Effect of Social Skills Training on Secondary School Students’ Shyness in Yorro Local Government Area in Taraba State

Abstract

This study examined the effect of social skills training on Secondary School Students’ Shyness in the Yorro Local Government Area in Taraba State, Nigeria. Two (2) Objectives were set to guide this study, and Two (2) null hypotheses were formulated and tested at a 0.05 significance level. The study employed one group pre-test and post-test experimental design. The population comprised forty-three (43) students who exhibited symptoms of shyness in the selected secondary school in Yorro LGA in Taraba State, Nigeria. A sample of twenty (20) SS II students was selected through purposive sampling. The Shyness Personality Scale (SPS) consisting of 40 items with a test-retest reliability value of r = 0.958 was used for data collection. Mean, Standard Deviation and Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test were used to analyze the data. Findings reveal that students exposed to social skills training (SST) had reduced shy behaviour. The reduction in mean shyness scores from the pre-test to the post-test for both genders suggests that the intervention effectively decreased shyness levels. The slightly larger reduction in shyness scores for females compared to males indicates that the intervention may have been marginally more effective for females. The researchers therefore, concluded that social skills training effectively decreased secondary school students’ shyness in Yorro L.G.A. of Taraba State. The findings of the study led to the recommendation that students should be encouraged to go to school counsellors for training on the use of social skills’ training especially to curb behavioural problems such as shyness. (ii) Principals in federal schools, State schools and Proprietors of private schools should be encouraged to provide adequate counselling services phenomenon in schools and to employ the services of professional counsellors who will use Social Skills Training for effective treatment of students’ behavioural problems such as shyness. (iii) Educational experts in counselling should be encouraged to use social skills training for effective treatment of shyness among secondary school students.