Anxiety Disorder and School Adjustment among Secondary School Students

The adjustment problem of students is an issue of global concern and militates against the effective attainment of learning outcomes. Efforts made so far in Nigeria to curb it have not been successful. This article thus examines the influence of anxiety disorder on school adjustment among secondary school students. A survey method was adopted for the study. Five hundred twenty six students drawn from the population of junior secondary school students (n = 8,829) were used for the study. A stratified random sampling technique was used in selecting the study subjects. To guide the study, 3 null hypotheses were stated and tested at a .05 level of significance. Data were collected with a ’questionnaire made by the researchers which was validated through expert proofreading. The reliability of the instrument was established using the Cronbach Alpha reliability test which yielded reliability indexes for the various sub-scale as follow:, phobic anxiety = .73; panic anxiety = .81; obsessive-compulsive anxiety (OCD) = .88, school adjustment = .79. Data collected were coded and analyzed using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). Results of analyses revealed a significant influence of phobic, panic, and OCD anxiety disorders on school adjustments. It was concluded that anxiety disorders negatively impact students’ school adjustment. However, individuals differ in their school adjustment as a result of the level of anxiety disorder that provokes maladjustment in them. Thus, it was recommended that schools pay serious attention to the anxiety state of their students. The students should be examined to find out their anxiety disorder level, to suggest and offer an intervention that will enhance their school adjustment and the attainment of learning outcomes.