Application Of Rousseau’s Moral Principles In Curbing Antisocial Behaviours Among University Students In South East Nigeria

Abstract

The study examined Rousseau’s moral principles, with the view to determine its applicability in the fight against antisocial behaviours among university students in South East Nigeria.The study adopted a descriptive survey design in which six research questions and six null hypotheses were formulated. The population of the study consisted of 42,486 subjects (25,148 federal university students and 17,338 state university students), in South-East, Nigeria. A multi-stage sampling procedure was used in sampling 1313 respondents comprising 522 state university students and 791 federal university students. A researcher developed questionnaire titled “Rousseau’s Moral Education and Antisocial Behaviours Questionnaire” (RMEABQ).The instrument was validated by three experts, two from Philosophy of Education and one from Measurement and Evaluation, all from the Faculty of Education, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Crombach Alpha was used to ascertain the internal consistency of the instrument. This yielded reliability indices of cluster A, 0.80, Cluster B, 0.82, Cluster C, 0.78, Cluster D, 0.84, Cluster E, 0.86 and cluster F, 0.84 with an overall reliability score of 0.82.  The six research questions were answered using mean (x) and Standard Deviation (SD) while t-test statistics was used to test the six null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study showed that Rousseau’s moral principle of suffering can to a high extent curb antisocial behaviours among university students in South East Nigeria. Rousseau’s moral principle of pity can to a high extent curb antisocial behaviours among university students in South East Nigeria. Rousseau’s moral principle of conscience can to a high level curb antisocial behaviours among university students in South East Nigeria. Rousseau’s moral principle of self-realization can to a high degree curb antisocial behaviours among university students in South East Nigeria. Attractive passion of goodness in Rousseau’s moral education can to a high extent curtail antisocial behaviours among university students in South East Nigeria. Rousseau’s moral principle can to a high level curb antisocial behaviours among university students in South East Nigeria. Considering the results of the study, the researcher among others recommends that: university administrators should make provision for counsellors at least one in each faculty, in order to guide and counsel those students who frequently demonstrate antisocial behaviours or antisocial activities  so that such students could lead a well-balanced and normal life, and contribute towards pro-social behaviour in the society.