Influence of Social Support on Meaning in Life among Informal Secondary School Students at Matrix Algebra Education Center, Kajiado County, Kenya
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Date
2021-09-11
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Tangaza University College
Abstract
There is a worldwide and local outcry as a result of youths’ escalating acts of meaninglessness and deviant behavior. The Kenyan government through the Commission on Human Rights, the judiciary and Ministry of Education is focused on addressing these issues. It was not known how much the families, friends and significant others (counsellors), who are directly involved in shaping students' ethical values and pro-social behaviours are empowered and involved as equal partners in this campaign. This quantitative study among students (N = 78) at Matrix informal secondary school, Kajiado County aimed at investigating the degree of social support among students, measuring their level of their meaning in life, and establishment of how social support influences the students’ meaning in life. A cross-sectional survey was caried out and the participants were selected using snow-ball sampling technique. Using a questionnaire with scales for social support and meaning in life, the data was gathered and interpreted by both descriptive and inferential statistics. In response to the study objectives, it was revealed that students have high total social support (M= 5.10 & SD = 1.21) and high total meaning in life (M = 5.68 & SD = 0.78). However, the influence of social support on total meaning in life was not significant (X2 = 0.93, ρ = 0.62), except for presence of meaning in life. Implying that there are other factors that determine meaning in life and consequently behaviors among students. This study recommends counselors and psychologists to explore other behavior theories to unearth the causes of, and also eliminate meaninglessness and deviant behavior among students. Also, students are argued to embrace peer counselling and mentorship since they associated positively with meaning in life.
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Influence of Social Support on Meaning in Life among Informal Secondary School Students at Matrix Algebra Education Center, Kajiado County, Kenya