The study examined educational attainment and employment status as determinants of cognitive behaviours of out-of-school adolescents in Southwest, Nigeria. The study specifically examined if level of educational attainment and employment status differentiate cognitive behaviours of out-of-school adolescents. The descriptive survey research design was adopted in this study. The population of the study consisted of out-of-school-adolescents, both male and female in Southwest Nigeria. The study sample of 1458 out-of-school-adolescents was selected using multistage sampling procedure. The research instrument used was a questionnaire titled “Questionnaire on Cognitive Behaviours” (QCB) designed by the researcher. The instrument was validated before it was administered on the sampled respondents. The data collected were tested using inferential statistics of Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and t-test at 0.05 level of significance. The results revealed that level of educational attainment significantly differentiated in the cognitive behaviours of the out-of-school-adolescents. Out-of-school-adolescents with educational attainment of SSCE have the highest level of cognitive behaviour. The results however revealed that employment status does not significantly differentiate in the cognitive behaviours of out-of-school-adolescents. It was recommended that the government should establish free remedial schools for out-of-school adolescents who were unable to complete their Senior School Certificate Examination.

Keywords: Educational Attainment, Employment Status, Cognitive, Behaviour, Out-of-School-Adolescents,

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