Journal of Psychology & Behavioral Science

Effects of Rational Emotive Behaviour Theraphy and Client Centred on Age and Self-Concept of Adolescents
Mrs Beatrice O. Ajidahun

Abstract
This study examined the comparative effectiveness of rational emotive behaviour therapy (REBT) and client centred therapy (CCT) in enhancing the self-concept of adolescents. It also examined the extent to which age of subjects could affect the efficacy of REBT and CCT in enhancing adolescents’ self-concept. The sample for the study consisted of 150 adolescents randomly selected from three secondary schools in Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria. The study made use of 3×3 factional design with two experimental groups exposed to REBT and CCT and one control group. The subjects were randomly assigned to each of the two treatment groups and control group with fifty subjects in each group. The experimental and the control groups were exposed to pretest and posttest of “self-scale” questionnaire measuring the different experiences adolescents in early, middle, late adolescence are exposed to. One of the experimental groups was exposed to treatment based on REBT while the other was exposed to treatment based on CCT. The treatment consisted of three sessions of 40 minutes each running through a period of eight weeks. The data were analysed using analysis of covariance. The results of the analyses showed that rational emotive behaviour therapy and client centred therapy were effective in significantly solving the self-concept problems of adolescents. It was equally found that the self-concept of adolescents exposed to the experimental groups was significantly different from one another with REBT being more effective than CCT. Also, the result showed that the effect of the therapy on the self-concept of adolescents in the experimental group did not vary with the age of the adolescents’ self-concept. Based on the findings of the study, it is therefore recommended that counsellors could use rational emotive therapy more than client centred therapy in solving the self-concept problems of adolescents.

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