Social Life Adjustment and Academic Achievement of Adolescents in the Northwest Region of Cameroon: What Counsellors Need to Know

This study aimed at finding out the effects of social life adjustment on the academic achievements of adolescents in secondary schools in the North West Region of Cameroon and also to verify if the social life adjustment and academic achievement apply equally for both male and female. Four hundred and eighty (480) students were randomly sampled from three secondary schools in major urban areas of the Region. The descriptive survey design was used for the study. A self-constructed questionnaire with the Likert scale on social life adjustment was used to gather the necessary data. Two null hypotheses were formulated and tested at the 0.05 level of significance. The data were analysed using the chi-square and Fishers' Z scores for gender. The findings revealed that social life adjustment had significant influence on students' academic achievements in secondary schools in the North West Region of Cameroon. It was also found that there exist no significant difference in the effects of social life adjustment on academic performance between boys and girls. Based on these findings, it was recommended amongst others that, counsellors should constantly monitor and guide adolescents properly during class periods, recess periods and extracurricular activities in order for them to achieve academically. Keywords: Social life adjustment; Adolescents; Academic achievements; Cameroon.