TABLE OF
CONTENTS
Content Page
Title page i
Certification ii
Dedication iii
Acknowledgements iv
Table of Contents v
List of Tables vii
Abstract viii
CHAPTER
ONE: INTRODUCTION
Background to the Study 1
Statement of the Problem 8
Research Questions 10
Research Hypotheses 11
Purpose of the Study 12
Significance of the Study 12
Operational Definition of Terms 14
Scope of the Study 15
CHAPTER
TWO: REVIEW OF THE RELATED LITERATURE
Concept of Adolescence 17
Concept of Juvenile Delinquency 30
Theories of Juvenile
Delinquency 36
Age and Juvenile
Delinquency 40
Patterns of Juvenile Delinquency among Students
43
Causes of Juvenile delinquency among Students 45
Summary
of Review of the Related Literature 54
CHAPTER
THREE: METHODOLOGY
Preamble 57
Research Design 57
Population, Sample and Sampling Procedure 58
Instrumentation 59
Procedure for Data Collection 61
Procedure for Scoring the Instrument 62
Method of Data Analysis 62
CHAPTER
FOUR: RESULTS
Preamble 63
Demographic Data 63
Hypotheses Testing 66
Summary of Findings 70
CHAPTER
FIVE: DISCUSSION, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Preamble 72
Discussion of Findings 72
Conclusion 77
Recommendations 78
Suggestions for Further Studies 79
References 80
Appendix 90
LIST OF
TABLES
Title Page
1. Demographic characteristics of respondents 63
2.
Mean and rank order of patterns of
juvenile delinquency
among students 64
3.
Mean and rank order of causes of juvenile
delinquency 65
4.
Mean, SD and t-test results comparing
respondents’ expression
on patterns of juvenile
delinquency based on gender 66
5.
Mean, SD and t-test results comparing
respondents’ expression
on
causes of juvenile delinquency based on gender 67
6.
ANOVA result comparing respondents’
expression on patterns
of
juvenile delinquency based on age 67
7.
ANOVA result comparing respondents’
expression on causes of
juvenile
delinquency based on age 68
8.
Mean, SD and t-test results comparing
respondents’ expression
on
patterns of juvenile delinquency based on residential area 68
9.
Mean, SD and t-test results comparing
respondents’ expression
on
causes of juvenile delinquency based on residential area 70
ABSTRACT
The
challenges of adolescents are enormous simply because of diverse growth and
development that characterized this stage, this lead many adolescents into
delinquent behaviours. This study thus investigated the patterns and causes of
delinquent behaviours as expressed by secondary school students in Ibarapa
Local Government Area, Oyo State. The study also examined the influence of
variables such as gender, age and residential area on respondents’ expressions.
Descriptive
survey design was adopted for the study. The using proportional, simple and
stratified random sampling techniques were used to draw a sample of 200
secondary school students in Ibarapa Local Government Area, Oyo State. A
self-designed instrument entitled “Patterns and Causes of Juvenile Delinquency
Questionnaire (PCJDQ)” was used to amass data for the study. The instrument has
reliability co-efficient of 0.72 through use of test re-test reliability
method. The hypotheses were analyzed with t-test and Analysis of Variance
(ANOVA) statistics at 0.05 level of significance.
The findings of this study
revealed that the major patterns of juvenile delinquency among secondary
schools in Ibarapa Local Government Area, are school violence, examination
malpractice, bullying of other students, sexual immorality, involvement in graffiti
behaviours and using abusive languages in school and public places. The
findings also revealed that juvenile delinquency is caused by negative
influence of mass media, unmet needs of adolescents, broken home, single
parenting and peer pressure. The hypotheses tested revealed no significant
difference in the patterns and causes of juvenile delinquency as expressed by
secondary school students in Ibarapa Local Government Area on the bases of
gender and age, while significant difference was found based on residential
area.
Based on the findings of this study, it is
recommended that parents and the society should provide for the needs of
adolescents, the school authorities should monitor students’ activities and
encourage them on the needs to associate with good peers, teachers should be
role models for the students by demonstrating good behaviour to the students,
government should regulate the activities of the media making appropriate laws
to prevent adolescents’ exposure to delinquent acts, the school counsellors
should organise seminars, workshops and symposia on regular basis in order to
sensitise adolescents against delinquent behaviours and equip them with
necessary social skills.
CHAPTER
ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background
to the Study
Adolescence is a
developmental transition between childhood and adulthood. It is the period of
puberty until full adult status is attained. Dorn and Biro (2011) defined
adolescence as the period in human growth and development that occurs after
childhood and before adulthood, from ages 10 to 19. It represents one of the
critical transitions in the life span and is characterized by a tremendous pace
in growth and change that is second only to that of infancy. The biological
determinants of adolescences are fairly universal; however, the duration and
defining characteristics of this period may vary across time, cultures, and
socio-economic situations (Dorn & Biro, 2011).
Most secondary schools
students are in the adolescent stage. The adolescent has needs and problems
that arise from organic, psychological and social pressures. These pressures in
turn exert influences on them, which make them exhibit behaviours that are not
in consonance with societal norms leading to delinquency (Onyejiaku, 1991).
According to Isangedighi (2008), delinquency is a behaviour that involves
retraction from rules that govern behaviour among adolescents. Delinquency on
the whole is not an easy concept to define due to it complex characteristics.
However, delinquency has been from time immemorial a social evil. These
delinquent behaviours consist of acts that violate the laws of the society.
Delinquency has been variously portrayed and
defined as a condition of drift, maladjustment, pathology, disturbance, moral
depravity and unruly behaviour (Alemika ,et al 2001). Alemika further
contributed that the definition of juvenile delinquency as well as concern about
its manifestation, and control are influenced by a configuration of historical,
political, social and economic conditions. Therefore, juvenile delinquency is
broadly defined to any act in violation of criminal law, committed by a person
defined under law as a juvenile, which if had been committed by an adult will
be treated as crime or criminal conduct (Muncie, 1999). Alemika et al (2001)
define Juvenile as the violation of the criminal codes regulating the behavior
of young persons in the society. Juvenile crime is usually termed delinquency
(Jayamala 2008). In addition, Onyehalu (2003) argues that any departure from
the accepted norms by people who are not yet adult is delinquency. However,
Bingham; Shope, and Raghunathan (2006) refer to such behaviours which are
socially proscribed or prohibited as problem behaviours.
Any behaviour that falls
short of societal norms, values, beliefs and expectations are undesirable
behaviours (Okorodudu & Okorodudu 2003). Juvenile delinquency is noted by
Ekojo and Adole (2008) as gang delinquency. Okorodudu (2010) further defines
gangs delinquent as a group of adolescents and youths that exhibit criminal
behaviour. Deliquent behaviour could exist in different forms or patterns.
Patterns of delinquent behaviours refer to forms or practices in which
adolescents’ delinquency exists. It means different ways by which delinquent
behaviour manifest in the dealings and activities of adolescents. For example, Sanni, Nsisong, Abayomi , Modo
and Leonard (2010) associated
adolescents’ delinquent behaviours to vandalism, drug abuse, weapon carrying,
alcohol abuse, rape, examination malpractices, school violence, and bullying,
cultism, truancy and school drop-outs and so on. Onyejiaku (1991) stressed that
delinquency covers an enormous rage on crime including felonies such as
robbery, assault or misdemeanors such as loitering and behaviours that are
illegal.
Eke (2004) categories
delinquent behaviours into two, that which frequently feature across towns and
cities in Nigeria. These are Criminal and Status offences. The criminal
offences include stealing, arson, rape, drug offences and murder, burglary,
pick pocket, and armed robbery. However, she listed status offences to include;
running away from home, malingering and truancy. On the global scale, Armando
(1989) classified youth gangs or delinquency into four types: criminal,
conflict, retreatist, and cult/occult gangs.
Criminal gangs have a primary
goal, that is, material gain through criminal activities such as theft of
property from people or premises, extortion, fencing, and drug trafficking.
Conflict Gangs engage in violent conflict with individuals of rival groups that
invade their neighbourhood or commit acts that they consider degrading or
insulting. Retreatist gangs focus on getting “high” or “leaded” alcohol,
cocaine, marijuana, heroin or other drugs. Individuals tend to join this type
of gang to secure continued access to drugs. Cult/Occult Gangs engage in devil
or evil worship cult which refers to systematic worshipping of evil or the
devil; occult implies keeping something secret or hidden or a belief in
supernatural or mysterious powers.
Similarities in the basic characteristics of
juvenile group behaviour are found in almost every class and cultural context.
Juvenile peer groups are noted for their high levels of social cohesiveness,
hierarchical organization, and a certain code of behaviour based on the
rejection of adult values and experience. The subcultural aspect of juvenile
group activities is rarely given the attention it deserves (The World Youth
Report, 2003). Different juvenile groups adopt what amounts to a heterogeneous
mix, or synthesis, of predominant (class-based) values, which are spread by the
entertainment industry, and intergenerational (group-based) values, which are
native to the family or neighbourhood. Subcultures can be defined as particular
lifestyle systems that are developed in groups and are in structurally
subordinate positions as a result of pressure exerted by the predominant
systems (The World Youth Report, 2003).
Some of the reasons or
causes of adolescents’ juvenile delinquency as identified by Eke (2004) and
Okorodudu (2010) unmet needs of youths by the family, neighbourhood or
traditional community institutions (such as the schools, police, recreational
and religious institutions) and government. Factors, in the home environments,
like poverty, ill-treatment, alcoholic parents, broken family life, may drive
the juvenile to the streets to commit delinquencies. Family attitudes, like
overprotection, rejection, lack of love, lack of response from parents, lack of
suitable ideal and lack of discipline may also drive a child to criminal
activities (Jayamala, 2008). Researches indicate that the family environment is
an important variable in the development of delinquency.
Gorman-Smith, and Tolan
(1998) discovered that parental conflicts and parental aggressiveness predicted
involvement in property crime. Wright and Wright (1995) study shows that
single-parent families produce more delinquent children than two-parent
families. Many researchers agree that the foundation of adolescent delinquency
is rooted in the kind of home the adolescent is brought up (Utti, 1996;
Odebunmi, 2007; Otuadah, 2008). The basis for good behaviour orientation and
good adolescents’ attitude development is founded on positive parenting. Okpako
(2004) stated that the parents should be blamed and be made to take
responsibility for the misfortunes that befall the adolescents.
Obinyan (2004) opined that
the two oldest most widely accepted conclusions in criminology are first, that
involvement in crime diminishes with age and second, that males are more likely
than females to offend at every age. Youngsters between the ages of 8 and 14
begin to confide less in parents and more in peers and to be more influenced by
those peers for assistance in making decisions about what behaviour to adopt
(Paikoff & Brooks-Gun, 1991). There is a huge variation in age factor of
adolescent from one society to another. Arrests data show that the intensity of
criminal behaviour slackens after the teens and it continues to decline with
age. Much research indicate that males are more likely to participate in crime
compared to females (Chisney-Lind, 1997; Snyder & Sickmund, 2006) and that
individual offending rates tend to peak in late adolescence then drop off in
early adulthood (Blumstein & National Research Council 1986).
Juvenile delinquency is a
complex problem that exacts a substantial and continuing toll on the society
(Mulvey, 1997). Brown (1998) opined that juvenile delinquency is one of the
many serious social problems some children confront on a regular basis and that
there physical, psychological and financial cost to society. The consequences
of delinquency will forever change the lives of the offenders and their
victims. Brown (1998) posited that the concern about juvenile crime is widely
shared by the federal, state and local government officials and by the public.
Hence, radical steps have to be taken in order to curb this problem.
The manifestation of
delinquency among secondary school students has remained an age long problem in
the Nigerian secondary school system. In a study carried out by Ajake, Etuk and
Omori (2010), it was shown that there is a high rate of school complains about
student’s delinquency. The extent to which parents and other adults in the
family make provision for the holistic growth of their adolescent, with the
view of curbing societal ills has generated a lot of concern in the
contemporary Nigeria as a whole. Increased attention is being given to the
ability of individual and family to successfully remedy the negative impact of
delinquency. It is against this background that this study deems it fit to
investigate the patterns and causes of juvenile delinquency as expressed by
secondary school students in Ibarapa Local Government Area, Oyo State.
Statement
of the Problem
In
the past four decades and so there has been increasing concern about the
behaviours that children exhibit in schools (particularly in the middle and high
schools). The school authority has blamed adolescent students for increased
disorder and crime without acknowledgement of the multiple risk factors that
may have cause juvenile delinquency. Increase in juvenile delinquency, high
rate of early school dropouts in both girls and boys, increase in the numbers
of street children and high rate of crime, continue to elicit concerns in the
community.
The threat of indigent on
streets across the cities in Nigeria is a social problem to the general public
and the government (Okorodudu, 2010) as delinquent activities are assuming
dangerous tendencies which threaten life, property, individuals’ well-being,
peace, security, social order and are eventually, reducing the citizens’
quality of life. For example, adolescents engagement in inter-school fight
recently in Ibadan, a city in one of the South-Western States in Nigeria could
have passed for a mere inter-school rivalry, but for the use of dangerous
weapons such as knives, cutlasses and charms; it was reported that severe
injuries were sustained not only by the fighting students but by passers-by in
that neighbourhood (Aremu, 2012).
Studies
have been conducted on juvenile delinquency, for instance, Hoeve, Dubas,
Eichelsheim, Laan, and Jan (2009) carried out a meta-analysis study on the
relationship between parenting and delinquency. The study found strong link among
parental monitoring, psychological control and negative aspects of support such
as rejection and hostility, accounting for up to eleven percent of the variance
in delinquency. Ekpo and Ajake (2013) studied
family socio-economic status and
delinquency among senior secondary school students in Calabar South, Cross River State. The study found that
family socio-economic status and the educational level of
parents significantly influences student’s delinquency. Also, delinquent
behaviour observed among students is traceable to the fact that most parents
are poor.
These previous studies did
not focused on patterns and causes of juvenile delinquency. This is the gap the
researcher intends to fill by investigating the patterns and causes of juvenile
delinquency as expressed by secondary school students in Ibarapa Local
Government Area, Oyo State.
Research
Questions
The following research
questions are raised to guide the conduct of the study:
1.
What are the patterns of juvenile delinquency
as expressed by secondary school students in Ibarapa Local Government Area?
2.
What are the causes of juvenile delinquency as
expressed by secondary school students in Ibarapa Local Government Area?
3.
Is there any difference in the patterns of
juvenile delinquency as expressed by secondary school students in Ibarapa Local
Government Area on the basis of gender?
4.
Is there any difference in the causes of
juvenile delinquency as expressed by secondary school students in Ibarapa Local
Government Area on the basis of gender?
5.
Is there any difference in the patterns of
juvenile delinquency as expressed by secondary school students in Ibarapa Local
Government Area on the basis of age?
6.
Is there any difference in the causes of
juvenile delinquency as expressed by secondary school students in Ibarapa Local
Government Area on the basis of age?
7.
Is there any difference in the patterns of
juvenile delinquency as expressed by secondary school students in Ibarapa Local
Government Area on the basis of residential area?
8.
Is there any difference in the causes of
juvenile delinquency as expressed by secondary school students in Ibarapa Local
Government Area on the basis of residential area?
Research
Hypotheses
Based on the research
questions, the following research hypotheses are formulated:
1.
There is no significant difference in the
patterns of juvenile delinquency as expressed by secondary school students in
Ibarapa Local Government Area on the basis of gender.
2.
There is no significant difference in the
causes of juvenile delinquency as expressed by secondary school students in
Ibarapa Local Government Area on the basis of gender.
3.
There is no significant difference in the
patterns of juvenile delinquency as expressed by secondary school students in
Ibarapa Local Government Area on the basis of age.
4.
There is no significant difference in the
causes of juvenile delinquency as expressed by secondary school students in Ibarapa
Local Government Area on the basis of age.
5.
There is no significant difference in the
patterns of juvenile delinquency as expressed by secondary school students in
Ibarapa Local Government Area on the basis of residential area.
6.
There is no significant difference in the
causes of juvenile delinquency as expressed by secondary school students in
Ibarapa Local Government Area on the basis of residential area.
Purpose
of the Study
The main purpose of this
study was to investigate patterns and causes of juvenile delinquency as
expressed by secondary school students in Ibarapa Local Government Area, Oyo
State. The study also examined the influence of variables such as gender, age
and residential area on the patterns and causes of juvenile delinquency as expressed
by secondary school students in Ibarapa Local Government Area, Oyo State.
Significance
of the Study
The findings of this study
would be of immense benefits to the students, school authorities, parents,
school counsellors and counsellors under training.
The findings of this study
would be of great benefit to secondary school students in Ibarapa Local
Government Area by becoming aware of the patterns and causes of juvenile
delinquency behaviours among their co-students and its consequences on them,
their family and the society at large so that they may abstain from any causes
of delinquent behaviour. The findings would also help students to realize their
potentials and thereby enable them to contribute to the development of the
country through their productivity and hence become good citizen.
The findings of this study
would help the school administrators, non-teaching and teaching staff saddled
with the responsibility of understanding the patterns and causes that are
responsible for juvenile delinquency behaviours and also equipped them with
strategies to treat students with the problem of juvenile delinquency. For
instance, this study aims at revealing the psychological conceptions of those
considered juveniles and help provide insight into their way of life. This in
turn could offer the teachers a better means of understanding students and may
also assist in putting up programs that will help to treat with juvenile
students instead of casting them out.
The result of juvenile
delinquency behaviours in school may be used by parents and members of the
society in coming up with measures that can be employed to prevent delinquent
behaviours and ensure that their children refrain from any acts of delinquent
behaviour.
The finding of this study
would provide professional counsellors with the understanding of the factors
responsible for the causes of juvenile delinquency behaviour and creating
suitable counselling strategies that will help them in dealing with the problem
of delinquent behaviour in schools.
The counsellors under
training would also benefit from the findings of this study as the knowledge of
delinquent behaviour is rarely provided during undergraduate training.
Operational
Definition of Terms
The following terms are
operationally defined as used in the study:
Adolescence:
refers to the transitory period where an
adolescent is experiencing spurt growth and development. The adolescent years
fall within 10-21 years.
Causes
of Juvenile Delinquency: Factors motivating adolescents towards
engaging in anti-social behaviours.
Juvenile
Delinquency: It refers behaviours committed by an
adolescents which deviates from societal acceptance and punishable by law.
Juvenile:
Adolescents within the age bracket 10-21 years
old.
Delinquency:
It refers behaviours that deviates from
societal acceptance and punishable by law.
Patterns
of Juvenile Delinquency: Different types of anti-social behaviours
perpetrating by secondary school. These include; stealing, rape, drug offences,
murder, to mention but a few.
Secondary
School Students: Adolescents within the age range of 10-21 in both
junior and senior classes.
Scope of
the Study
The study is limited to
patterns and causes of juvenile delinquency as expressed by secondary school
students in Ibarapa Local Government Area, Oyo State. Multi stage sampling
technique was used to select 200 respondents from secondary schools in Ibarapa
Local Government Area. Questionnaire titled “Patterns and Causes of Juvenile
Delinquency Questionnaire” (PCJDQ) was used to gather data for the study. Frequency
counts and percentages were used to analyze the demographic data section, while
t-test and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) were used to compare the mean of two or
more different groups according to the study.
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