ABSTRACT

 This study sought to explore the influence of social vices on students’ academic performance in public secondary school in Aba Education Zone of Abia State. Four research questions and four null hypotheses guided the study. The sample of the study consisted of 478 respondents which is made up of 85 teachers and 393 students in Aba Education Zone in the 2022/2023 was used for the study. This sample size represents 15% of the entire population of 3,095 teachers and students, made up of 216 teachers and 2,879 students in the schools in the nine Local Government Areas of Aba Education zone, during the 2023/2024 academic session. The study adopted a descriptive research design method. An instrument titled “Influence of Social Vices on Students’ Academic Performance Questionnaire (ISVSAPQ)” was developed and used by the researcher for the study. The instrument was validated by three experts, one from Agricultural and vocational Education Department and Two expert from Educational Management, all from Michael Okpara University ofAgriculture, Umudike. Cronbach Alpha method was used to determine the reliability ofthe study. Cluster by cluster analysis was done and cluster A yielded an index of .70; cluster B yielded an index of .74 and cluster C yielded an index of .79. The overall reliability index of the questionnaire was 0.74 which was considered high enough and the instrument thus is reliable. The data collected were analyzed using mean, standard deviation and t-test statistics. The mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions while the null hypotheses were tested using t-test statistics at 0.05 level of significance. The study revealed the following findings: Bullying behaviour had the highest influence, followed by drug addiction and lastly secret cult activities as the social vices that influence students’ academic performance in public secondary schools in Aba Education Zone of Abia State. Joint social vices (bullying behaviour, secret cult activities and drug addiction) significantly influenced students’ academic performance in public secondary schools in Aba Education Zone ofAbia State. It was recommended that students should be advised early enough on negative influence of social vices on their academic performance so that they can be properly guided by their teachers and parents on how to avoid distraction in pursuing their educational goals