CHAPTER ONE
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
Introduction
Social support is an element that can help individuals to reduce the amount of stress
experienced and cope in dealing with stressful situations. Nahid and Sarkis (1994) opined that
social support protects people in life crisis such as bereavement, illness, and other major
stress, and moderates the effect of stressors on psychological wellbeing. It is important to
look at the role played by the social support system which is an aspect that should be
reviewed since it is described as both a buffer against life stressors as well as an agent
promoting health and wellness (Dollete, Steese, Phillips, and Matthews, 2004). Social support
from family, peers, and teacher has been recognized as a protective factor for children and
students. Studies have shown that the increased risk of students in universities is because of
the absence of parental supports or decreased levels of parental support, and the buffering
effects of parental support on student stress (Quomma and Greenberg, 1994).
According to Calvete and Connor-Smith (2006) social support plays an important role in
managing psychological problems. Lack of social support has been found to be one of the
factors that lead to many psychological problems among students. Support from family and
friends have been found to reduce the impact of psychological problems among students
(Calvete and Connor-Smith, 2006). Villanova and Bownas (1984) for example found out that
social support could help students to cope with everyday life stressor and lighten the burden
of academic workload. Without enough support from family and friends, they would be in
trouble and are vulnerable to depression, stress and anxiety. Dollete et al. (2004) found that
social support could act as a protective factor that could decrease psychological problems
among students such as stress. A study by Wentzel (1998) found that social support providesmotivational influence on students‟ performance.
Social support is very important in the life of an individual. Deficits in social support have
been shown to be related to many psychological problems such as depression, loneliness, and
anxiety (Eskin, 2003). Elliot and Gramling (1990) found out that social support helps the
college students to lessen depression, anxiety, and stress. They also found that social support
could help the students manage and lessen their psychological problems. Thus, this study is to
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understand how social support could play its role in dealing with depression, anxiety, and
stress.
With secondary education, the benefits are far reaching. According to UNESCO (1991),
individuals who attend secondary school obtain a wide range of personal, financial, and other
long-life benefits. Individuals with secondary education tend to have skills that can be easily
applied in different work settings, as well as in different geographical locations. Omari
(1991) remarked that secondary and higher education is at the forefront of the modernization
process, and a higher learning institution “occupies a strategically important position in
society as it directly influences the personal lives and the development of the best successive
future generations. This chapter comprised of, the background to the study, statement of problem, objectives of the study, research questions, research hypotheses, justification of the
study, significance of the study, scope and delimitation of the study, and operational
definition of terms.
Background to the Study
Historically, Thoits (2011) provides a classic overview of a study on social support and the
direction of the field at the time in 1990s. A thorough and more current presentation of the
development of social support and its implications for individuals was given by Taylor
(2011). Cohen and Wills (1985) present two main competing hypotheses on how social
support may influence health outcomes, and House (1988) used relevant literature to establish
a causal link between social support and health. Gottlieb (1985) expanded the construct of
social support to include the transactional process of giving and receiving support that occurs
in interpersonal relationships. This bidirectional process is further discussed in Sarason and
Sarason (2009), with particular emphasis on the fit of an individual to his or her social
support environment (Uchino, 2006).
Social support is very important for individuals in their life. Deficits in social support have
shown to be related to many psychological problems such as depression, loneliness, and
anxiety (Eskin, 2003). Elliot and Gramling (1990) found that social support helps the students
to lessen depression, anxiety, and stress. They also found out that social support could help
the students manage and lessen their psychological problems. Thus, this study is to
understand how social support could play its role in dealing depression, anxiety, and stress in essential.
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Conceptually, Barnes (1954) was the first to describe patterns of social relationships that
were not explained by families or work groups. To him, social support served as a
“protective” factor to people‟s vulnerability on the effects of stress on health. Social networks
are closely related to social support. Social support and social networks are concepts that
describe the structure, processes and functions of social relationships and also as the web of
social relationships that surround individuals. Moreover, by social processes we mean those
ways in which individuals and groups interact and establish social relationships. It also has to
do with the ways in which individuals and groups interact, adjust and readjust and establish
relationships and pattern of behaviour which are again modified through social interactions.
As such, man is a social animal so it is difficult for him to live in isolation. They always live
in groups as members of these groups they act in a certain manner and their behaviour is
mutually affected. This interaction or mutual activity is the essence of social life because
social life is not possible without interactions (Bugental, 2000).
According to Gurung, (2005) social support refers to the experience of being valued,
respected, cared about, and loved by others who are present in one‟s life. It may come from
different sources such as family, friends, teachers, community, or any social groups or groups to which one is affiliated. Social support can come in the form of tangible assistance provided
by others when needed which includes appraisal of different situations, effective coping
strategies, and emotional support, moral support, information support, guidance, feedback via
affection.
Durkheim first examined the importance of social ties (Vaux, 1988). He linked social ties to
what is now referred to as social support. In addition, social support appears to have taken the
place of the following terms: “caring, friendship, community cohesion, and unconditional
regard” (Tilden, 1999). Social network was the term used before social support (Weinert,
2003). Some refer the informal groups of persons surrounding each of us as social networks
and social support (Gottlieb & Bergen, 2010). All of these terms indicate a wide umbrella
under which research on social support has taken place.
Furthermore, a social support system does not need to be extensive to be beneficial. Most
important is having at least one confidante to whom one can turn to for information,
materials, financial and emotional needs. In fact, in some cases, advice or support from too
many people may actually increase stress. Sometimes people who are trying to be helpful
may even provide the wrong kind of support. For example, you are trying to decide on whichgraduate school to attend. In an effort to help, relatives may offer facts and opinions about the
schools, but their information may conflict, making your decision process even more
confusing and stressful (Dakof & Taylor, 1990).
Social support is one of the most important protective factors for students (Tao et al., 2000).
This is because social support includes social resources that individuals perceive to be
available or that are actually offered to them which could help protect against psychological
problems. According to Teoh and Rose (2001), lower level of social support is one of the
predictors of psychological problems. It is associated with higher level of depression, anxiety,
attention problems, thought problems, social problems, somatic complaints, and lower selfesteem. According to Friedlander et al. (2007), students who perceived that their social
resources increase away have lower level of psychological problems. This shows that the
impact of a stressful situation for example can be decreased when students have good social
support. Advice and encouragement from sources of support may also increase the likelihood
that an individual will rely on active problem solving and information seeking. These may
assist students in dealing with various stressors in the environment and facilitate a positive
adjustment process.
The supportive actions provided by the social support are thought to buffer the impact of
stress by increasing the effectiveness of coping efforts, which in turn decrease distress among
students (Lakey and Cohen, 2000). For example, receiving emotional support and
companionship may encourage effective adaptation among students in facing and coping with
uncontrollable events. According to Rawson, Bloomer and Kendall (1994) students with
good social supports tend to have lower scores on stress compared to the students with low
social support. According to them coping behavior and social support structures moderate the
effects of stress among students in their academic life. Since social supports have buffering effects of stress, it can decrease the use of harmful
disengagement coping strategies such as avoidance, withdrawal, and denial among students.
Consequently, it can increase the use of beneficial engagement coping strategies because
individuals believe their social network includes someone who is willing to listen (Fleishman
et al., 2000). It also influences response to social stressors by providing a basis for positive
thinking and cognitive restructuring or by encouraging people to believe they have resources
to call on if they wish to distract themselves from a painful situation (Calvete and ConnorSmith, 2006). According to Holahan et al. (1995) students with higher levels of perceived
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parental support are better adjusted (i.e., higher well-being and happiness) and less distressed
(i.e., less depression and anxiety) than those with lower levels of perceived parental support.
According to the minister‟s directive no. md 00-07 of school Libraries in Nigeria, “In today‟s
society, which is increasingly information-rich and knowledge-based, the school library
program should equip students with skills and an appreciation of life-long learning.” It is the
responsibility of personnel at the Department of Education and school boards/district,
administrators, teacher-librarians, and teachers to provide an instructional program and
learning resources that promote the enjoyment of reading and enable learners to become
critical and creative thinkers as well as effective users of information in all formats and
media. This is best achieved through resource-based learning and collaboration among all members of the school community.
Psychological wellbeing is described as the quality of a person‟s life and it includes what a
lay man would call “happiness”, “peace”, “fulfillment” and “life satisfaction”. Huppert
(2009) opines that psychological wellbeing is about life going well. It is the combination of
feeling good and functioning effectively. Sustainable wellbeing does not require individuals
to feel good all the time; the experience of painful emotions (for example, disappointment,
failure, grief) is a normal part of life, and being able to manage these negative or painful
emotions are essential for long-term wellbeing. Psychological wellbeing is however,
compromised when negative emotions are extremed or last very long and interferes
with a person‟s ability to function in his or her daily life (Huppert, 2009).
The concept of feeling good incorporates not only the positive emotions of happiness and
contentment but also such emotions as interest, engagement, confidence and affection.
Functioning well (in a psychological sense) involves the development of one‟s
potential, having some control over one‟s life, having a sense of purpose and experiencing
positive relationships.
Theoretically, Vygotsky (1896) in his theory of social constructivism believes that learning
and development is a collaborative activity and that children are cognitively developed in the
context of socialization and education. The perceptual, attention, and memory capacities of
children are transformed by vital cognitive tools provided by culture, such as history, social
context, traditions, language, and religion. For learning to occur, the child first makes contact with the social environment on an interpersonal level and then internalizes this experience.
The earlier notions and new experiences influence the child, who then constructs new ideas.
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, represented as a pyramid with the more basic needs at the
bottom (Maslow, 1943). Maslow used the terms “physiological”, “safety”, “belonging and
love”, “esteem”, “self-actualization”, and “self-transcendence” to describe the pattern through
which human motivations generally move. The goal of Maslow’s Theory is to attain the sixth
level or stage: self-actualization needs, wherein a person must meet the basic or
physiological needs at the bottom before moving to the highest need (self-actualisation) at the
top (Maslow, 1954). This theory reflects a clear picture of what the topic is trying to show
because students will obviously not learn or go to school when they are hungry, have no
uniforms, no books, no school shoes, basic school materials, lack of financial, personal,
health security, safety against accidents and diseases and other necessities that will facilitate
proper acquisition of knowledge. Rather children will prefer to go late to school, absent from
school and classes, boycott school and classes, steal from their friends and engage in other
activities such as gambling, cheating, prostitution, sexual relationships with their teachers in
order to self- provide such needs (Garcia-Romeu,2010)
According to Brofenbrenner ecological theory (1997), it is in the Microsystems that most of
the direct interactions with social agents take place e.g., parents, peers, and teachers. The
individual is viewed not as a passive recipient of experiences in these settings, but as one who
help to construct the setting. This is to say that the recipient (student) should make necessary
use of the available resources given to him. He should learn to exploit his environment to the
fullest degree and by so doing make his environment a better place because he can now help others through the knowledge and skills that have been impacted on him. Relationships in a
microsystem are bi-directional. In other words, your reactions to the people in your
microsystem (the direct environment we have in our lives) will affect how they treat you in
return. This is the most influential level of the ecological systems theory.
Rick Snyder‟s (2002) Hope theory is relevant to this work. The theory postulates that there
are three main things that make up hopeful thinking that is goal, pathways and resilience.
Accordingly, goals refers to approaching life in a goal-oriented way; pathways refers to
finding different ways to achieve goals and lastly, resilience refers to persisting to overcome
such challenges so as to achieve one‟s goals. This theory will help situate the active role
hopeful persons‟ play in instigating human resilience by persisting, adapting and setting
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goals. According to Snyder (2005) hopeful people take action and persist to achieve their
goals.
Contextually, Weiner & Smith (1992) stated that students who successfully coped in the
university consistently have someone in their lives whose actions told them „you count‟. I
love you and will care for you. In sum, the long term presence of a basic, trusting relationship
with an adult is a big factor in the protective buffering of students from stressors and
problems. This simply means that having someone you know you can count on at any timewhen faced with academic challenges is very important to a student because it serves as a
reinforce. This will helps student to overcome challenges in academic institutions. In short,
just knowing you have someone available when in need is so relieving and comfortable and
as such academic excellence is assured since the students will be guided by an adult who is
more experienced and so keeping the student away from any form of distractions from
school work.
Baker (2003) argued that for many students in university, life is a major transition in their
lives since they are accorded the chance to decide what to do without the undue influence of
their parents. The students make various decisions regarding all aspects of their lives such as
academics, social life, and leisure activities. The level of role adjustment is related to a sense
of connectedness and belonging to the education environment. Social support is an important
determinant for coping with stress at the beginning of studies in university. Therefore social
acceptance on campus facilitates students‟ sense of identity in the new situation and protects
their self-esteem and sense of well-being.
Statement of the Problem
Social support plays an important role in managing psychological problems as it is a
motivational influence on students‟ performance and psychological wellbeing. Social support
could help students to cope with everyday life stressors and lighten the burden of academic
workload. On the contrary, students do not have adequate social support that lead to many
psychological problems among students. It has been observed that the increased risk of
students‟ problems is the absence of social supports or decreased levels of emotional,
financial, material, informational, and moral support that have negative impact on students
making them to stress up. Without enough social support from families and friends, they
would be in trouble and are vulnerable to depression, stress and anxiety.Also, due to inadequate social support most students in Tubah Sub Division end up not
attending classes due to absent of transport fare to school. Some students don‟t buy hand out,
do not pay school fees on time. Some students even come to school without eating. All these
makes some students end up not writing exams and some feel shy communicating with
friends. All these factors may exacerbate feelings of hopelessness or negative expectancies
towards oneself and the future which have been associated with negative outcomes such as
violence, depression, school problems, substance abuse, risky sexual behaviours, and
accidental injury. With such challenges, it is not surprising that students in the Tubah Sub
Division often exhibit inadequate outcomes on many objective measures of well-being such
as making good career decisions, successful preparation toward adulthood. Thus, with this
backdrop the study seeks to examine how social support influence student psychological
wellbeing in Tubah Sub Division.
Objectives of the Study
Main Objective of the study
To investigate the effect of social support on the psychological well-being of students in the
Tubah Sub Division.
Specific Objectives
i. To examine the role of moral support on the psychological well-being of students in
the Tubah Sub Division
ii. To determine the influence of financial support on the psychological well-being of
students in the Tubah Sub Division.
iii. To examine the role of material support on the psychological well-being of students in
the Tubah Sub Division.
iv. To investigate the role of emotional support on the psychological well-being of
students in the Tubah Sub Division.

Research Questions
General Research Question
What is the extent to which social support affect the psychological well-being of students in
the Tubah Sub Division?
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Specific Research Questions
i. To what extent does moral support affect the psychological well-being of students in
the Tubah Sub Division?
ii. To what extent does financial support affect the psychological well-being of students
in the Sub Division?
iii. To what extent does material support affect the psychological well-being of students
in the Tubah Sub Division?
iv. To what extent does emotional support affect the psychological well-being of students
in the Tubah Sub Division?