CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
Adolescence is an important and distinct phase of life. This is because it is a period characterized by rapid growth and social development. Adolescence is a period an individual’s life between the ages of 13-19 years (Nwachukwu, 2004). According to Erickson (1902) adolescence is the stage of storm and stress. Furthermore, Erickson explained that aadolescent period is a stage where teens compare themselves with other peers. Chukwuka (2012) defines adolescence as a stage that is full of one’s aspiration and potential in life. Chukwuka further explained that the adolescent at this period has a dream and potential to achieve educationally, socially and economically in his society. Palaye (2001) defines adolescence as a period of high ambition and aspiration for oneself characterized by rapid change. Adolescence is perceived as the time when there is a shift of interests from parents to peers and ends with development of capacity for intimacy (Smetana, Campione-Barr, and Metzger, 2006). From the above assertion, it can be stated that adolescence is a period during which intense physical, emotional and psychological changes, accompanied by series of developmental tasks, take place within the individual. The researcher is concerned about the in-school adolescents, because these adolescents exhibit some perceived rebellious behaviour as a result of the hormonal upsurge prevalent at that stage. In-school adolescents are adolescents who are in secondary school.
Generally, the period of adolescence has a lot of implications on the lives of adolescents especially with regard to their activities in the school. This is because it is the period the adolescents tend to exhibit characters that will make them noticeable or popular among colleagues. Oni, (2010) states that adolescents in the school tend to be recognized and hailed as being popular either through their possession of social competence or high academic achievement. The author further adds that a key aspect of adolescent at this stage is sexual development which is characterized by qualitative changes in physical growth, emotional and exhibition of behaviours that will lead to his popularity in schools. Popularity can also be achieved by the adolescents through possession of social competence in sports especially in secondary schools.
Popularity is one of the driving forces among adolescents in secondary schools especially with regard to their self concept. Popularity means having a well established social place among peers who want to be with one, with whom one has social standing, with whom one can hang out, and who can provide the acceptable companionship one needs (Schwartz, Gorman, Nakamoto and McKay, 2006). In the context of this study, popularity refers to the extent adolescents are admired and are being liked by a large number of school mates in schools. Similarly, attaining popularity with a broad group of peers is conceptually and behaviourally distinct from the ability to manage the intensity of a relationship with best friends.
Popularity is related to various positive and negative characteristics in adolescence, such as antisocial and pro social behaviour, aggression, attractiveness and athleticism (Jeanique, 2009). Popular adolescents’ positive characteristics are features that represent health and reproductive success, like athletic abilities, physical attractiveness and prosociality. However, popularity is also positively correlated with antisocial behaviours such as substance use, disruptiveness, physical aggression, bullying and relational aggression (Dijkstra, Lindenberg, Verhulst, Ormel & Veenstra, 2009). This means that popular adolescents do not have to be well liked to be popular.
In secondary schools, popular students often command the respect and support of others sometimes positively or negatively. Some students can be popular through their performances in academics or sports while others achieve popularity because they are heady and assert negative tendencies like disobeying school teachers and their seniors. However such show of negative popularity can be one of the major factors contributing to poor academic achievement of some adolescents in secondary schools. Adolescents who are popular are well socialized among their peers. They also appear to have increasing levels of delinquent and drug-using behaviours because they would want to be noticed at all times or to be socially competent among their peers.
Social competence is highly valued in most societies. There are different dimensions of competence and each manifest in different ways. Examples of competencies include academic competence, behavioural competence and social competence. Social competence deals with how effective a person is in ones social interactions. Scort (2005) defines social competence as the capacity of an adolescent to function effectively within a given social context. Such context makes adolescent to have a sense of belonging, value and opportunities to contribute meaningfully in the society. Socially competent adolescents are accepted by their peers and very often maintain high degree of relationship in the school. As applied in this study, social competence is a special quality possessed by an adolescent in school that makes him popular among his colleagues in the schools. This could be in the field of sports, dancing, acting and singing amongst others.
Competence, irrespective of gender describes student’s skill or ability in specific matter or being able to do something well like having skill in relating and interacting with people. Raven and Stephenson (2001) stated that competence grows through experience and the extent of an individual to learn and adapt. Males appear to demonstrate competence in science related subjects than females in some cases. Santrock (2009) observed that females tend to exhibit more competence in language related subjects than males in schools. In other words, social competence affects the achievement of males and females in their schools activities and can also affect their popularity among peers. An adolescent with positive social competence is said to have good interpersonal relationship with others.
