Abstract
Social adjustment, a crucial aspect of everyone’s life, is needed to cope with one’s engagement with others in society and overall social life. However, reports have shown that many in-school adolescents, particularly in Oyo State secondary schools, exhibit poor social adjustment. Therefore, this study investigated the predictive influence of parental socioeconomic status and peer influence on the social adjustment of in-school adolescents with learning disabilities. The study adopted the descriptive survey research design of the correlational type. The multistage sampling procedure was used. The three Senatorial Districts in Oyo State were enumerated. Twenty-seven public senior secondary schools (three from each local government area) were randomly selected. The Screening Inventory for Learning Disabilities was adopted to identify 452 in-school adolescents with learning disabilities. The instruments used were Peer Influence (r=0.76), Parental Socioeconomic Status (r=0.73), and Social Adjustment (r=0.92) scales. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Pearson product moment correlation at the 0.05 level of significance. The findings showed that there was a significant relationship between peer influence and social adjustment (r=0.46) as well as between parental socioeconomic status and social adjustment (r=0.27) of in-school adolescents with learning disabilities. Based on the findings, the researchers made some recommendations for relevant stakeholders. However, the study calls for special educators and stakeholders to identify and support students with learning disabilities early, in order to enhance their social skills and long-term well-being.