Published Paper Details:

The study investigated peer victimization and personality traits as predictors of social phobia among secondary school adolescents in Port Harcourt Metropolis. Four research questions and four corresponding null hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. The participants in the study were 448 (males = 166, female = 282) adolescents drawn from public secondary school in Rivers State, Nigeria. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to draw the sample of the study. Three instruments titled: Peer Victimization Scale (PVC); Five Factor Model Personality Scale (Openness to experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism) (NEO-PR-I) and Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN) were used for collection of data in the study. The reliability indices of the instruments were estimated using the Cronbach Alpha method of internal consistency with coefficient values of; Peer Victimization Scale r=.86 Personality traits Scale r=.76, the sub-scale (OCEAN) with the values of (.62, .69, .68, .73, .78) and social phobia inventory r=.89 respectively. The descriptive statistics of mean, standard deviation and multiple regression were used to answer research questions while two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA); ANOVA and t-test associated with multiple regression were used to test hypotheses. The tenability of all the null hypotheses was tested at 0.05 alpha level of significance. The result revealed that, Peer victimization, gender and personality traits significantly predict social phobia but peer victimization based on gender and location agreeableness and conscientiousness had no significant prediction on social phobia. Openness to experience and neuroticism had a positive independent prediction while extraversion had a negative independent prediction on social phobia. Based on these findings recommendation were made.