Abstract

Adolescents in border towns often face unique challenges that can influence their attitudes towards schooling and behaviour which include the development of smuggling tendencies. This study examined the effectiveness of cognitive behavioural and applied behaviour analysis therapies on attitude to schooling among in-school adolescents with smuggling tendency in the border town of Ogun State, Nigeria. Quasi-experimental pre-test, post-test control group research design was adopted with three groups randomly assigned to Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Applied Behaviour Analysis Therapy (ABAT) and Control Group. The sample of the study was 111 students, consisting of 66 male and 45 female who were selected from the three Local Government Areas of six border towns through the multistage sampling process. Data were collected using the baseline questionnaire titled, Student in Business Questionnaire, and Attitude to Schooling Scale. Two research questions as well as corresponding hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The data were analysed using mean, standard deviation, mean differences and Analysis of Covariance. The study revealed that both CBT and ABAT were effective in managing adolescents' attitudes towards schooling, with ABAT showing better results. Both male and female participants exposed to the experimental conditions exhibited improvement in their attitude towards schooling. The study recommended that CBT and ABAT should be incorporated into school curriculum so as to help in improving attitudes to schooling among in-school adolescents smuggling, in the border towns of Ogun State and beyond.