Influence of selected factors on the students’ perception of sub-clinical narcissism in secondary schools in Trans-Nzoia County, Kenya Mercy Wanjiru Njenga

Abstract

The need for guidance and counseling in secondary schools was realized by the Government of Kenya (GOK) way back in 1970’s due to the weakening family ties as a result of urbanization, employment and education. Guidance and counseling was introduced to serve the purpose of traditional forms of counseling which was done by the extended family. Due to the changing life and style of materialism, the number of people with sub-clinical narcissism is increasing. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of birth position, gender, counseling techniques and parenting styles on the students’ perception of sub-clinical narcissism in Kenyan secondary schools a case of Trans-Nzoia County. The objectives of the study were to find out the influence of birth position on the students’ perception of sub-clinical narcissism in secondary schools in Trans-Nzoia County, to establish the influence of gender on students’ perception of sub- clinical narcissism in secondary schools in Trans-Nzoia County, to determine the influence of counseling techniques used by the teacher counselors on the students’ perception of sub-clinical narcissism in secondary schools in Trans-Nzoia County and to determine the influence of parenting styles on the students’ perception of sub-clinical narcissism in Trans-Nzoia County. The study was based on the Cognitive Behavioral Theory. The study employed the quantitative methods and the ex post facto research design. The population of the study was 1,500 students and the sample size was 450 students. Simple random sampling technique was used to select students for the study. Purposive sampling was used to select trained teacher counselors in secondary schools in Trans-Nzoia County. The data was collected using both questionnaires and interview schedules. To ensure reliability, a pilot study was carried out in 4 schools with chaplains who are counselors and a sample of 40 students was selected to participate in the pilot study. The split-half technique was used to test the reliability. All the instruments attained a coefficient correlation of 0.7. To determine the validity of the instrument, suggestions and views from experts in the Department of Educational Psychology was sought. The data for interviews were analyzed using common themes and were summarized using percentages and one way ANOVA. The data for questionnaires was analyzed using means and One-Way ANOVA. The ANOVA results were as follows: Birth position, F (3,446) = .111, P>0.05.,Gender, F (1,448) ==.045, P>.05.,selected counseling techniques : rehearsals , F (1, 8) =1.600, P>.05 , reversed roles , F (1, 8) =.071, P>.05, imaginal restructuring, F (1, 8) = 1.600, P>.05 , exposures , F (1, 8) ==.711, P>.05, systematic desensitization, F (1, 8) =1.572,P>.05, role play, F (1, 8) =.071, P>.05 , modeling, F(1,8) = 3.124, P>.05 and parenting styles F (2,447) = .529 , P>0.05. The results of this study showed that gender had an influence on students’ perception of sub clinical narcissism, while birth position, counseling techniques (modeling, role play, exposures, systematic desensitization, rehearsals, reversed roles and imaginal restructuring) and parenting styles had no influence on the students’ perception of sub-clinical narcissism in secondary schools in Trans-Nzoia County. The male students were to be treated in ways that may reduce sub clinical narcissism because they had a higher perception for sub clinical narcissism. All students no matter their birth position should be treated equally without any bias because they have equal chances of being affected by sub clinical narcissism in Trans-Nzoia County. The teacher counselors may require more training on sub-clinical narcissism and use of those selected counseling techniques because the techniques that they used were not effective. Moreover, from the findings parents, guardians and caregivers should continue to use the authoritative parenting style in bringing up the children in order to reduce narcissistic tendencies.