Sussan O Adeusi

Assessment of Health-related Locus of Control among Undergraduates Substance Users and Non-Users

- Introduction: Locus of control is one of the most extensively investigated psychological constructs in literature and the purpose of the study was to assess health-related locus of control among undergraduate’s substance users and non-users. Methods: Data from 574 students between ages 18 and 27 (n= 574, mean=21.15 (+/- 1.8years) was collected from five tertiary institutions in AdoOdo-Ota LGA, Nigeria. An adapted and validatedversion of the World Health Organization (WHO) questionnaire on drug use surveys and the multidimensional health locus of control (MHLC) which was designed to measure the degree to which an individual feels they are in control of their ownhealth were employed for data collection. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive and inferentialstatistics.Three research hypotheses were raised and tested. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: The preliminary result shows that there is no significant difference in the health-related locus of control between substance users and non-users, and between heavy and occasional drinkers, but there exist significant differences based on gender. Conclusion: This article discusses the implications of these findings especially in the area of health education and the use of health locus of control measures Adekeye, Olujide A.b,c , Agoha, Ben C.a , Adeusi, Sussan O.b , Igbokwe, David O.a , Olowookere, Elizabeth I.a , Elegbeleye, Ayo O.a and Sholarin, Muyiwa A.a

DETERMINANTS OF CAREER MATURITY AMONG SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS IN NIGERIA

Interaction with penultimate year students and some final year high school students show a mixed message or attitude concerning a future career choice. Most are confused and uncertain about what they want to study after completing high school. This attitude motivated the design of this study. The aim of this study is the investigation of the factors that could possibly predict career maturity of high school students in Nigeria. The study employed a descriptive cross-sectional survey design. The sample consisted of 703 senior high school students selected from six schools. The Career Maturity Questionnaire comprising of five (5) research trajectories viz Self Efficacy scale, Self-Esteem scale, Parental Social Economic Scale, Academic Need Achievement Scale and the Career Maturity Scale was employed for data collection. All the sub-scales in The Career Maturity Questionnaire were validated. Data is currently being analysed. The results will be discussed, conclusions shall be drawn and recommendations on factors that will improve students’ career maturity highlighted. The identification of these factors will assist schools and vocational counsellors’ to offer early career counselling and to create appropriate interventions.

EFFECT OF EXPOSURE TO TELEVISION COMMERCIALS ON THE BODY IMAGE AND SELF-ESTEEM OF FEMALE ADOLESCENTS

Introduction: This study investigated the effects of exposure to television commercials and magazines on the perceived body image and self-esteem of female adolescents. Young girls are becoming increasingly aware of their body image through the image of models in advertising, and imagecentered ideals portrayed in the media. Methods: Sixty female secondary school students between the age of 12 and 16 years participated in this experimental study. The study made use of the between-subject design by dividing the sixty participants into two groups of thirty students each for experimental and control categories. This was done using the simple random sampling of odd-even method without replacement. Two validated scales were employed to measure the study variables. The Rosenberg self-esteem scale and the Franzoi’s body image scale with reliability coefficients as high as 0.78 and 0.83 respectively. Results: Two hypotheses were raised and tested. Results show there is a significant difference between exposure to media and female body image (t = 21.82, df = 58, p = 0.05), and self-esteem (t = 18.59, df = 58, p = 0.05). The second hypothesis was also retained. It showed a positive and significant relationship between body image and self-esteem. Conclusion: The study revealed that media exposure has effects on body image and self-esteem of female adolescents. Concern with appearance is not just an aberration of modern western culture because every phase in history has had its own standards of what is and is not beautiful