EFFECT OF COGNITIVE RESTRUCTURING ON SOCIAL COMPETENCE OF PUPILS WITH SOCIAL WITHDRAWAL BEHAVIOUR IN NSUKKA EDUCATION ZONE.

ABSTRACT

The study investigated the Effect of Cognitive Restructuring on Social Competence of  Pupils  with  Social  Withdrawal  Behaviour.  Three  research  questions  and  three  null hypotheses  were  generated  to  guide  the  study.  The  design  of  the  study  was  a  quasi- experimental non-equivalent pretest-posttest research design involving one experimental and one control group. The sample consists of eighteen (18) socially withdrawn primary school class five pupils from two schools in Igbo-Etiti L.G.A in Nsukka Education Zone of Enugu State. Two instruments used for the study were an adapted Social Withdrawal Identification Scale (SWIS) and Social Competence Rating Scale (SCRS). These were validated by experts and used for data collection. Mean and standard deviations were used to answer the research questions, while analysis of covariance was used to test the null hypotheses. Major findings of the study reveal that  exposing Socially Withdrawn pupils in the skills associated  with cognitive  restructuring  has an enhanced  effect on their Social Competence.  Maleness and femaleness did not have any significant effect on the mean social competence scores of those exposed to cognitive restructuring and those that were not. The interaction effect of gender and treatment on social competence of pupils with Social Withdrawal  behaviour  was not significant. Based on these findings, conclusions were drawn and  educational implications discussed. Major recommendations made were: to educate and expose both the pre-service and in-service teachers to the skills of cognitive restructuring that can enable them imbibe it to pupils especially the Socially Withdrawn for effective social interactions in the classroom. Teachers should encourage  the  Socially  Withdrawn pupils to demonstrate adequate social relationships with their peers in and outside the school environment. More so, both male and female socially withdrawn pupils should be exposed to cognitive restructuring without any form of gender bias since they all benefit equally from such exposure.

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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Some individuals appear content to spend most of their hours and days removed from others due to lack of social interaction. Conversely, there are those individuals who, while in social company, avoid their confreres, or who actively choose lives of solitude to escape the initiation and maintenance  of interpersonal relationships.  In the cases of  the avoidance of social company, solitude could hardly be construed as socially adaptive. It is not the display of solitude per se that may pose a problem; rather the central issue is that social withdrawal may reflect underlying difficulties of a social, academic or emotional nature (Kenneth, 2009).

Social withdrawal is defined as an internal state in which the individual lacks a sense of belonging in social relationships leading to exclusion and inability to meet  their social goals in the company of their peers (Chen 2006). According to Chen, this is more likely to have direct experience  of peer  neglect  and rejection  than their  more  sociable  age-mates. Social withdrawal  refers to the consistent  (across  situations  and  overtime)  display of all forms of solitary behaviours  when encountering  familiar  and/or  unfamiliar  peers (Rubin

1993). Social withdrawal is not a clinically defined behavioural, social, or emotional disorder in childhood. It is simply a form of social isolation. For the purpose of this  study, Social withdrawal is defined as isolating oneself from the peer group.

In one’s life one needs to interact with others. The ability to interact with others and to be competent in doing so has been ranked as one of the most important skills one can have (Rubin  and  Asendorpf  1993).  It  is  through  one’s  interactions  with  others  that  one’s experiences become richer, more significant, and through it one learns, engages, reflects and becomes socially competent through social interaction.

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Social  competence  refers  to  the ability to  manage  and  contribute  to one’s  social interactions. According to Rubin and Rose-krasnor (2001), Social competence is the ability to achieve personal goals in social interactions  while simultaneously maintaining  positive relationships with others over time and across situation. It refers to one’s ability to regulate his or her emotions and behaviours within social contexts in order to attain one’s social goals and  attain  development  tasks  (Hastings,  2006).  For  the  purpose  of  this  study,  social competence refers to a person’s ability to get along with others.

Pupils who are accepted by their peers or display pro-social and responsible forms of behaviour at school tend to be high achievers, whereas socially rejected and aggressive pupils appear to be especially at risk of academic failure (Dishion, 1997; Feldhusen, Thurston, and Benning, 2000; Green, Forehand, Beck, and Vosk, 1999; Lambert, 2002). This is to say that lower levels of social acceptance in kindergarten are predictive of deficits in classroom social skills,  work  habits,  and  lower  academic  achievement  (Parke,  Harshman,  Roberts,  Flyr, O’Neil, Welsh, and Strand, 1998).

Considering  the  lamentation  of  teachers,  parents  and  other  care-givers  on  the increasing  rate of anti-social  behaviours  such as active  isolation,  bullying,  sexual  abuse among children. These problem behaviours seem to be exhibited by the socially withdrawn ones and it is believed to affect ones’ social relationship. Research has shown that socially withdrawn pupils are susceptible not only to anti-social behaviours, but also perform poorly in the school. More so, children who have difficulty paying attention, following emotions perform less well in school despite the ability to master  academic materials (McClelland, Morrison, & Holmes, 2000; Slaim & Madden, 2001).

According  to  the  report  presented  by  the  former  Minister  of  Education,  Prof. Ruqayatu Ahmed Rufa’i, who spoke while declaring open the 2012 National Conference on Examinations  in Abuja,  decried  the poor  quality of outcome  in the  country’s  education

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system especially on English and Mathematics. She added that while 30.9% of candidates obtained five credits and above in WAEC in 2011, only 8.06% had that in NECO (Vanguard Newspaper, 11 Dec. 2012). This she further noted emanates from  inadequate interactions among pupils in the classroom, especially the fading away of group study in schools. Hence, poor social interactions lead to withdrawal behaviours which inhibit child’s ability to discuss certain  issues with the peer groups  especially  as  it concerns  academics.  This is because almost every child wants to outshine others in academic performance and other endeavours in life. That is why social withdrawal behaviour has been evidenced to affect the child even as he/she transits to higher level in educational activities and throughout one’s life (Katz and McClellan, 1997).

Over the past decades or so, the study of pupils’ solitary and/or withdrawn behaviour has  been  associated  with  such  constructs  as  shyness,  behavioural  inhibition,  isolation, rejection, social reticence, passivity and peer neglect (Rubin 2004). This problem is viewed as  emanating  from  such  internal  factors  as anxiety,  negative  self–esteem,  self-perceived difficulties in social skills and social relationships (Rubin & Asendorpf, 1993).

Early childhood is a period when most people learn the social and coping skills that sustain them for the rest of their lives. A child whose fears leads to withdrawal from social interaction will, if untreated, tend to grow into an adult with severe anxiety and withdrawal issues, vocalization  impairment,  abnormal health condition  and other  forms of anti-social behaviours. Such deficiencies in social skills will then serve to reinforce social anxiety and to foster  negative  self  appraisals  and  negative  self-esteem  (Nelson,  2005).  However,  some believe that social withdrawal in childhood depending upon the age at which it is observed, reflects  lack  of  a social  approach  motive  and  a  preference  for  object  manipulation  and construction over inter-personal exchange (Coplan, 2004). Also, there are those who believe that social withdrawal is linked to psychological maladaptation as it represents a behavioural

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expression of internalized  thoughts and feelings of social anxiety or depression (Vasa and Pine, 2006). Whichever, unless children achieve minimal social competence by about the age of six years, they have high possibility of being at risk throughout life (Katz and McClellan,

1997).

Recently, studies have found that social withdrawal predicted depressive symptoms for those children who had insecure attachment  relationships  with their  parents (Gullone,

2006). That is, those children whose  parents  were insensitive  or inconsistently cared  for during their early stage in life. Thus, the cognitive structures or schema developed in early relationship in the family according to Ngwoke (2005), serve as the prototype for the child’s later relationship in school, marriage, family life, government, religion and other institutions in the society. When examining the impact of a particular  value or  belief on oneself and others, pupils can clarify their values or beliefs.  This may be  achieved  through cognitive restructuring therapy.

Cognitive restructuring is the process of learning to refute negative interpretations, or fundamental  “faulty thinking” with the goal of replacing  one’s irrational,  counter–factual beliefs with more accurate  and beneficial  ones  (Ellis,  1998).  According to Eke and Obi (2012),  cognitive  restructuring  is the  process  of  replacing  cognitive  distortion  (negative interpretation) with thoughts which are more logical, accurate and useful. For the purpose of this  study,  cognitive  restructuring  could  be  seen  as a process  of helping  one to  correct negative  or  faulty  thinking  and  believe  one  has  about  specific  issue(s).  The  cognitive restructuring  theory  holds  that  one’s  own  unrealistic  beliefs  are  directly responsible  for generating  dysfunctional  emotions  and  their  resultant  behaviour,  like  stress,  depression, anxiety and social withdrawal, and that one can get rid of such emotions and their effects by dismantling  the beliefs  that  give them life (Ellis, 1967). The indication is that when this therapeutic  technique  is  well  applied,  these  socially  withdrawn  pupils  will  realize  the

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negative values, beliefs, attitude and practices or knowledge they have about socialization and  work  hard  towards  eliminating  and  replacing  them  with  positive  ones.  Hence,  the rationale in cognitive restructuring attempts to strengthen the client’s belief that “self-talk” can  influence  performance  and  in  particular  self-  defeating  thoughts  or  negative  self- statements can cause emotional distress and interfere with performance, a process that then repeats again in a cycle (Ellis & Harper 1975; Ellis 1998).

Notwithstanding,  Maduewesi  (2005)  opined  that  the  growing  problem  in  school performance  and  engagement  that  many  children  face  seem  to  be defined  by  issues  of historical  privilege.  The  pattern  of  child-rearing  and  socialization  practice  obtainable  in Nigeria seems to allow young boys more privileges than girls. They may both have to work, but for boys it is outside the home, expanding their horizons, for girls, it is inside the home, restricting their interactions and experience.  This gender  imbalance seems to hinder one’s achievement.

Gender  refers  to  socially  constructed  roles  and  socially  learned  behaviours  and expectations associated with males and females (Nwagbara 1998; & Okeke, 2000). Gender as a social construct has to do with behaving according to type- male or  female; boy or girl. Gender role–identity therefore is an image of oneself as relatively masculine  or feminine (Berk,  1998). This image of oneself shapes  ones’  cognition  towards social relationships. Gender schema theory has it that both environmental pressures and children’s cognition work together to gender role identity. Gender role identity seems to influence ones aspiration, self- concept/worth,  goal setting,  and social  competence.  When one aspires to a height and is discouraged on gender bases, one’s aspiration is dwarfed. To that extent, gender role destroys confidence one has in one’s ability to socialize so as to achieve a greater height socially, academically and otherwise.

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Several  efforts  were been  made  to  curb  the problem  of social withdrawal  which emanates from inadequate  social relationship.  This is believed, results to active  isolation, bullying, sexual abuse and other forms of anti-social behaviours exhibited by pupils. This may linger even as pupils move higher in education.  A number of studies document decline in pupils’ social competence as they move from primary schools to secondary schools. This is  the  stage  when  children  socialize  with  peers  and  gender  stereotype  becomes  more pronounced. Erikson (1963) refers to this stage as a ‘gang-age’, when the child’s interest in family activities begins to wane. His circle of  friends begins to widen. Therefore,  young children need a minimum level of social and  emotional competence to function in a group and benefit from the learning environment of the school setting.

However,  social competence  requires understanding  of other peoples’ feelings  and viewpoints,  cooperating  with adults and  peers,  emotional  self-control,  and  the  ability to resolve conflicts constructively (Thompson,  2002). This social and  emotional  readiness is critical to successful transition and success in the early grades (Peth-Pierce, 2001). Therefore, assisting the socially withdrawn pupils may require such a help which according to Sarason in Ekeh and Obi (2012) could be in the form of providing the pupils with information about appropriate  social  skills and  helping  them  stay away  from  self-preoccupied  worries  and negative  self-talks.  This  may  be  particularly  helpful  to  the  socially  withdrawn  pupils’ cognitive functioning.

Improving   the   cognitive   functioning   of  a  socially   withdrawn   pupil   involves modification of his/her distorted thoughts concerning social relationships. This modification of distorted  thoughts concerning social relationships  could be achieved  through cognitive restructuring. This is what this study is set out to investigate.

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Statement of the Problem

Social interaction has been effective not only on improving one’s relationship  with others but also enhances academic achievement of an individual. It is worthy to note that in some schools today, there have been cases of active isolation, bullying,  sexual abuse and other forms of anti-social behaviours. This is believed to be exhibited by socially withdrawn individuals.  Research has shown that social withdrawal may reflect underlying difficulties of a social, academic or emotional nature.

Regrettably, despite efforts by schools, parents and guardians to address those anti- social  behavioural  problems  emanating  from  socially withdrawn  pupils,  the  menace  still perpetuate the system. This problem is a worry to major stakeholders in the education sector. It is also not quite clear what is responsible for these socially withdrawn pupils’ anti-social behaviours. However, early intervention and preventive measures seems to be efficacious on cases of pupils with social withdrawal behaviours as it might seemingly enhance their social competence.  Thus,  not much  research  has  gone  into  the field  in Nigeria.  Perhaps,  most intervention  strategy has been on Social  Skill Training (SST),  which  includes  modeling, behaviour  rehearsal,  feed-back  and   reinforcement   frequently  used  in  association  with interpersonal problem solving and social perception skills training. Effective change in social behaviour also requires interventions that reduce inhibiting and competing behaviours such as cognitive restructuring.

Therefore,  the  problem  of  this  study  is  to  determine  how  effective  cognitive restructuring would be on social competence of pupils with social  withdrawal  behaviour? Also, the study would seek to find out the influence of gender on social competence of pupils with social withdrawal behaviour?

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Purpose of the Study

The general purpose of this study is to determine the effect of cognitive restructuring on the social competence of pupils with social withdrawal behaviours. Specifically, this study intends to:

1.         Determine the effect of cognitive restructuring on the social competence of pupils with social withdrawal behaviour.

2.        Ascertain  the  effect  of cognitive  restructuring  on social competence  of male  and female pupils with social withdrawal behaviour.

3.        The interaction effect of treatment and gender on the social competence of  pupils with social withdrawal behaviour.

Significance of the Study

The findings of this study will be of both theoretical and practical importance. Theoretically,  the  findings  will  provide  insight  on  the  existing  Ellis  cognitive

restructuring  theories  in the  explanation  of pupils’  social  withdrawal  behaviour  in  their schools  and  society.  According  to  the  cognitive  theorists,  most  social  and  behavioral problems or dysfunction are directly related to the misconceptions  that  people hold about themselves, other people and various life situations. Therefore, the study majorly has some theoretical significance on Ellis cognitive restructuring theory.  This theory is based on the fact that one’s own unrealistic beliefs are directly responsible for generating dysfunctional emotion   and   result   in   behaviours   like   depression,   anxiety   and   social   withdrawal. Furthermore, one can be rid of such emotions and their effects by dismantling those beliefs that give them life. Cognitive restructuring when applied could help change the way in which people think. For  example- “I’m out of here, the truth is, I’m not sure I want to join the others. If I do, I’ll just cool, sit there and feel that they are hating on me. I’m sure they dislike me”.    Given  these  self-statements,  the pupil clearly  felt  uneasy and  apprehensive  about

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joining his peers. These thoughts predisposed  him to enter the situation programmed  for defeat.  Therefore,  cognitive  restructuring  could  relax these  socially withdrawn  pupils by giving them  confidence  and self worth.  Hence,  this study is however  anchored  on Ellis cognitive  restructuring  theory with emphasis  on changing  negative  thought  patterns  and irrational beliefs that cause maladaptive  behaviours  or emotions  and replacing  them with more  accurate  and  beneficial  ones.  This  may  help  improve  one’s  social  competence. Therefore, enabling one to be relaxed, think positively, be happier and more productive in life.

Practically,   the   study  would   be  of  immense   benefit   to   the   children,   social psychologists, educational psychologists, educators, parents/care-givers and teachers.

To the children, especially the socially withdrawn ones, if the finding of this study is published,  hopefully,  it  will  enlighten  the  children  on the  dangers  of social  withdrawal behaviour. This will therefore, would restructure their negative and faulty believe towards cordial and adequate peer relationship. And as such enhance children’s social relationships.

Experts in social and educational psychology hopefully will benefit from the findings of the study if published. As the social psychologists address societal issues, it would serve as a guide in equipping themselves with knowledge on how to handle deviant behavioural cases among children in the society. While, educational  psychologists  will as well gather sufficient  information,  liaise  with  social  psychologists so  as  to  link  and  reconcile  such anomaly as they groom prospective teachers who expectedly would handle pupils’ problem behaviours in the classroom.

The educators  will hopefully benefit  from the findings  of this study if  published, displayed online or shelved in libraries. The information so provided will be useful to them in writing books and other publications on social competence and social withdrawal behaviour in schools.

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Parents will also find the outcome of this study beneficial if delivered as a speech during the PTA meetings, workshops or seminars as they hopefully become  aware of the need for early family socialization through which the child models his behaviour.

Finally, if the finding of this study is published, teachers hopefully will benefit  as they would gain awareness of the consequences  of social withdrawal behaviour.  This will help them to initiate peer team work, encourage  and reward good social  skills, and deter isolations among pupils in the classroom.

Scope of the Study

The study covers the effect of cognitive restructuring on social competence of pupils with social withdrawal behaviour.

The study will be restricted to all the primary five pupils with social withdrawal behaviour in

Nsukka Education Zone.

The study will also investigate the effect of gender on social competence of pupils with social withdrawal behaviour in Nsukka Education Zone, Enugu State.

Research Questions

The following research questions guided this study:

1.        What  is the effect of cognitive  restructuring  on social competence  of pupils  with social withdrawal behaviour?

2.        What is the effect of cognitive restructuring on social competence of male and female pupils with social withdrawal behaviour?

3.        What is the interaction effect of treatment and gender on social competence of pupils with social withdrawal behaviour?

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Hypotheses

The  following  null  hypotheses  were  formulated  and  tested  at  P  <05  level  of significance.

H01.    There is no significant effect in the mean social competence scores of pupils exposed to cognitive restructuring and those that were not exposed.

H02.   There is no significant effect in the mean social competence scores of male and female pupils exposed to cognitive restructuring and those that were not.

H03. The interaction effect of treatment and gender on social competence of pupils with social withdrawal behaviour is not significant.

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