PREDICTIVE POWER OF PAEDOPHILIC TENDENCY ON SCHOOL ADJUSTMENT OF UNIVERSITY UNDERGRADUATES IN SOUTH-EAST, NIGERIA

Abstract

This study investigated the predictive power of paedophilic tendency and pornographic addiction on the sexual behaviour and school adjustment of university undergraduates in South-East Nigeria. One research question and one null hypothesis guided the study. A correlational survey research design was adopted. The population comprised 148,712 undergraduate students enrolled in federal universities in South-East Nigeria during the 2024/2025 academic session. A sample of 1,148 undergraduates was selected using a multistage sampling procedure. Two instruments were used for data collection: the Paedophilic Tendency Scale (PTS) and School Adjustment Scale (SAS). The instruments were face-validated by three experts from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, while Cronbach alpha reliability coefficients of 0.76 and 0.74 were obtained for the PTS and SAS respectively. Data were collected through Google Forms and analysed using simple and multiple regression analyses at the 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed that paedophilic tendency did not significantly predict university undergraduates' school adjustment. The study concluded that paedophilic tendency is an important psychological predictor of university undergraduates' sexual school adjustment. It was recommended, among others, that universities should strengthen counselling services, implement comprehensive sexuality and digital wellness education programmes, promote responsible internet use, and establish early identification and intervention strategies to improve students' adjustment.