Bullying Among Adolescents in Secondary Schools: A Threat to National Security

Abstract

The study investigated the effect of bullying in adolescents, as it relates to cases of victimization, vandalism and gangsterism which are threats to national security. The purpose of this study was to ascertain the existence of adolescent bullying in secondary schools and its attendant effects on national security. Two null hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. The sample for the study was 120 students who were randomly selected from junior and secondary schools. Primary data were collected with the aid of a structured questionnaire. The data collected were analyzed using Chi Square to test the relationships. The findings suggest that bullying among adolescent is related to national security while male adolescent bully differ significantly from female adolescent bullying. The study therefore recommends that concerted efforts at establishing and strengthening counselling services in schools should be initiated with a view to protecting school children from bullies and violent behavior of other students and resolving issues that bothers on bullying, especially physical violence against children. Similarly, counselling services should also be incorporated into the school curriculum in Nigeria