ABSTRACT
The descriptive survey research was
adopted in this study. It is an attempt to investigate the impact of deviant
behaviour on the academic performance of senior secondary students in
Educational District VI of Lagos State Oshodi/Isolo Local Government Area. A
sample of 200 randomly selected students were used, from four secondary
schools. Another sample of 50 randomly selected teachers were also used from
the above measured schools. A 5 point likert scale type questionnaire
containing 20 items and 30 questions in Mathematics and English Language were
also administered to the students. The content of the instruments were face
validated by my supervisor and other experts in the department. While the
reliability was ascertained at 0.9 significant level.
Two null hypotheses were postulated and
tested using the independent t-test. The first and second hypotheses were
analyzed at 0.9 level of significance. The result from this study showed that
deviant behaviour of students has a negative impact on their academic
performance.
Governments should adequately provide
the needs of the learner at school. Parents on their parts should adequately
provide for their children because this will go along way in preventing
deviance. Parents should show love and affection for their children. Also
parents, must control and prevent their children from watching unwholesome mass
media programmes.
Teachers should on their part, show
affection and care to their students. They should also have interest in their
teaching as a career and attend classes regularly in order to prevent students
from developing deviant behaviours.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title page
Certification
Dedication
Acknowledgement
Abstract
Table of Contents
CHAPTER ON: INTRODUCTION
1.1
Background to the Study
1.2
Conceptual Framework
1.3
Statement of the Problem
1.4
Purpose of the Study
1.5
Research Questions
1.6
Research Hypotheses
1.7
Significance of the Study
1.8
Scope of the Study
1.9
Delimitation of the Study
1.10
Limitation of this Study
1.11
Definition of Terms
CHAPTER
TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1
Theories of Deviance, Its Impacts on Learning Activities
2.2
The Influence of Peer Pressure to Academic Performance of
Students
2.3
The Adolescent and Parental Responsibility and Academic
Performance
2.4
The Adolescent in the School Environmental
2.5
Indisciplinary Problems of Adolescents in Secondary Schools
2.6
The Problems Associated with Youths in the Society and Its
Effect on Academic Performance
2.7
Summary of the Literature Review
CHAPTER
THREE: RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
1.1
Research Design
1.2
Area of Study
1.3
Population of Study
1.4
Sample Size and Sampling Technique
1.5
Research Instrument
1.6
Validity of Research Instruments
1.7
Reliability of Research Instrument
1.8
Procedure for Data Collection
1.9
Administration of Instruments
1.10
Data Analysis Procedure
CHAPTER FOUR: DATA
ANALYSIS AND PRESENTATION OF RESULTS
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Descriptive Analyses of Teachers’ Bio-Data
Based on Age, Sex, Marital Status and Duration of Service
4.3 Descriptive Analysis of Data Collected from
Teachers
4.4 Descriptive Analyses of Students’ Bio-Data
According to Sex and Age
Range
4.5 Descriptive Analysis of Data Collected from
Students
4.6 Hypothesis Testing
4.7 Summary of the Finding
CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION, SUMMARY, RECOMMENDATIONS, CONCLUSION AND
SUGGESTION FOR FURTHER STUDIES
5.0
Introduction
5.1 Discussion
5.2
Summary of the Study
5.3
Recommendations
5.4
Suggestions for Further Studies
5.5 Conclusion
References
Appendices
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1
Background to the
Study
Deviant behaviour no doubt, affects the academic
achievement of students negatively. According to Uzor (2000), children who
exhibit behaviour deviation, are often times prone to poor academic performance
than children who behave well in the society. Students who are disrespectful to
the normal societal behaviours do not see learning activity as something with
devoting time for. Rather, as their normal characteristics, they tend to
disregard serious learning activity and this has often translated in their poor
or dismal academic outcomes. Shaw (2001), is of the opinion that students
should not be distracted in their focus on learning. He opines that individuals
who are given deviant behaviours are also distracted from proper and serious
learning activities in schools. According to him, those who disregard and
disrespect the laid down rules and regulations of the school, do so at their academic
peril.
Nwaka (2004) added that, students’ academic performance
has a negative correlation with deviant behaviour. According to her, students
who do not regard the instructions of their parents, teachers and adult members
of the society, hardly make it in life. That they hardly progress and reach the
goals of life, including their academic goal.
In everyday language, to deviate means to stray from an
accepted path. Many sociological definitions of deviance simply elaborate upon
this idea. Thus, deviance consists of those acts which do not follow the norms
and expectations of a particular social group or society (Arnolds, 2005).
In practice, a field of study covered by the sociology
of deviance, is usually limited to deviance which results in negative sanctions.
Infact, the American Sociologist Marshal (2000), has suggested that the term
deviance, should be reserved for those situations in which behaviour is in
disapproved direction and of a sufficient degree to exceed the tolerance limit
of the community.
Recently, there have been increasing concern in
the tertiary institutions that students’ behaviours have deteriorated. The most
concerning behaviours for teachers are those that involve minor violations of
rules and regulations, disruption to the smooth running of the classroom.
Violent behaviour in schools is also a major concern of most teachers,
although, extreme incidents of school violence are a global phenomenon
(Infantino and Little, 2004).
There is considerable evidence that those students
who are deviate are not regular in school for whatever reason, have limited
lifetime opportunities, socially, professionally and economically (Reid, 2004).
They are more likely to experience unemployment, underemployment and long term
dependency. There are strong association, between deviant behaviours like
truancy, exclusion, crime and high students’ achievement in school (McCarthy,
2004).
Deviant behaviour like poor attendance to classes is a
major source of discontent among teachers and it hinders teaching and learning
(Macbeath, 2005). Teachers are often frustrated by the persistent
non-attendance of certain students, particularly as helping them to catch-up
takes time and distracts from teaching the remainder of the class. Students who
are deviant in school fall behind in their work and frequently have
difficulties within friendship, McCarthy et al (2005).
According to Owuamanam (2003), deviant behaviours refer
to the problem of wrong doing by young persons. It involves the problem of
truancy, absenteeism, stealing, vandalism, drug abuse, use and addict,
terrorism, disobedience to laid down rules and regulations of the school
authorities, including other behaviours that are against the social norms.
Anyamele and Adeleke (2004), observe that adolescents tend to move in groups
because they are in the era of peer group relationship. They want to be seen
acting in conformity with their peers, however, unconventional such act may be.
Hence, the need for some understanding and responsible adults at background,
who would serve as role models for the youngsters to re-direct their energies
towards the right channels that would produce rewarding and satisfying pattern
of behaviours in them. This patterns of wrong behaviour enstrange them from
their teachers and peers and the resultant effect is low academic achievement.
The study of deviant behaviour in our secondary school
and other institutions of learning, has assumed greater attention. For sometime
now, especially in the last decade, it has become a common feature in our
secondary schools and universities to see students engage in street fighting,
sports hooliganism or carry out violent acts, and in the process engage in
wanton destruction of life and properties. It has become a more common feature
in Nigeria today, to hear from one media or the other about secondary and
tertiary school students that engaged in crimes such as drug abuse or addictions,
sex offences, smuggling, armed robbery, pick-pocketing, snatching of cell
phones, cybercafe crimes, rapping, truancy and theft of all kinds. These no
doubt, are heights of deviant behaviours and its resultant effect has been
maladjustment of the perpetrators (students) and consequently the dismal
failure or downward performance of students in our tertiary institutions.
1.2
Theoretical
Framework
Man has always found the stage of human development
interesting and fascinating. Consequently, man has always entertained theories
about the nature of development. One of the ancient notions was known as
pre-information, that is, man'’ tendencies and attributes were thought to exist
performed at birth. Then came the homonculus view of human development which
was an elaboration of pre-formationism and which proposes that the sperm
contains a fully form miniature man, who simply-develops, once conception has
taken place, in an incremental way until maturity is reached (Herbert, 1981).
Theologians and philosophers also speculated about the
nature of man and his motives. While some thought of man’s nature as selfish,
and pessimistic, others fell that man is not basically selfish and had
optimistic views of man’s behaviour. One of the controversies in developmental
psychology concerns the concept of “stage”, and its importance in describing
the development of psychological processes such as thinking and personality.
Ausubel and Sullivan (1990) describe the periods in which qualitatively new and
discontinuous (inter-stage) changes in personally organization are being
formulated as transitional phases or developmental changes. During this
transitional periods, the individual is in the marginal position of having lost
an established and accustomed status, and of not yet having acquired new status
towards which the factors impelling developmental changes are driving him.
These transitional periods according to Eriks (1993) are
‘sensitive period and impose a heavy burden on his adjustive capacities. Since
each stage of development corresponds with a particular form of social demand,
the individual must deal with and master a central problem in order to avoid a
potential crises”.
Various theories of adolescent development have been
formulated as far back as the period of Plato and Aristotle, the great Greek
Philosophers.
The next stage which is between the ages of the five and
twelve is described by Freud as the period of ‘latency’. This is a period of
calm, when the attention of the child is focused on the school work, play and
friends. This period of calm is disrupted by the onset of ‘puberty’. And once
again the child relives the conflicts of early childhood. Psychoanalysts are of
the opinion that, the adolescent turmoil as postulated by Hall is inevitable.
They claim that without this turmoil, the young person will not be able to make
necessary adjustments which will help him in his transition to adult life
(Adamson, 1995).
Psychoanalysts believe that at adolescent stage, girls
have strange feelings towards males, and boys also get themselves attached to
the females. However, both male and female engage in forms of sublimation in
order to meet the demands of society and in forms of intellectualism and
ascentism.
Morrish (1978) on his part, suggested that
deviant behaviour was not necessarily delinquent or criminal behaviour.
Although, it may of course, be the first step to some anti—social behaviour
which may come within the sanction of the law and therefore irrevocably
delinquent. According to him “deviancy” was relative as well as contextual. He
suggested that it was better to speak of deviant forms than to stigmatize the
individuals as deviants. Similarly, Tattum (2002), and Brown (2004) subscribed
to the belief that norm was genetically or instinctively violent and
aggressive. These writers haven maintained that human beings are killers by
nature, stating that it was a built-in characteristic which man had inherited
from his animal ancestors and instincts.
The adolescent child begins to manifest good reasoning
power. He therefor begins to ask questions and to challenge the adult authority
at home, in the school and in the society at large. There is need for proper
guidance in order to curb indisciplinary behaviours among the adolescent
children since this is a common problem. Certain actions embarked upon the
adults should be explained to them in order to carry them along (Adamson,
2000).
Adolescents get excited because of their intellect. They
begin to show interest in things of the mind the arts and ideas for their own
sake. They have certain interests which get them excited and worked up when the
adults are opposed to such. For example, religion could be a bone of
contention. Hence, many adolescents nowadays are found trooping in large number
to the new found ‘Pentecostal’ churches which seem to satisfy their needs
socially and intellectually when compared with the Orthodox churches.
This refers to the problem of wrong-doing by young
persons. It involves the problem of truancy, stealing, vandalism, terrorism,
drug addiction and other behaviours that are against the social norms.
Adolescents tend to move in groups because they are in the era of peer group
relationship. They want to be seen acting in conformity with their peers,
however unconventional such act may be, (Owuamanam, 1988). Hence, the need for
some understanding and responsible adults at the background who would serve as
role models for the youngsters to re-direct their energies towards the right
channel that would produce rewarding and satisfactory patter of behaviour in them.
1.3
Statement of the
Problem
There is a general poor academic orientation among
students these days. The society is angered by the poor performance in West
African Senior School Certificate (WASSC) and NECO in 2009 and 2010 sessions
respectively. Reasons for this trend has engaged scholars and researchers in
different fora. One of the reasons for the recorded poor academic achievement
of students at the senior secondary school level, is the deviant behaviour of
students. For instance, many adolescents engage themselves in truancy;
absenteeism; drug abuse, disregard and disrespect to the constituted
authorities of the home and school; terrorism and unwanted violent
demonstrations in which valuable school and government properties are brazenly
destroyed. These negative and unwarranted attitudes by some students have
caused most of them to stay away from the school for a period of time. Even,
some of the students have dropped out of the school completely due to deviant
behaviour, and the resultant effect is low performance in their education.
The above problems gave rise to the investigation into
the influence of proneness to deviant behaviours on academic orientation among
undergraduate students in Lagos
metropolis.
1.4
Purpose of the Study
The followings are the specific objectives
of the study:
1.
To find out whether the ethnic background of
students influences their behaviour at school.
2.
To evaluate whether religious background of
students influences their deviant behaviours.
3.
To assess whether the socio-economic status
of students affect their behaviours in the school.
4.
To ascertain the impact of deviant
behaviours on students academic performance.
1.5
Research
Questions
The following research questions were asked
in this study:
1.
Does ethnic background influence students’
behaviours at school?
2.
Does religious background influence
students’ attitudes at school?
3.
To what extent do students’ socio-economic
status affect their overall behaviours in the tertiary institutions?
4.
To what extent does deviant behaviour impact
on students’ academic performance.
1.6
Research
Hypotheses
The following hypotheses stated in the null
terms are developed to guide the study:
1.
There is no significant influence of
ethnicity on the behaviour of students at University of Lagos.
2.
There is no significant influence of
religion on students’ attitude at University
of Lagos.
3.
There is no significant impact of
socio-economic status on students academic performance at school.
4.
Students’ deviant behaviour will not
significantly impact on their learning activities at school.
1.7
Significance
of the Study
This study will focus on the beneficial of
the following individuals:
(1)
The
Students:
The findings and recommendations of this study will be of great benefit to the
students who would be enlightened concerning the character they should put
across in the society. This study will also afford the students, the
opportunity to know the effects of deviant behaviours. This study will also
lead them to avoid those behaviours labelled as deviant in the society. With
the recommendations of the study, students would be able to identify the
attributes of deviants. This study will also assist students at all levels to
stop the use of cell phones and watching of blue films in the classroom when
lesson is going on. The reason being that it makes students to loose
concentration in the class thereby affecting learning.
(2)
Teachers: Would be
beneficiaries of this study, because, the study will afford them the golden
opportunity of knowing how to detect students who exhibit deviant behaviour and
how to tackle them or remedy them. With the findings and recommendations of
this study, teachers would be able to know those activities that would enable
them to remedy the bad behaviour of the students who are under their care.
(3)
The School Authorities: With the
recommendations of this study, the school authorities would be able to solve
the problem of deviation of students or adolescents in our tertiary
institutions. This study also, will recommend to the school authorities all it
takes to arrest the dwindling or negative behaviours of students in our schools
and the society at large. Though some school do not allow the use of cell
phones and other P3 equipment in schools, but some students smuggled them into
the classroom and used them to disturb learning in the classroom. Schools
should be more restricted and punished any child found in the classroom with
any of this equipment that can distract attention in the classroom while the
lesson is going on.
(4)
Government: Government
would be opportuned to gather information concerning adolescents’ deviation in
the society. It will be of great help to the government, if this study is
completed. This is because, it will afford the government the opportunity to
know how to go about solving the society’s problems which is mostly on youths.
(5)
The
Parents:
Parents would also benefit from this study because, it will enable them to be
able to know the characters of their children and wards and how to go about
solving the perceived problems. No doubt, deviant behaviour of the youths has
been one of the major problems of the society, and government is interested in
solving the problems of youth restiveness in the society. Therefore, government
will collaborate with parents and teachers to solve this problem of deviance
amongst the youths in our schools and homes. They should observe their children
and wards on the use of cell phones especially in the schools because of its
negative effect on learning.
(6)
Not only that, the society will be able to
benefit from this study, because it will help it to know or identify the
problems of deviation amongst the youths and how to help in solving it.
1.8
Scope of
the Study
This study examines the impact of deviant
behaviours among students in Mainland Local Government Area of Lagos State.
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