Perceived Effects of Neuroticism, Emotional Intelligence and Self-Efficacy on the Bullying Behaviour of Students

Abstract

School bullying is one of the most prevalent issues facing school personnel today and the threat of this behaviour to a safe school environment. Adopting the ex-post facto type, this study investigated the perceived impact of neuroticism, emotional intelligence self-efficacy and bullying behaviour with 500 randomly selected senior secondary school students in Asaba metropolitan of Delta State. Four validated and standardized research tools were administered to the participants. Three research questions were raised in the study. The Pearson product moment correlation and multiple regression were the major statistical tools used. The result indicated that with the exception of Neuroticism and emotional intelligence, all the variables had significant relationship with bullying behaviour. With neuroticism being the most potent, 23.1% of the total variance of bullying behaviour with the participants was accounted for by the combination of the three predictive variables studied. It was recommended that emotional intelligence and self-efficacy training should be included in the orientation programme of students in schools. This is to enable them develop the necessary life skills for optimal functioning not only at school but also in other future purposes.