Abstract

Studies have indicated that secondary school students suffering from depression and anxiety are at the risk of increased illness, low academic performance, difficult family and peer relations, substance abuse, and delinquent behaviour. This study investigated the effects of reality therapy and emotional intelligence on secondary school students' depression and anxiety, with gender and socio-economic background as moderating variables. The study employed the non-randomized pretest, posttest control group quasi-experimental design. The population comprised 178 students in three public senior secondary schools in Ikenne Local Government Area of Ogun State. 60 students were randomly selected through simple random sampling. The research instruments used for this study were: Depression, Anxiety and Stress questionnaire (DASS) and Emotional Intelligence scale (EIS). Results revealed that there is a significant main effect of treatments (reality therapy and emotional intelligence) on depression and anxiety (F(4, 330) = 3.367, p < .05, Wilk’s Lambda = .945, partial ƞ2 = .58) and no significant interaction effect of gender and socio-economic background on depression and anxiety (F(2, 165) = .203, p > .05, Wilk’s Lambda = .998, partial ƞ2 = .002) among secondary school students in Ikenne Local Government Area of Ogun State. Based on the findings of this study, it was recommended among others, that school counsellors should utilize reality therapy and emotional intelligence training in their psychotherapeutic activities in order to decrease the rate of anxiety and depression among their clients (secondary school students) and counsellors should create massive awareness on the high rate and danger of depression and anxiety especially among secondary school students.