Effect of mass media violence on students’ behaviour in Senior Secondary Schools of Zaria Metropolis

Abstract

The study investigated the effect of mass media violence on students’ behaviour in senior secondary schools of Zaria metropolis in Kaduna State. The study sought to determine whether there exists a significant difference between low and high users of the media, with  particular reference to action films among senior secondary school students in Sabon Gari and Zaria Educational Zones respectively. Four hundred (400) student questionnaires were administered to students in six senior secondary schools within the two educational zones. The two sample t-test was used to test the hypothesis for significant difference between the students who were high media users and those that were less exposed to media, the observed t-value for the test is 3.871 at 298 degree of freedom, and the t-critical is 1.96, the level of significance obtained in the test is 0.000 (P<0.05), which revealed that the students who were highly exposed to media violence, were significantly higher in violent behaviours, than students who were less exposed to media violence. Base on the findings  recommendations were made that parents should control the kind of films children watch, and assign time for watching films both at home and in the school (especially for boarding students).