life. Students watch violent movies/films on television screen without considering if its advantages out weight the harmful effects on their lives and the society at large (Bushman & Cantor, 2003).

Different television stations show violent and horror movies that students often like to copy and form attitude about life without weighing the hazardous effects of such violent movies on one’s behaviour. In this case, television is easily manipulated by movie makers to show movies that dominate the realm of students’ reasoning thus consciously or unconsciously impacting on their socio-emotion and academic adjustments. With its adaptability to modern technology, television is a veritable tool for integration by providing the viewers’ access to a variety of information which helps them to know and understand each other but when wrongly manipulated it influences the socio-emotional and academic adjustment of students.

The issue of learners’ adjustment at school has long been a concern of educationalists and psychologists. From the psychological point of view, adjustment is important because it plays a role in the optimal development of children. The educationists view adjustment of learners at school as determining the children’s school performance as well as their likelihood of continuing at school rather than dropping out. Reynolds, Weissberg and Kasprow (1992) write that early school adjustment determines later school adjustment and social competence in children. This implies that adjustment has a significant influence on children’s attitudes towards school and school progress. This further implies that the academic adjustment of children could lead to poor performances in school work, poor attendance to lectures and other class activities,  mention but a few. This is a situation where the adjustment is a negative one.

Today students copy role models from television screens in the form of clothing, hairstyle, language and attitudes. The aftermath is that greater number of students in federal tertiary institutions in Anambra State, Federal College of Education Umunze and Federal Polytechnic Oko tend to reflect these attitudes in the form of social vices such as gansterism, cultism and examination malpractices. The content of television programmes has unlimited violence which includes robbery, shoot-outs, murder, and use of dangerous weapons.

The proliferation of violent movies, in the market tends to increase the rate of violence being carried out by students in tertiary institutions. Considering the ever increasing cases of  cult clashes resulting in bloodletting and death of students countless records of rape and armed robberies by students leads to the fact that heavy exposure to televised violence influences the viewer’s social behaviour.

In recent times, researchers have repeatedly been pointing to the fact that the increase in violence especially among students in tertiary institutions is attributable to viewing televised violence. Anaekwe, (2002) argues that poor academic performance experienced among students can be attributable to over indulgence by students who spend long hours watching violence programmes on television, which at the end tilt them negatively in terms of emotional disposition.

Television is emotionally and psychologically harmful to children and youths. Television seem to be most significant in leisure activity. The National Television violence study (NTSV) conducted from 1994 to 1997, reported that watching so much violence on television causes children and young adults to think that the world is a mean and dangerous place (American Psychological Association, 2006).

Televised violence programmes influence children. Therefore, television influences teenage violence. Freedman (1983) says that when a child is confronted, he or she goes back to what they have learned from watching television. In some cases, children using what they learned from the television can be very violent, but due to the fact that we learn from doing something over and over, it is the same for watching violent situations over and over. Children learn them and react in a violent manner.

Children cannot tell the difference between real and unreal act on television. Television programmes contain a lot of make-up belief. Some of the acts on television are make-up stories. As such, the actors and the story may not be true. Thus, young children are unlikely to realize that when a character attacks someone it is not real and should not be imitated.

The assumption that television violence have impact on children’s value and perception of the world has long been a central one in social science theorizing. The American researchers; Tubbs, Stewart, Moss and Sylvia, (1980) noted that as children grow older, those who had unsatisfactory social relationships were reported to be heavy viewers. These researchers further reported that although there was no indication that behaviour in most normal children reflect violence act after viewing television, certain children might be victim. In short Schramm (1976) emphasized that intellectual and emotional characteristics of children were important factors in determining the influence of televised violence on socio-emotional and academic adjustment of children. Violence on television is inextricably linked to human aggression and emotional imbalance especially among students in tertiary institutions. However, some researchers do not believe that there is a conclusive body of evidence to justify this view. This study therefore, aims at x-raying the impact of televised-violence on socio-emotional and academic adjustments of students, as well as whether gender moderates the extent of the influence.

Furthermore, researchers are increasingly focusing on issue of gender related difference and similarities in school performance Shraunt (1976) are positively related to gender differences. According to Benbow and Stanley (1983) policy-makers and school administrators have made progress in eliminating sex discrimination from their policies and programs. Inspite of those vestiges of sex discriminations, gender bias and sex stereotyping still remains (Earle and Roach, 1989).

Gender bias occurs whenever someone’s attitude, decisions and actions towards an individual are based on that individual’s gender. Thus in Nigeria which is a patriarchal society gender bias is very persuasive, Hodge (2001). It therefore deserves careful examination as a factor that could influence children’s school performance and social adjustment.

Many teachers in Nigerian schools are still gender insensitive. This insensitivity continues to exert powerful and regulative influences on many students and also bring about differences in the academic and socio-emotional adjustments of these students. There is need to investigate it.

Statement of Problem

A key challenge for 21st-century schools involves serving culturally diverse students with varied abilities and motivations for learning Unfortunately, many students lack social-emotional adjustment after viewing violent programmes on television. As a result, they become less connected to school as they progress from elementary to through secondary to tertiary institution, and this lack of connection negatively affects their academic performance, behavior and health. Negative effect of televised violence on students’ academic performance as observed by Blum and Libby may be as a result of students’ inability to adjust academically after viewing violent programmes on television.

Violence is one of the dominating messages disseminated through the sensation of television, which plays an active role in entertaining and impacting the lives of today‘s young audience. The influence of televised violence on socio-emotional and academic adjustment of children has been largely associated with imbibing new ways of life and has not been properly addressed by different researchers. These ways include social, emotional and mental behaviours. Gender is also an important consideration in the degree of influence of televised violence as women appear to react differently to televised violence. Because of its prevalence, violence on TV has grown to be a controversial issue on which several studies have been conducted since the 1950s. This project explores the influence of televised violence on socio-emotional and academic adjustment of students in federal tertiary institutions in Anambra state

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of televised-violence on socio-emotional and academic adjustment of students. Specifically, the study seeks to determine:

1. The influence of televised violence on social adjustment of students who are intense, moderate and low viewers.
2. The influence of televised-violence in emotional adjustment of students who are intense, moderate and low television viewers.
3. The influence of televised-violence on the academic adjustments of students who are intense, moderate and low viewers.
4. Influences of televised-violence on students’ Gender

Significance of the Study

The findings of this study will be found useful to the teachers, parents, educational psychologist, school administrators, policy-makers and students.

The findings of this study will be theoretically significant as the data provided will hopefully help the educational psychologists in refining all the theories with regards to the influence of televised violence on student’s socio-emotional and academic adjustments.

The teachers / lecturers will benefit from this study as they become aware of the influence of televised-violence on the behaviour and academic performance of their children, considering their developmental stages. It will help them make use of appropriate technique in teaching the children.

The findings of the study will be of immense help to educational psychologists and policy-makers and assist them in their different duties towards the students and their overall performance. For the students, this study will go a long way in assisting them in creating a balance on the rate at which they are exposed to televised-violence.

Parents too, will find this work valuable as it will assist them in knowing what exposure to televised violence can cause their children in school. This will help them to check against such violence-portrayed movies capable of influencing attitudes negatively.

Lastly, this work would be beneficial to future researchers who can now readily lay their hands on the result of this work by making use of the research report.

Scope of the Study

This study will be carried out in Anambra state tertiary institution and will cover three federal tertiary institutions.

The content scope of this study will be limited to influence of televised-violence on socio-emotional and academic adjustments of students. Apart from the effects of exposure to-televised violence movies on academic performance of heavy viewers, this study also looks at the socio-emotional adjustments of viewers as well as measure the degree of such influence across gender. Respondents who watch television below 2 hours per day will be regarded as low viewers, those who watch television between 2 – 4 hours per day will be regarded as moderate viewers while those who watch above 4 hours per day will be regarded as intense viewers.

Research Questions

The following research questions will serve as guides in this study:

1. What is the influence of televised violence on the social adjustments of students who are intense, moderate, and low viewers?
2. What is the influence of televised violence on the emotional adjustments of students who are intense, moderate and low viewers?

• What is the influence of televised violence on academic adjustments of students who are intense, moderate and low viewers?

1. What is the influence of televised violence on students gender?

Research Hypothesis

The following research hypothesis will be tested at 0.05 level of significance:

H0₁:            Televised-violence does not significantly influence social adjustment of students who are intense, moderate and low television viewers.

H0₂:            The influence of televised violence on the emotional adjustment of intense, moderate and low viewing students is not significant.

H0₃:            The influence of televised violence on the academic adjustment of intense, moderate and low viewing students is not significant.

H0₄:            The influence of televised violence on students gender is not significant

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