Effects of acceptance-commitment therapy and social skills training on anxiety of adolescent students from father-absent families in Lagos State

Abstract

The home is the first and the oldest training ground where the child is mentored by parents, siblings and members of the extended family in which they exhibit different forms of behaviour which he observes and imitates. The home provides the initial training for the child and the parents act as models for their children since the process of socialization depends on both parents playing complementary roles in bringing up the child. Adolescents from father absent households manifest a number of internalizing and externalizing problem behaviour, including anxiety, interpersonal difficulties and low self-esteem. Thus, this study investigated the effects of Acceptance-Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Social Skills Training (SST) on anxiety of adolescent students from father-absent families. A pre-test, post-test control group quasi-experimental research design was used for the study. The population of the study comprised all Senior Secondary two (SS11) students in Lagos state. Simple random sampling was used to select a sample size of 157 Senior Secondary one and two students comprising of eighty two (82) males and seventy five (75) females. The instruments used to obtain relevant data for the study were Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10), Father-Absence Questionnaire (FAQ) and the depression, anxiety and stress scale (DASS). Two research hypotheses were generated to guide the study. The pre-test and post test scores were analysed using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) at 0.05 level of significance. The study revealed that Acceptance-Commitment Therapy and Social Skills Training significantly reduced anxiety among adolescents from father-absent families. It was also revealed that gender did not have any significant impact on self-esteem of the participants in the experimental groups. In the light of the study`s results, the researchers presented a number of recommendations and proposals the most important of which are:

Keywords: Anxiety, Acceptance-Commitment Therapy, Social Skills Training, Adolescent students from father-absent families, gender