Emotional intelligence training and transactional analytic psychotherapy on school adjustment of students transiting to secondary school in Ibadan, Nigeria

Transition from primary to secondary school poses considerable social and emotional adjustment challenges to most students. As a result of this, some students suffer setback in their academic performance and interpersonal relationships which may further lead to truancy, absenteeism and early school dropout. These jeopardise their future career, employment opportunities and life chances. This study was carried out to determine the effects of emotional intelligence training and transactional analytic psychotherapy on school adjustment of students transiting to secondary school in Ibadan, Nigeria. The moderating effects of gender and self-efficacy were also examined. A pretest-posttest control group experimental design with a 3x2x2 factorial matrix was adopted. Multistage sampling procedure was employed. Three Local Government Areas with large number of pupils transiting were purposively selected from Ibadan metropolis, Oyo State, Nigeria. 111 secondary school students of Junior Secondary School 1 were screened for poor school adjustment and were randomly assigned to Emotional Intelligence Training (EIT) (39), Transactional Analytic Psychotherapy (TAP) (31) and Control (41) groups. Treatment lasted eight weeks. Data were analysed using Analysis of covariance and Bonferroni Post-hoc test at the 0.05 level of significance. The results indicated that there were significant main effects of treatment and self-efficacy on school adjustment. Emotional intelligence training and transactional analytic psychotherapy were effective in enhancing school adjustment of pupils transiting to secondary school. Counsellors and educational psychologists should utilise these therapies to promote school adjustment of pupils transiting to secondary school, particularly with those with low efficacy regardless of their gender.