Influence of Hostel Squatting on Academic Performance, Interpersonal Relationship and Emotional Adjustment of Undergraduate Students
Chapter One
Purpose of Study
The aim of this study is therefore to access the influence of hostel squatting on academic performance, interpersonal relationships and emotional adjustment of students in university of Lagos. Specifically, the objectives are:
- Examine the effect of hostel squatting on the academic performance of students.
- Examine the influence of hostel squatting on interpersonal relationships among university students.
- Examine the influence of hostel squatting on emotional adjustment of students in university
- Identify the students problems facing the student housing in University of Lagos;
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED AND RELEVANT LITERATURES
Concept of Hostel Accommodation
Hostel could be seen as a place where students retire after daily activities. It is also a place of abode for students. It is usually located within the school premises, it is owned and managed by the school authority sometimes however, it is run by private entrepreneur. Clark, and Meave (1992) see hostel as somewhere people, especially (students) live away from home, can stay and eat fairly cheap. In the same vein, Hornby (2000) see hostel as building in which board and lodging are provided (with the support of the authorities concerned) for students, workmen in training.
Concept of overcrowding
Crowding as a concept in environmental psychology is one of the three sub areas that comprise the literature on human spatial behaviour; the other two are interpersonal distancing and small-group ecology. Crowding is viewed as a situation in which individuals are confronted with environmental circumstances beyond their control. Stokols (1976) differentiate crowding from density, though the two concepts look similar. He opined that density is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for individuals to experience the feeling of being crowded. Levy and Herzog (1974) also attempted a distinction between crowding and density. The former is basically measured as either the ratio of persons to rooms or as the living area per person. The latter is measured as the number of persons residing within a standard area unit (square mile, square kilometers, acre, and hectare).. Over the past three decades, the issue of crowding had received a substantial attention of social scientists. In general, much has been done in the area of its possible effects on human living. Researchers like Stokols, Walter and Resnick (1978); Baron, Mandel, Adam and Griffen (1976), Saegert (1978) have examined the impact of overcrowding and task performance of students. Rodin (1976) worked on household crowding and task performance among children. On stress and related variables, the contributions of Marsella, et al (1971) and Cohen (1977) were noteworthy. Crowding effects on interpersonal relations have been looked into by Freedman, Levy, Bucham and price (1972) while Hutt and Vaizey (1966) had documented report of group crowding on social behaviour of children. On sex difference, Freedman, et al, (1972) using a laboratory setting found that male subjects response unfavourably to increasing density while female response is favourable. Although there is substantive literature on effects of crowding on human health, most of the research findings show mixed results. Booth and Cowel (1976) study revealed that crowded household have very little or no effect on people‟s health. Stokols et al. (1978) study on perception of residential crowding, classroom experiences and students health indicates that residential crowding experiences promote medical problems and poor academic performance. They were of the opinion that although crowding has effects on health, it does not provide a basis for inferring causal connections between residential crowding and human health. Before then, Stokols et al, (1976) study among university students shows a strong relationship between the subjects perceived crowding and health. Mitchell (1971) concluded from his Hong Kong study that while overcrowding produces superficial signs of psychological stress (complaining, unhappiness, worry) and certain problems relating to control of children, it does not cause deeper and more basic levels of emotional strain and hostility. Kalin and Perlin (1967) found that strains and irritations caused by overcrowding do precipitate a certain amount of minor mental illness, mainly psychoneurotic symptoms including a large component of somatisation but not related to the severe mental disorders which result in hospitalization .
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research design
The researcher used descriptive research survey design in building up this project work the choice of this research design was considered appropriate because of its advantages of identifying attributes of a large population from a group of individuals. The design was suitable for the study as the study sought to examine the Influence of Hostel Squatting on academic performance, Interpersonal Relationship and Emotional Adjustment of Students.
Sources of data collection
Data were collected from two main sources namely:
- Primary source and
- Secondary source
Primary source:
These are materials of statistical investigation which were collected by the research for a particular purpose. They can be obtained through a survey, observation questionnaire or as experiment; the researcher has adopted the questionnaire method for this study.
Secondary source:
These are data from textbook Journal handset etc. they arise as byproducts of the same other purposes. Example administration, various other unpublished works and write ups were also used.
Population of the study
Population of a study is a group of persons or aggregate items, or things. The researcher is interested in getting information which will aid to examine Influence of Hostel Squatting on academic performance, Interpersonal Relationship and Emotional Adjustment of Students. Two hundred (200) respondents were randomly selected randomly by the researcher as the population of the study.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION ANALYSIS INTERPRETATION OF DATA
Introduction
Efforts will be made at this stage to present, analyze and interpret the data collected during the field survey. This presentation will be based on the responses from the completed questionnaires. The result of this exercise will be summarized in tabular forms for easy references and analysis. It will also show answers to questions relating to the research questions for this research study. The researcher employed simple percentage in the analysis.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
It is important to reiterate that the objective of this study was to examine the Influence of Hostel Squatting on academic performance, Interpersonal Relationship and Emotional Adjustment of Students.
In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in examining the Influence of Hostel Squatting on academic performance, Interpersonal Relationship and Emotional Adjustment of Students.
Summary
This study was undertaken to examine the Influence of Hostel Squatting on academic performance, Interpersonal Relationship and Emotional Adjustment of Students. The study opened with chapter one where the statement of the problem was clearly defined. The study objectives and research hypotheses were defined and formulated respectively. The study reviewed related and relevant literatures. The chapter two gave the conceptual framework, empirical and theoretical studies. The third chapter described the methodology employed by the researcher in collecting both the primary and the secondary data. The research method employed here is the descriptive survey method. The study analyzed and presented the data collected in tables and tested the hypotheses using the chi-square statistical tool. While the fifth chapter gives the study summary and conclusion.
CONCLUSIONS
Hostels provisions cannot be divorced from university education. The provision of adequate students’ hostel accommodation should therefore be among the major facilities of a university setting. The capital requirements could be share among the stakeholders through Public private partnership, PPP and should not be run for profit making. The poor state of the hostel facilities would rather make a hostel looks like a shelter and would seriously affect the quality of education and the psychology of the student toward distinguishing between standard and ordinary facility in a larger society. Hostel provision should be sustained in University settings and a University must not be allowed to operate without adequate provisions of hostel accommodations on its campus. The hotel accommodations have been found to affect the academic lifestyle of the students as it makes students to be focused and concentrating to study. Therefore, the hostel accommodations of universities in Nigeria require urgent attention.
Recommendations
With reference to bio-data, characteristics analyses and services survey carried out on the existing condition of the study area, coupled with the summary of the findings from the data analysis, the existing housing facilities needs to be rehabilitated, this involve improving the condition of the existing utilities and services that are in poor state in the students housing. And more facilities should be provided in the hostel ranging from toilet, bathroom, electricity, and water supply for the students. Therefore, in order to meet up with the number of students admitted every year, it is recommended that the institution authority build more hostels for the students. The stipulated number of person in lieu of the existing British Standards of occupancy ratio is two (2) people per room and not more than four (4) people in a room. It is recommended that this standard should be followed, and planning regulation should be instituted in order to set the minimum possible standard for a building to be used as a student’s hostel. The government should enter into a partnership with private entrepreneurs in which the student housing are constructed like Build Operate and Transfer BOT where initial funding and management are left to the private hands and closer attention should be paid to the management of student housing.
References
- Altman, I. (1975) The Effects of Crowding and Social Behaviour, Brooks/Cole Publishing Co., California. [2].
- Baldassare, M. (1978). Humna Spatial behaviour: Annual Review of Sociology: 4;29-56
- Baldassare, M. (1988) Residential crowding in the United States: A review of the research, Handbook of Housing and the Built Environment in the U.S. [3].
- Baldassare, M. (1995). Household crowding and its consequences: Book review
- Baron, R. ; Mandel, D; Adam; C.;Giffen, L. (1976). Effects of Social Density on University Students. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 34;434-446. [4].
- Baum, A. and Koman, S (1976). “Differential response to anticipated crowding: psychological effects of social and spatial density,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 34 (3):526-36. [5].
- Baum. A.J, et al (1978) Crowding and Personal Control: Social density and the development of learned helplessness Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 21:79-83. [6].
