Abstract

Adolescents in border towns often face unique challenges that can influence their attitudestowards schooling and behaviour which include the development of smuggling tendencies. Thisstudy examined the effectiveness of cognitive behavioural and applied behaviour analysistherapies on attitude to schooling among in-school adolescents with smuggling tendencyinthe border town of Ogun State, Nigeria. Quasi-experimental pre-test, post-test control groupresearch design was adopted with three groups randomly assigned to Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Applied Behaviour Analysis Therapy (ABAT) and Control Group. The sampleof the study was 111 students, consisting of 66 male and 45 female who were selected fromthethree 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 hypotheseswere 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 CBTandABATwere effective in managing adolescents' attitudes towards schooling, with ABAT showingbetterresults. Both male and female participants exposed to the experimental conditions exhibitedimprovement in their attitude towards schooling. The study recommended that CBTandABATshould be incorporated into school curriculum so as to help in improving attitude to schoolingamong in school adolescents smuggling, in the border towns of Ogun State and beyond.