Social Sciences

Since its discovery more than thirty years ago, HIV/AIDS has remained one of the devastating infections globally. It is the fourth most common causes of premature deaths in the world and the leading cause of death in Africa. The fight against HIV/AIDS is of public concern because the epidemic could undermine the collective development effort. In staging this effort, the participation of both men and women is critical in combating the scourge. HIV/AIDS is emerging as the paramount threat to investment in Kenya and subverts efforts to lift people out of poverty; thus calling for an urgent and sustained participation of both genders. Various interventions have been put in place by various stakeholders including government agencies, NGOs, the media, religious organizations among others. However, it is evident that the participation of men has been wanting since their presence in the various interventions is glaringly absent. This paper is based on a study that was carried out in Nairobi, Kenya, to establish the non-participation of men in the HIV/AIDS prevention initiatives. The main objective of this study was to establish factors influencing affective participation of men in HIV/AIDS campaigns within government ministries in Nairobi, Kenya. The study adopted an explanatory research design to collect quantitative data. The study utilized both primary and secondary data. The study administered questionnaires to a total of 59 respondents who were obtained from the selected government ministries in Nairobi, Kenya. Stratified random sampling was used to select respondents from the target population. Secondary data was gathered from various authoritative sources including books, articles, published and on-line journals. Data was analyzed using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS). Statistical mean and standard deviation as well as percentages was used in interpretations to determine data characteristics, Cronbach’s alpha test was used to establish the reliability of the study variables as well as multiple regression analysis used to determine the predictive power of the study model. From the study findings, it was established that policy factors had significant influence on effective participation of men in HIV/AIDS campaigns within government ministries in Nairobi, Kenya. The study therefore recommended that mechanisms be devised that address the problem of lack of information, advocacy, counsel and support services among men and boys to enable them take an active role in HIV prevention. There was also need for a framework that has in-built mechanisms of gender equity integration in HIV/AIDS campaigns; that a policy is devised to ensure that all employees are persuaded and coerced to participate in HIV/AIDS campaigns in each department of the ministries that were sampled for the study and finally, policy guidelines be provided to guide HIV/AIDS key areas such as awareness, prevention and response. Finally, adequate budgetary allocations be considered to help create capacity that encompass relevant areas both in terms of infrastructure and management among other recommendations.

Present study was designed to identify the causes of domestic violence on woman. Women in many societies face violence at home due to various reasons ranging from social and cultural norms or their own failure at empowering themselves. The report includes an opinion on different causes of domestic violence and discusses each using the methodology of survey sampling and literature retrieved on the subject. In the end of the report is a discussion on the most agreed upon cause of the violence faced by women to create awareness for the reader on the subject and to fulfill the purpose of the report in highlighting the basic cause leading to violence.

Creative thinking skills plays a paramount role in child’s developments. It is the heart and soul of child's education. It is the foundation on which the personality of child is built. The study of mother-tongue is of dire necessity on the aforementioned skills. Teachers rarely use teaching technology like multimedia, instructional technology etc. They adopt lecture cum text book method-a boring procedure. No attempt is made to arouse their creativeness or encourage their self-expression so what they learn is poor learning. The researcher takes the initiative to bridge the relationship between the utilisation of technological methods in Arabic classes and the enhancement of critical thinking skills as a result of adopting technological methods.

Agriculture is the backbone of Kenya and employs the highest proportion of the population, accounts for approximately a quarter of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and close to two-thirds of total exports, hence its importance in poverty alleviation. Despite the importance of the sector, about four-fifths of the country’s land area is arid and semi-arid (ASAL), making rain fed agriculture largely unviable. As such, livestock and dryland farming are elevated to the highest among livelihood options for resident communities who are largely nomadic pastoralists and agro-pastoralists. While weather patterns are largely responsible for low crop yields and therefore food insecurity, there are other factors that come into play to escalate want in these areas including socio-cultural dynamics and institutional bottlenecks. This paper looks at the challenges of dryland farming in semi-arid areas of Kenya and henceforth points at possible research gaps that need to be bridged to alleviate food insecurity and enhance national development and the achievement of the UN Millennium Development Goal 1 of eradicating extreme poverty and hunger.

This paper investigates factors contributing to drug abuse among the youth in Kenya; a case of Bamburi Location. The paper also: establishes the nature and extent of drug abuse and related issues among the youths; establishes the level and sources of knowledge and awareness on drug abuse and related issues among the youth; investigates demographic factors contributing to drug abuse; investigates social-cultural factors contributing to drug abuse; investigates economic factors contributing to drug abuse; analyses the effects of drug abuse; interrogates the challenges faced against the fight of drug abuse; and recommends on how to curb and reduce drug abuse. In this paper, the authors use an explanatory study design where a study was conducted in Bamburi Location to establish factors contributing to drug abuse among youths in Kenya. The explanatory study design was adopted as it offers an explanation as to why youths engage in drug abuse in Kenya. A survey was conducted for the reason that it provides the information from the single selected sample whose findings can be used to offer a generalization for the whole country. The sample size for the study was 120 youth across all the sub locations in Bamburi location. The main findings of the study were: Demographic characteristics except gender do contribute to drug abuse in the area. Economic and social cultural factors also play a great role in influencing drug abuse in the area among the youth. Effects of drug abuse are diverse. They range from individual to societal effects such as poor health, poor personal hygiene, homosexuality, high school drop-out rate, high divorce rate, prostitution and increased crime. The main challenge facing the fight against drug abuse is corruption and lack of concern by the community in general. Suggested measures to fight the menace are to end corruption and focus on preventive education among the school-going youth. Though there are various factors leading to drug abuse, this paper focuses on demographic factors, social-cultural, and economic leading to pervasiveness of the menace in the Bamburi community/Location. Basically there are various demographic factors contributing to drug abuse such as age, occupation, religion, and marital status. Demographic factors also work in close relationship with social-cultural factors such as one’s perceived respect by others, the social environment, peer pressure influence, social learning from parents, one’s culture and cultural believes, customs, norms and values. Economic factors also play a great role in determining one’s behavior especially in cases of deviance. One’s economic status may influence one’s indulgence in such activities. This paper is, however, limited to the investigation of these factors and recommends the way forward in reducing or curbing drug abuse in Bamburi Location.

The concept paper discusses the implementation of green skills through co-curricular activities among students of Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) in line with a more sustainable industrial development towards sustainable social, economic and environmental. Implementation of green skills is assessed by its importance in education and training through co-curriculum activities as a proactive step towards a more green industrial practices benefit not only to the economy but also to support social and environmental sustainability. According to the literature, there are problems that arise due to the lack of industry awareness of the importance of the adoption of green technologies that will ultimately affect the environment. Accordingly, this article also stated that generic green skills needed by green industries as an effective method to ensure that no conflict or consistency in the implementation of green skills in TVET through co-curriculum activities towards development of green industries.

This study aims to determine the relationships between perceived maternal parenting styles, self-esteem and depression with self-esteem as a mediator among adolescents. Baumrind’s typology parenting theory serves as the foundation concept in the model of the present study. Sample for the study consists of 202 secondary school students from Batu Pahat, Johor. Three instruments were used to measure the key variables in this study: Parental Authority Questionnaire (Buri, 1991), Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965), and Beck Depression Inventory-Malay (Mukhtar, 2008). Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to determine the model fit, and also determine the direct and indirect effect of the mediator. Correlation analyses showed that adolescents who perceived their mothers parenting styles as: 1) authoritarian is positively correlated with depression and negative correlated with self-esteem; 2) authoritative negative correlated with depression, and positively correlated with self-esteem; and 3) permissive positively correlated with depression and negative correlated with self-esteem. Additional analyses revealed that adolescents’ with higher levels of self-esteem showed low depression. Using SEM, the study model was found to have an acceptable fit (RMSEA = .059; CFI = .994 & p=.181). Implication, limitations and recommendations of the study were discussed.

Among all researches in the field of learners’ overall achievement, the effect of test anxiety of test takers’ has rarely been explored. And also, this present study is an effort to examine the anxiety of pupils in relation with overall achievement in the English course and the effect of their behavior on their performance on overall achievement test in the English course at the end of term. Data was collected by using the anxiety questionnaire developed by Richard Driscoll. A total of 200 participants were selected for this study. Accordingly, a standardized anxiety questionnaire was administered to 100 female and 100 male pupils in order to discover whether there is a relationship between test anxiety and learners’ overall achievement in the English course in the middle school in different genders. The findings have implications for testing, teaching, and syllabus design.

Issues related to inequality in access to land, compensation and land use administration often become difficult to tackle especially in post conflict situations where settlers and the indigenes live in disharmony breeding further grievances that eventually lead to more conflict. This study examined issues related to settled land for resettlement scheme and compensation to native of a community in Bauchi State of Northern Nigeria. The study used descriptive and inferential statistics to analyse 350 questionnaires administered. The findings of the study revealed that 65.7% of the displaced persons settled on land not officially allocated to them while over 70% of the natives indicted that they were not satisfied with the compensation exercise. The study recommended among other things that land belonging to a community should not be allocated to settlers from other communities for resettlement purposes as this breeds further conflict and where land is compulsorily acquired for overriding public interest it should be adequately compensated.

This study examines Relationship between Emotional Intelligence and Achievement Motivation among Adolescents. Sample of the study consists of 100 adolescents (50 males and 50 females) who were taken from colleges of district Multan and Lodhran. The age range of the sample was between 15 to 18 years. Two different scales were used to measure the level of emotional intelligence and achievement motivation. “Achievement Motivation scale” by Henry Murray (1983) described the need for achievement as desire “to accomplish something difficult; to master, manipulate or organize, to overcome obstacle and attain a high standard; to excel one’s self”. “Emotional Quotient Test” which is valid and reliable scale consisting of 12 items (Saima Cheema, 2005). Results indicated that emotional intelligence influenced the development of achievement motivation in positive manner and female adolescents had higher level of emotional intelligence as compared to male adolescents.