EFFECTS OF TWO COUNSELLING THEORIES ON AUTOMATIC THOUGHT PROCESS OF ADOLESCENT WITH BULLYING BEHAVIOUR IN IMO STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

Human thought process is a powerful determinant of emotion and behaviour. This is because people’s 
action/behaviour is derived from information that has been stored in the subconscious mind. Negative thought 
process makes the subject bigger than it is in people’s minds, thus robbing them of their peace of mind. Adolescent 
thought process needs to be transformed for a better behavioural outcome. This study is on effect of two counselling 
therapies on the automatic thought process of adolescents with bullying behaviour among junior secondary school 
students in Imo state, Nigeria. A quasi-experimental pre-test, post-test control research design was used for the study 
control group design was used. All the junior secondary two students in Imo state constituted the population for the 
study. Multi-stage sampling process was used to select the treatment sample of 90 students. The students with 
bullying behaviour was assessed using Olweus bully/victim questionnaire as a baseline test. Other instruments used 
are the Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire (ATQ) by Hollon & Kendall, Rational and Irrational Beliefs Scale 
(RAIBS). All the instruments were used to obtain both the pre-treatment assessment scores and post-treatment 
assessment scores. Three research hypotheses were also formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. The 
generated data for the testing of the hypotheses were analysed using 2x4- Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA).  The 
findings from the study showed that automatic thought process of adolescent influenced their bullying behaviour. 
The findings evidenced that the two counselling theories used were all efficacious in modifying the automatic 
thought process of adolescent with bullying behaviour. This study recommends that Counsellors should make use of 
the two counselling theories to help adolescent with bullying behaviour in transforming their thought process 
because they are effective intervention. Differences in the perception and execution of bullying behaviours may 
imply that schools need to apply different target intervention strategies, depending on a range of different factors 
such as age, gender and adolescent mental development.