ABSTRACT
The study attempted
to examine the influence of need satisfaction on proneness to stealing among
students at University of Lagos. Some literatures were reviewed under relevant
sub-headings.
The descriptive
survey research design was employed in this study in order to assess the
opinions of the selected respondents using the questionnaire and the sampling
technique.
A total of 120 (one
hundred and twenty) respondents were selected and used as sample of this study.
Also three null hypotheses were formulated, tested and analysed using the
independent t-test statistical tool and chi-square at 0.05 level of
significance.
At the end of the
analysis, the following results emerged:
1. Hypothesis one found that there is a
significant influence of need satisfaction on proneness to stealing among
students in schools.
2.
Hypothesis two revealed that there is a significant
difference in proneness to stealing among students who came from low
socio-economic status homes.
3.
Hypothesis three indicated that there is no significant
gender difference in proneness to stealing among students in schools.
4.
Finally, it was shown in hypothesis four that the ethnic
backgrounds of students does not significantly influence their proneness to
stealing in schools.
All the null
hypothesis were tested at 0.05 level of significance.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title page
Dedication
Acknowledge
Abstract
Table of
contents
CHAPTER ONE
1.1
Introduction/Background to the Study
1.2
Statement of the Problem
1.3
Purpose of the Study
1.4
Research Questions
1.5
Research Hypotheses
1.6
Significance of the Study
1.7
Scope of the Study
1.8
Limitation of the Study
1.9
Definition of Terms
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1
Concept and Nature of indiscipline
2.2
Types of Indiscipline in School
2.3
Causes of Indiscipline in Schools
2.4
Theories of Need Satisfaction
2.5
Concepts and Nature of Stealing in
Schools
2.6
Causes of Stealing
2.7
Summary of the Review
CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 Research Design
3.2 Population of the Study
3.3 Sample Size and Sampling Techniques
3.4 Instrumentation
3.5 Validity of Instrument
3.6 Reliability of the Instrument
3.7 Procedure for Data Collection
3.8 Procedure for Data Analysis
3.9 Problems Encountered
CHAPTER FOUR: DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
OF
RESULTS
2.1
Introduction
2.2
Hypothesis Testing
2.3
Summary of Findings
CHAPTER
FIVE: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND
RECOMMENDATION
5.1
Introduction
5.2
Summary of Findings
5.3
Conclusions
5.4
Recommendations
References
Appendix
CHAPTER ONE
1.1
Introduction/Background
to the Study
Discipline is
defined in the dictionary of psychology as the control of conduct either by an
external authority or by the individual himself (Drever, 1996).
Also Drever (1996) defined school
discipline as the externally imposed or self-generated control of conduct to
ensure its orderliness, social acceptability and conformity to the school
regulations to guide the behaviour of the students and even the school staff.
Indiscipline is therefore presented by
Adelabu (1990) as a problem behaviour or socially unacceptable behaviour which
does not conform to the rules and regulations of the society or an institution.
Nwana (1975) investigated the types and
intensity of offences in the Eastern State of Nigeria’s schools. He identified
the following nine categories of indiscipline with percentage frequency of
occurrence in parentheses:
Truancy (28.89), disobedience (15.22),
drug abuse (13.95), assault and insult (12.18), dishonesty (11.6), wickedness
(8.22), stealing (8.09), sex offences (1.66), strikes and mass demonstration
(0.19).
Stealing, a frequent type of
indiscipline carried out by students in our higher and lower institutions is
like a parasite eating deep into the moral sanity of the youths. Stealing is
very common among students at all educational levels be it in primary,
secondary and tertiary, but more often than not such acts are treated or
handled with levity as if they are normal. For example, students have pet names
for stealing which tend to cover up and play down the real gravity of the
offence. Such names include ‘pilfering’, ‘pick pocketing’, ‘tapping’ and so on
(Olusakin, 1996).
According to the Webster reference
dictionary, to steal means to take away dishonestly or wrongly especially
secretly, to take, get or win by dishonest act or subtle means, to take, get or
effect surreptitiously.
To take by surprise or without
permission, with regard to the descriptions above, stealing in this content can
be regarded as an act of taking somebody’s property secretly wrongly and
unlawfully without his/her content (Uzodinma, 1998), so whatever name stealing
is given by various individuals, stealing is stealing and it is bad in the
society.
As Nkemdirim (2000) puts it, many
people steal because of several reasons. There are people who steal because
stealing also can be inherited from their parents, or blood relations, others
do steal because they want to satisfy one need or the other. Most people steal
in order to enrich themselves unduly, others steal because they want to satisfy
their material needs while many steal because they associate with peers who are
thieves or robbers. From any angle one view it stealing remains a wrong and
undesired act which runs counter to the acceptable norms in any given society.
It is a deviation from a normal behaviour and it is carried out by those who
violate the norms, mores and positive values in the society.
According to Olusakin (1996), obsessive
stealing is referred to as ‘kleptomania’ which could be described as a
persistent neurotic impulse to steal, especially, without economic motive in
which the object stolen is usually believed to have symbolic significance to
the kleptomaniac.
Stealing is an act of students’
indiscipline and it is very negative in nature and if not checked and
controlled, it could graduate into armed robbery which is presently a social
malaise resulting in loss of precious lives and property. The case of stealing
ought to be viewed with all amount of seriousness and could be seen as a
paramount force drawing the hand of the nation’s developmental clock backwards
socially, economically, politically and technologically.
Many people may agree that stealing is
bad, for example, one person may base his belief on the deference to the law,
another person may base it on the unthinking regard for his conscience, while
the other may be concerned with conformity to the norms of his society, another
may produce argument about the effect of stealing on the society.
From which-ever angle one views it,
stealing is morally, socially and ethically wrong and ought to be discouraged
and frown at by the decent people in the society (Anyanwu, 1990).
Uzomah (1999) claims that the
socio-economic status of parents have speedily dwindled due to unemployment,
retrenchment and lack of good environment to engage on profitable ventures.
This trend has caused low socio-economic status of parents in many Nigerian
homes.
This means that majority of students in
tertiary institutions, especially, in University of Lagos (UNILAG) come from
low or poor home background where parents could not afford to sponsor fully
their adolescents educational career hence these adolescents resort to stealing
to make ends meet and have what their parents could not provide for them in
school. That is why most female students steal all manner of things ranging
from underwears, brass, money, books, clothes, dresses, pomades, soaps etc that
probably belong to their counter parts because their parents or guardians could
not satisfy their wants by providing them those things they do not have.
Jimoh (1997), summarises it by saying
that the most disturbing thing about the problem of stealing among students
mostly, female ones, is that even though everyone seems to acknowledge that
stealing is wrong and that many students engage in this act at various levels,
no worthwhile solutions have been found to this burden some behavioural
maladjustment in the society.
1.2
Statement of the
Problem
Stealing is taking
away dishonestly and wrongfully, especially secretly, what belongs to someone
else. The effect of stealing cannot be overemphasised.
Olusakin (1996)
stated that the act of students’ indiscipline is very negative in nature and if
not checked can result to armed robbery which is presently, a social malaise
which results in loss of lives and property and often death or long jail terms
in prison. Stealing is a burdensome problem that has effect on the moral,
social, economic, political and technological development of the nation. This
is because students who learnt how to steal in the school, go out and
perpetrate the same evil attitude to the larger society thereby making it
impossible for Nigeria as a nation to develop. For example the cases of brazen
corruption and stealing in government circle are replete in our daily
newspapers. Cases of government functionaries pilfering or stealing away from
the commonwealth of the Nigerian nation lays credence to indiscipline and
stealing which are learnt from youth, which become inherent behaviours to the
perpetrator even when they become public servants or politicians.
1.3
Purpose of the
Study
The major purpose of this study is to
examine the influence of need satisfaction on proneness to stealing among
female students at University of Lagos, Akoka, Lagos State.
The specific objectives of this study
include finding out:
1.
Whether need satisfaction influences students’ proneness to
stealing.
2.
Whether students who come from the low socio-economic
backgrounds engage in stealing more than those who come from high
socio-economic background.
3.
To identify the factors that cause students to steal in
schools.
4.
To investigate whether there is gender difference in
stealing among students.
5.
To find out whether the ethnic background of students influences
their proneness to steal.
6.
To find out the remedies to stealing.
1.4
Research Questions
The following
research questions were raised in this study thus:
(1)
Will need satisfaction influence students’ proneness to
stealing?
(2)
Are students who come from low socio economic background
prone to stealing more than those who come from high socio-economic background?
(3)
To what extent can the factors that cause stealing be
identified?
(4)
To what extent will ethic background of students influence
their proneness to stealing?
(5)
Is there any gender difference in proneness to stealing
among female students?
(6)
What are the possible solutions to the problems of stealing
among female students?
1.5
Research Hypotheses
The following
hypotheses were formulated in this study:
1.
There will be no significant influence of need satisfaction
on students’ proneness to stealing.
2.
There will be no significant difference in proneness to
stealing among students who come from low socio-economic status homes and those
from high socio-economic status homes.
3.
There will be no significant gender difference in the
proneness to commit stealing among female students.
4.
The ethnic backgrounds of students does not significantly
influence their proneness to stealing in schools.
1.6
Significance of the
Study
This study will be
beneficial to the following individuals in the society:
1.
Students Generally: Students
especially the female ones would benefit from the findings and recommendations
of this study because it will enable them to have greater insight into the
effect of stealing or robbery on one’s life and future.
Female students
will through this study, be able to identify those factors that cause one to
steal and avoid them. It will avail them the opportunity of learning how not to
steal. The recommendations arising from this study will help students
especially, those who are prone to steal to avoid this inherent wrong habit in
them.
2.
Teachers: Teachers would be
able to learn through this study, the most appropriate ways to teach students
on how to avoid stealing. The recommendations in this study will enable
teachers to find possible solutions to the problems of stealing among female
students.
3.
Parents: Parents would
benefit immensely from this study as its recommendations will direct them on
how to tackle the problems of stealing in their adolescent children/wards. This
study will expose to parents the consequences of stealing. The ways to arrest
the situation by identifying some factors which are possible causes of stealing
among youths and even the adult members of the society.
4.
Counsellors: The counsellors in
the schools would find this study very relevant as its recommendations would
enable them to be more aware on the need to use counselling as a tool for
remedying the stealing habits of adolescents in school. The school counsellors
would apply the recommendations of this study as technique in counselling
students to observe to overcome stealing as wrong habit.
5.
The Society: The society will
not be left out in benefiting from this study. The society, new researchers and
indeed students in all levels of our school system, especially the secondary
and the post secondary levels will find this study relevant because it will
serve them as a reference material.
1.7
Scope of the Study
This study covers
the influence of need satisfaction on proneness to stealing among female
students in tertiary institutions particularly, the University of Lagos.
1.8
Limitation of the
Study
This study is
limited to the influence of need satisfaction on proneness to stealing among
female students at University of Lagos. This is because of limited availability
of finance, time and other necessary logistics which may pose hindrance to the
possible completion of the study.
1.9
Definition of Terms
Operational terms
used in this study were defined accordingly in this study.
Stealing:
Any
act of taking people’s things illegally and wrongly without the consent of the
owner. It is an unlawful removal of the people’s properties without their
permissions.
Kleptomaniac: The burning
attitude of stealing even without economic goal or reason. This is a natural
tendency to steal irrespective of the situation.
Proneness:
This
refers to the frequency at which an individual does something. This is the
constant or frequent or continuous occurrence of an individual’s character or
activity.
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