Religiosity, Parental Monitoring and Gender as Predictors of Social Competence among Secondary School Adolescents

Abstract:

The study investigated religiosity, parental monitoring and gender as predictors of social competence among adolescents in secondary schools in Enugu State. Three hundred and sixty (360) students from Girls’ Secondary School Emene, Community Secondary School Emene, St. Joseph Secondary School Emene and St. Patrick Secondary School Emene (180 males and 180 females) participated in the study. The adolescents’ ages ranged from 12 years to 17years, with mean age of 14.5 years. Three instruments were used for data collation in the study: Religious Affiliation Scale; Parental Monitoring Measure and Social Competence-Teen Survey. Multiple regression was used for data analysis and the result showed that religiosity did not significantly predict adolescents’ social competence.The result showed that parental monitoring significantly predicted adolescents’ social competence (β= .21, t =3.60, p < .001). The result equally indicated that gender significantly predicted adolescents social competence (β= .15, t = 2.54, P < .05). The implications and limitations of the findings were highlighted and suggestions made for further studies.