PERCEIVED IMPACT OF FAMILY COUNSELLING ON STUDENTS’ EMOTIONAL AND MORAL DEVELOPMENT IN SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN FCT ABUJA, NIGERIA

This study investigated the Perceived Impact of Family Counselling on Students’ Emotional and Moral Development in Senior Secondary Schools in FCT, Abuja Nigeria. This study had two objectives, two research questions and one null hypothesis which guided the study. The research design was a survey design. The population of the study was 18,678 students out of which 250 students were randomly sampled within the study area. The instrument used to collect the data was a self-structured questionnaire entitled: Impact of Family Counselling Questionnaire (IFCQ). The demographic data were analyzed using frequency counts and percentage while answers to research questions were analyzed using mean scores and standard deviation. The hypothesis were tested using t-test. This hypothesis was tested at 0.05 level of significance. The findings showed that, family counselling enhances students’ emotional stability in schools in terms of tolerance, anger and desire tamed among others. It was also revealed that; family counselling help students to gain moral development ability to manage stress, anxiety and peer pressure. Results from the tested hypothesis revealed that, family counselling help both male and female students to develop ability to manage stress, anxiety and peer pressure. It was therefore recommended that, stake-holders like counsellors, social organization and religious bodies should use every available opportunities to educate families on the need to inculcate moral values on their children to enable them manage stress, anxiety and negative peer pressure.