Abstract

The study examined family resources, peer rejection, academic stress and locus of control as predictors of drop out risk among in-school adolescents in Ibadan. It adopted a descriptive survey research design. A total of 200 students selected using stratified sampling technique, participated in the study. They responded to “Drop-out Risk Assessment Scale”, a battery of researcher-developed scales. This comprised of Section A, on respondents' socio-demographic information, and five other Questionnaires; Adolescent School Drop-out Scale (10 items, r=0.79), Family Income Scale (10 items, r=0.91), Peer rejection Scale (10 items, r=0.79), Mental Health Scale (10 items, r=0.60) and Motivation Scale (10 items, r=0.85). The scales were structured based on five-point Likert-scale. Three research questions were answered and data were analysed using Pearson Product Moment Correlation and Multiple Regression. Results revealed that family resources (.327**), peer rejection (.213**), academic stress (.254 **) and locus of control (.211**) were significant to the prediction of drop out risk. It also revealed that the joint contribution of independent variables (family resources, peer rejection, academic stress and locus of 2 control) on dependent variable (drop out risk) was significant F (4/ ) = 35.23; R = .521, R2=311 p<.05). About 31.1% 197 variation was accounted for by the independent variables. The most potent factor was peer rejection, followed by Locus of control, then Academic stress and lastly family resources. It was however recommended that it is important to foster classroom environments that encourage children to be more tolerant of their peers. Also, that government and non-governmental agencies, school administrator and manager, parents, educationists, counsellors, researchers and the policy maker should step up their efforts combating the issue of the drop-out risks in schools at all level.