ABSTRACT

This study explored the effects of life skills training and rational emotive behaviour therapy on health risk-taking behaviour ofin-school adolescents in Abia State. The study adopted a quasi-experimental design employing non-randomized pre-test, post-test, and control group with a 4x2 factorial matrix. Eight research questions and eight null hypotheses guided the study. The population of the study consisted of 778 (455 males' and 323 females) Senior Secondary Two (SS II) students with health risk-taking behaviours from Aba and Umuahia Education Zones of Abia State. The sample size of the study was 64 (32 males and 32 female) in-school adolescents assigned to four experimental groups. The instrument used for data collection was a 30-item questionnaire titled Adolescents’ Health Risk-Taking Behaviour Identification Questionnaire (AHRTBIQ). The instrument was validated by three experts to establish its face validity. The instrument was tested for stability aspect of reliability using test retest procedure where the data from it were analysed using Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient which yielded a coefficient of 0.87. Cronbach’s Alpha method reliability test was used to determine the internal consistency ofthe instrument with index value of0.76. Data collected were analysed using mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions and Analysis ofCovariance (ANCOVA) to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level ofsignificance. The findings revealed that the interventions using either life skills training or rational emotive behaviour therapy significantly reduced the rate of health risk-taking behaviours of the in-school adolescents in Abia State; hence, the null hypotheses were rejected. It was concluded that the combination oflife skills training and rational emotive behaviour therapy were more effective in the reduction of health risk-taking behaviours of in-school adolescents in Abia State. There were no significant gender differences observed at follow-up. Based on this finding, it was recommended among others that: school counsellors and even teachers who have some identified students with health risktaking behaviours in their schools should effectively use life skills training and rational emotive behaviour therapy in reducing their health risk-taking behaviour.