Abstract

This study investigated personal development as correlate of academic adjustment among undergraduate students in Benue State, Nigeria. The study was guided by two research questions and two objectives. Two hypotheses were formulated and were tested at 0.05 level of significance. A correlation survey research design was adopted for the study. A sample of 396 respondents was drawn from the population of 41,588 undergraduate students from the four universities in Benue State using purposive sampling and simple random sampling techniques. Two instruments titled: Personal Development Scale (PDS), and Academic Adjustment Scale (AAS) developed by the researcher were used for data collection. The instruments were validated by two experts from the Department of Guidance and Counselling, Faculty of Education, Nasarawa State University, Keffi. The validity indices obtained for the instruments were as follows: Personal Development Scale – 0.92, and Academic Adjustment Scale – 0.82. The reliability coefficients obtained for the instruments were as follows: Personal Development Scale – 0.73, and Academic Adjustment Scale – 0.80. Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient (PPMC) was used to answer the research questions while, Simple Regression Analysis was used to test the formulated null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. Findings from the study revealed that emotional intelligence and intellectual ability have significant relationship with academic adjustment of undergraduate students in universities in Benue State, Nigeria. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended among others that University management and counselling units should organize regular workshops, seminars, and counselling sessions focused on enhancing emotional intelligence skills such as self-awareness, empathy, emotional regulation, and interpersonal communication among students.