DIMENSIONS OF INSECURITY AND STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN UPPER BASIC EDUCATION SCHOOLS IN RIVERS STATE

The study investigated the dimensions of insecurity and students’ academic performance in upper basic education schools in Rivers State. Four research questions were answered in the study and four hypotheses tested. Correlation design was adopted in the study while the population of the study consisted of all the students in upper basic education schools in Rivers State out of which 300 students were sampled using stratified random sampling technique. Instrument used for data collection were a 20 item questionnaire titled “Dimensions of Insecurity Questionnaire” (DIQ) and a 10 item questionnaire titled “Students Academic Performance Questionnaire” SAPQ). The instruments were validated by two Measurement and Evaluation lecturers at the University of Port Harcourt. Cronbach alpha was used to determine the reliability of the questionnaires with coefficients of 0.84 and 0.88 for the DIQ and SAPQ. Out of the 300 copies of questionnaire administered, 297 copies, representing 99.0% were retrieved. Research questions raised were answered using simple regression while the hypotheses were tested using t-test associated with simple regression at 0.05 level of significance. Findings of the study indicated that social, emotional, food and environmental insecurities had moderate, low, moderate and high negative effects on students’ academic performance and these insecurities accounted for 43.3%, 16.2%, 48.0% and 96.0% of the academic performance of these students respectively. It was concluded that these insecurities were significant to the academic performance of these students and as such regular supervision of schools by the government was recommended for the purpose of compliance with minimum security standards for improved academic performance among the students.