European Journal of Educational and Development Psychology

Vol.8, No.4, pp.17-25, December 2020

Published by ECRTD-UK
Print ISSN: 2055-0170(Print), Online ISSN: 2055-0189(Online)
EFFECT OF ADLERIAN THERAPY ON THE PSYCHOSOCIAL CHALLENGES OF
SECONDARY SCHOOL ADOLESCENTS

Ayodeji Badejo1, and Lamidi Salimot Bola1,

1Department of Educational Foundations and Counselling, Lagos State University, Ojo, Nigeria;
Correspondence should be addressed to Lamidi Salimot Bola; [email protected]; [email protected],
+2348034306342

ABSTRACT: This study examined the effect of Adlerian therapy on the psychosocial
challenges of adolescence. Two research hypotheses were made to guide the study. The sample
consisted of seventy (71) senior secondary school students. A 40 item self-developed
questionnaire was designed for data collection. The study adopted a quasi-experimental
control group design. Analysis of data was achieved using the Analysis of Co-variance
(ANCOVA) at the level of significance of 0.05. The result of the findings showed that there is a
significant effect of Adlerian therapy on the psychosocial challenges of adolescents and that
age do not affect the psychosocial challenges of secondary school adolescent. Conclusions
were made and some counselling implications were highlighted.

KEYWORDS: Adlerian therapy, psychosocial challenges, adolescents, secondary school,

ANCOVA

INTRODUCTION

Adolescence is a phase in life that encompasses variations in social, behavioural, emotional as

well as biological developmental changes of an individual and this individual is known to be
an adolescent. Adolescence is the stage of development between childhood and adulthood,
indicating the time during which a person experiences different biological and emotional
changes. According to World Health Organization (2017), Adolescence is the period of age
ranging from 10 years to 19years is one of the serious transition in the lifecycle that occurs
after childhood and before adulthood and is considered by a tremendous pace in growth and
change that is second only to that of infancy. Adolescents in this age range are commonly
described as defiant, interested in themselves and usually exceedingly difficult. In the same
vein, this time is also filled with freedom and independence and skyrocket growth and
development. The period of adolescence can be a tensed time for adolescents and the family as
well as considering their age need to play a vital role to help the adolescent walk through this
stage successfully so that they can mature into upright adults. Every adult must well understand
the aims of adolescence and work with their adolescents by offering support throughout their
developmental.

Adolescence is the transitional stage in the life cycle between 13 and 19 years of age
characterized by development between childhood and adulthood, representing the period
during which a person experiences a variety of biological and emotional changes. Adolescence
is a stage increasing independence from adult controls, witnessing rapidly occurring physical
and psychological changes, exploration of social issues and concerns, increased focus on
activities with a peer group and establishment of a basic self-identity (Hurlock, 1981). The
most obvious changes during adolescence involve physical, psychological, and sexual
development, including the appearance of secondary sexual features and the ability to
reproduce. Adolescents are preoccupied with these physical changes and how they are

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 European Journal of Educational and Development Psychology
Vol.8, No.4, pp.17-25, December 2020
Published by ECRTD-UK
Print ISSN: 2055-0170(Print), Online ISSN: 2055-0189(Online)
perceived by others. Many adolescents and families are reassured to learn that the maturation
process takes place at a different pace for everyone. Changes may occur earlier in some and
later in others, but eventually, they will occur. Adolescence begins with the first well-defined
maturation event called puberty. Included in the biological challenges are the changes that
occur due to the release of the sexual hormones that affect emotions. Half of the lifetime, mental
disorders begin before the age of 14years, and 75% begin by the age of 24years (World health
organization, 2011). Mood variations can increase, which can impact on relationships of
parents and siblings at home and socially or at school.

Psychosocial challenges have various definitions from different researchers. For instance,
According to Muthas and Mushina (2016), psychosocial challenges have to do with the
challenges and problems that affect the adolescent’s day to day activities. It can be deduced
that psychosocial challenges are problems or issues that adolescents are confronted with which
affect their overall wellbeing. Researchers have tried to define psychosocial challenges as a
state of emotional and behaviour disorders synonymous with internalizing and externalizing
conditions, respectively. Most common disorders include depression and anxiety (internalizing
disorders), and delinquency, aggression, educational difficulties, truancy (externalizing
disorders) (Ahmad, Khaliq, Khan, & Amir, 2007). For adolescents to function well in any
given society, the atmosphere must be filled with attention, love, and understanding. In the
contemporary world, many adolescents are faced with psychosocial issues because of how
there were trained and the exposure they were given. Apart from that, the family type of
adolescents also determines the psychosocial competence of adolescents.

Also, Sexual activity during adolescence can involve serious consequences for which the
adolescent is not prepared, such as unintentional pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases.
As the changes associated with adolescence affect core family relationships, the counsellors
can further develop a supportive partnership with the adolescent and the family by providing
sensitive and effective anticipatory guidance that can help prepare them to navigate this
developmental rite of passage successfully. Studies show that psychosocial disorder has a
relationship with the age groups (14-15 and 16-19). Specifically, 14-15year adolescents are
commonly affected. (Ahmad, Khaliq, Khan, & Amir, 2007).

During the period of transition, adolescents have mood swings, that is they can cry and laugh
easily, they are found moody and irritable. The reason is not farfetched, this is because they do
not understand all the changes that are taking place in their bodies and thereby, they become
vulnerable. Socially, adolescents like to spend most of their time with their peer group. In this
group (peer group), there are cultures, language, values, dress code, as well as likes and
dislikes. However, conforming to social group norms is the basic aim of an adolescent. This
account for the reason why adolescents make friends. Anyone who does not make or have
friends goes into depression, which can have negative consequences on his/her psychosocial
development (Lakshmana & Uppara, 2013). In the same vein, the adolescent is faced with
social problems, he has to contend with striking changes in physical appearance and
physiological functioning that he may not understand. This may make the period of
adolescence a turbulent one if not effectively managed (Badejo, 2005). All these inhibit the
psychosocial development of the adolescents which in turn bring about psychosocial challenges
in the adolescents.

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Vol.8, No.4, pp.17-25, December 2020
Published by ECRTD-UK
Print ISSN: 2055-0170(Print), Online ISSN: 2055-0189(Online)
Although, many research works were carried on psychosocial problems of adolescents by
Muthu’s and Muhsina, (2016); Ikorok, Lawal, & Akpabio, (2015); Famakinwa, Olagunju, &
Akinnawonu, (2016): Ajidaun (2011). However, many of this research work did not provide
the solution to this problem of psychosocial challenges and this present work intends to fill the
gap by seeking intervention on how to curb or reduce the menace of the psychosocial problem
among secondary school adolescents. Due to the increasing psychosocial challenges, parents,
teachers are finding it difficult to manage these adolescents. This research aims at using
Adlerian therapy as an intervention strategy to reduce the adolescent’s psychosocial challenges
in secondary school. Adlerian therapy is a goal-oriented therapy aimed at helping individual
strive for superiority by covering up their feeling of inferiority and also encouraging the
adolescent to be an active member of the society where they belong. According to Adler (1907),
he believed that feelings of inferiority played a significant role in determining an individual’s
behaviour and he also stressed that, there is need to discover the main cause of feelings of
inferiority to assist in the development of strong ego and thereby help the individual eliminate
some psychosocial problems. Therefore, this paper intends to examine the effect of Adlerian
therapy on the psychosocial challenges of secondary school adolescents.

Purpose of the study

The primary aim of this study is to ascertain the effect of Adlerian therapy on the psychosocial
challenges of adolescents.

Research Hypothesis
1. There is no significant effect of Adlerian Therapy on the Psychosocial Challenges of
secondary school adolescents.
2. There is no significant effect of age on the Psychosocial Challenges of secondary school
adolescents.

METHODS

The research design that was adopted is quasi-experimental. The population of the study consist
of all secondary school adolescents in Lagos State.

Sample and Sampling technique

The sample for the study consists of 71 secondary school adolescents. Where the experimental
group were 34 secondary school adolescents and the control group were 37 secondary school
adolescents. The researcher used a simple random sampling technique to select schools. The
participants were selected through the school counsellor and teachers to participate in the
research work. The student with psychosocial problems was abundantly identified in each
school used. The students were administered with the questionnaire titled Adolescents
Psychosocial Problem Inventory (APPI). The result from the questionnaire was used to identify
those with psychosocial challenges and that need to be enlisted for the experimental research.
As such, these adolescents were identified and were randomly assigned to the experimental
group and the control group.

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 European Journal of Educational and Development Psychology
Vol.8, No.4, pp.17-25, December 2020
Published by ECRTD-UK
Print ISSN: 2055-0170(Print), Online ISSN: 2055-0189(Online)
Validation of instrument
The instrument (questionnaire) used is titled Adolescents Psychosocial Problem Inventory
(APPI). The questionnaire was validated by psychometrics experts and its reliability coefficient
using Cronbach Alpha is 0.81.

Data Analysis
From this study, the data were analysed using Analysis of Covariance. All the hypotheses were
tested at 0.05 level of significance.

RESULT

Hypothesis 1. There is no significant effect of Adlerian Therapy on the Psychosocial

Challenges of secondary school adolescents.
Table 1: Effects of Adlerian Therapy on the Psychosocial Challenges of secondary
school adolescents
Type III
Source Sum of Df Mean Square F Sig.
Squares
Corrected
12929.887a 2 6464.943 132.039 0
Model
Intercept 1.853 1 1.853 0.038 0.846
Pretest 3038.748 1 3038.748 62.063 0
Adlerian 12929.275 1 12929.275 264.066 0
Error 3329.437 68 48.962
Total 400628 71
Corrected
16259.324 70
Total
a. R Squared = .795 (Adjusted R Squared = .789)
From table 1, the effect of Adlerian Therapy F (1, 68) = 264.066 and this show that the effect
is significant at 0.05, (p < 0.05). This implies that there is a significant effect of Adlerian
Therapy on the psychosocial challenges of secondary school adolescents. Therefore, the null
hypothesis was rejected. Therefore, there is a significant effect of the treatment on the students
exposed to Adlerian Therapy comparable to their counterpart in the control group.

Hypothesis 2
Table 2: Effects of age on the Psychosocial Challenges of secondary school
adolescents

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 European Journal of Educational and Development Psychology
Vol.8, No.4, pp.17-25, December 2020
Published by ECRTD-UK
Print ISSN: 2055-0170(Print), Online ISSN: 2055-0189(Online)
Type III
Mean
Source Sum of df F Sig.
Square
Squares
Corrected
969.141a 3 323.047 1.416 0.246
Model
Intercept 4418.399 1 4418.399 19.361 0
Pretest 24.684 1 24.684 0.108 0.743
Age 968.529 2 484.264 2.122 0.128
Error 15290.183 67 228.212
Total 400628 71
Corrected
16259.324 70
Total
a. R Squared = .060 (Adjusted R Squared = .017)

Table2 shows that the effect of age F (2, 67) = 2.122, was not significant at 0.05, (p > 0.05).
Since the p-value of the F-ratio is greater than 0 .05, then the null hypothesis was not rejected.
This implies that age has no significant effect on the psychosocial challenges of secondary
school adolescents. Students of different age groups respond in the same way.

DISCUSSION

Hypothesis 1: The first hypothesis states that there is a significant effect of Adlerian therapy
on the psychosocial challenges of secondary school adolescents.

The findings of this study indicated that there was a significant effect of treatment (Adlerian
therapy) on the psychosocial challenges of secondary school adolescents. The result of the first
hypothesis indicates that a significant difference existed between the scores of respondents
exposed to treatment (the experimental groups) and that of those in the control group.
Therefore, the first hypothesis was rejected. The respondents exposed to the Adlerian therapy
performed better than those who were not exposed to the treatment package. The effectiveness
of the applied therapy was plausible as a result of the power of the therapy at assisting the
adolescents to be psychosocially competent. The therapy was steered towards addressing
adolescents' problems which seemed to be the main reason for psychosocial challenges in them.
The therapy was tactically selected with the idea to moderate the psychosocial problems of
adolescents in school to enhance the psychosocial competence in adolescents. The effect of
this therapy was possible due to the emphasis on how the students could develop high self-
concept of themselves and encouraging them to be contributing members of their society. With
particular emphasis on their emotional, social, behavioural and educational challenges, the
adolescents were encouraged that they can improve in themselves by reducing their feeling of
inferiority and striving for perfection. This result is in line with the study of Boxer, Laura, Sara,
Goldstein, Musher, & Eric (2005) that their social, cognitive approach coupled with some
counselling techniques can lessen adolescents' verbal aggressions. A self-assured teenager had
a significant decline in aggressive behaviours. The finding also showed that the students who
have less confidence and non-acceptable by peers would display certain rebellious behaviours,
such as giving criticism to get what they want. Keshavarzi, Mirnasab & Gargan, (2016) result
of finding indicates a significant increase in the functional emotion regulation strategies as well
as a marked decrease in the dysfunctional emotion regulation strategies. According to Freed

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Print ISSN: 2055-0170(Print), Online ISSN: 2055-0189(Online)
(1998), opined that the application of Transaction Analysis helped adolescents develop self-
understanding and acquire the skill to make changes both within themselves and in their
communication with others. Besides, Vahidiborji & Jadidi (2017) studied that reality therapy
is effective on three subscales: emotional, social and academic adjustment. Melisa (2010) also
found that reality therapy is effective in treating high school delinquency. Ojewola (2017)
confirmed that the participants exposed to the reality therapy performed better than those in the
control group. In nutshell, the result of the first hypothesis indicates Adlerian Therapy is
significantly effective in reducing the Psychosocial challenges of adolescents.

Hypothesis 2
This present study explored the effect of Adlerian on the psychosocial challenges of
adolescents. It is observed from the result that adolescents of all ages experienced psychosocial
problems. The cause could be that since the period of adolescence commences between the age
of 12years to 19 years, the adolescents may be undergoing these issues at any year of the age.
As such, it does not matter the age each adolescent experience it. This opposes the finding of
Madu & Matla, 2003; Chen, Chen, Fagot-Campagna, & Narayan, 2001; Sutherland & Willner,
(1998) who studied that 12% to 18% of school and college-going students respectively had
taken alcohol and the most common age group in school going children for the onset of alcohol
was 14-16 year of age(73 %), while college-age group students the onset of taken drugs was
mainly between 17-19years of age(43%). Smoking was less popular among adolescents at 4%
as compared to 12.2% in the college group of 14years was the age at which maximum school-
going children took to drug abuse either alcohol or cigarettes in the study. Also, Bista, Pushpa,
Thapa, Sapkota, Singh & Pokhreal (2010) studied Psychosocial dysfunction was associated
with the age groups 14years to 19years. Similarly, the finding of Attkinson & Rosenblatt (1998)
stated that adolescents among 12years are having psychosocial challenges compared to the
other ages. Robert & et al in a meta-analysis of 52 studies done in 20 countries of the world,
found that prevalence of psychopathology among adolescents (12 to 18 years) varies from 6%
to 41% (Jenson, Watanabe, Richters, Cortes, Roper, & Liu 1995). This study confirmed other
findings that the rise in emotional and behavioural problems from 12 years up to 17 years is
reported in previous studies (Mishra & Sharma,2001). Study of Sharma, Parvan, Gupta, Ojha,
& Goel (2011) confirmed that the prevalence of behavioural and emotional problems among
12years to 18 years school-going adolescents was found to be 30.4%. Lack of ability to talk to
the mother is significantly associated with the development of depression in children of 12years
to 17 years of age, (Monck, Graham & Richman,1994). The study of Chrisi, & Patten, (1997)
also found that 16-year-old adolescents of divorced parents had more somatic complaints and
lower self-esteem than children of intact families.

CONCLUSION

This study brings out the effect of Adlerian therapy on the psychosocial challenges of
adolescents. The treatments Adlerian therapy applied in this study were highly effective in the
reduction of psychosocial challenges among secondary school adolescents. It can be concluded
that psychosocial issues of adolescents can be appropriately mitigated if appropriate treatments
are used on them. Adlerian therapy is very significant in curbing the issue of psychosocial
development in adolescents. Besides, age does not have any effect on the psychosocial

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Vol.8, No.4, pp.17-25, December 2020
Published by ECRTD-UK
Print ISSN: 2055-0170(Print), Online ISSN: 2055-0189(Online)
challenges of adolescents. That is, all adolescents experience the psychosocial problem in the
same way.

Counselling Implications
A sizeable number of adolescents need support in coping with psychosocial challenges of life.
That is, there should be an intervention strategy to prevent these issues in adolescents. Besides,
the School counsellor can handle the problem most effectively by providing help to those that
are being confronted with these problems, especially at an early age. Moreover, it is essential
to have the role of the counsellor being felt in the school system. With the availability of a
counsellor, it will help to discover adolescents with psychosocial problems to use appropriate
therapies in curbing and reducing these problems. Community involvement is also pivotal, and
the school can become the base using inventive programs like student street plays, seminars
etc. thus educating the family as well as the community regarding the adolescence period and
some of the problems they may encounter in the process and how they (adolescents) can
successfully negotiate this period.

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Declarations
Funding: This research was supported by Lagos State University, Lagos, Nigeria as a part of
doctoral study research. The study was self-sponsored by the second author.
Conflicts of interest/Competing interests: The two authors declare that they have no
conflicts of interest whatsoever.
Availability of data and material: Data availability will be provided on request from the
author.
Code availability: Code will be provided on request from the author
Authors' contributions: LSB carried out the research work and engaged in the writing of the
manuscript. AB was involved in the validation of the instrument and authentication of the
analysed data. All authors proofread and approved the completion of the final manuscript.
Acknowledgement
The authors appreciate the school Principals for their support and understanding in carrying
out the study. We show our sincere thanks to all students who participated in the study. We

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Vol.8, No.4, pp.17-25, December 2020
Published by ECRTD-UK
Print ISSN: 2055-0170(Print), Online ISSN: 2055-0189(Online)
heartily show gratitude to Rev. Korede David for his statistical support. Lastly, appreciation of
the management of Lagos State University for their unending support.

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