ABSTRACT
The
study examined the influence of social demand, peer pressure and economic
instability on adolescents’ behavioural pattern in Lagos State:
Implication for Counselling in Mainland Local Government Area of Lagos State.
In this study, the researcher made some important recommendations that would
help in finding possible solutions to the problems identified and investigated
in this study. The study employed the descriptive research survey design which
was used to assess the responses of the representatives of this study with the
aid of the questionnaire and the sampling technique.
Also,
a total of 200 (two hundred) respondents were selected and used in this study.
And a total of four null hypotheses were formulated and tested with the aid of
Pearson Product Moment Correlation Statistics and the independent t-test
statistical tool at 0.05 level of significance.
At
the end of the testing of hypotheses, the following results emerged:
(1)
Hypothesis
one revealed that there is a significant influence of social demand on
adolescents’ patter of behaviour.
(2)
Hypothesis
two should that there is a significant relationship between peer pressure and
adolescents’ social adjustment.
(3)
Hypothesis
three showed that there is significant relationship between economic
instability and adolescents’ academic performance in school.
(4)
Hypothesis
four showed that there is no significant gender difference in adolescents’
social adjustment in school.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title
page i
Certification
ii
Dedication
iii
Acknowledgement
iv
Table
of contents v
Abstract
vii
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1
1.1
Background to the Study
1
1.2
Statement of the
Problem 5
1.3
Purpose of the Study 6
1.4
Research Questions 7
1.5
Research Hypotheses 8
1.6
Significance of the
Study 8
1.7 Scope and Limitation of
the Study 11
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW 12
2.0
Introduction 12
2.1 Theories and
Problems of Adolescent Development 13
2.2 The Social
Implication of Psychoanalytic Theory 15
2.3 Adolescent and
Social Adjustment 17
2.4 General
Problems Encountered During Adolescence 23
2.5 Adolescent and
Home Relationship 33
2.6 Adolescent
Adjustment and Parental Responsibility 34
2.7 A
Review of the Effect of Family Conflict, Divorce and Disorganisation on
Adolescent Emotional Development 39
2.8 Child Emancipation and Social Adjustment 40
2.9 A Review of the Social Learning Theory of
Adolescent
Development 45
2.10 Peer Group Pressure and Adolescent Social
Adjustment 48
2.11 Summary of the
Review 52
CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 54
3.0 Introduction 54
3.1
Resign design 54
3.2
Population of the Study
54
3.3
Sample Size and
Sampling Technique 55
3.4
Instrumentation 55
3.5
Procedure for Data
Collection 55
3.6
Procedure for Data
Analysis 55
CHAPTER FOUR: Data Analysis and Presentation of Results 56
4.0
Introduction
56
4.1 Hypotheses
Testing 56
4.2
Summary of
Findings 59
CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSIONS,
SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS,
AND RECOMMENDATIONS 61
5.1
Introduction 61
5.2
Discussion
of findings 61
5.3
Summary of the Study 66
5.4
Conclusions 68
5.5
Recommendations 68
References 71
Appendix 76
CHAPTER
ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1
Background to the Study
Adolescents
today, are generally perceived by the adults as a group who constantly engage
in activities which are contrary to the norms, ethics and values of the
society. According to Omoegun (2000), the adolescents due to their behaviour
which are inimical to society’s norms and values, many at times, fail short of
the demands of the society. The society demands that the youths should present
good conducts and norms which are acceptable to the general community, which
are also prerequisites for healthy living and good interactions in the society.
As Onyedika (2003) observes, no decent society would like its youths to be
recalcitrant to its laid down values and accepted norms.
According
to Onwuama (1988), the youngsters are seen as a group constantly seeking
independence from the adult society, particularly, of parents and other
authority figures. This need for independence has led adolescents to take a
position and views different from those of their parents and other adults, and
to act in conformity with their peers, however unconventional their actions may
be. Nowadays, it is not unusual to hear some parents complaining about their
children’s uncooperative attitudes. These days, children tend to disobey their
parents and obey their friends and take directives from them. Agunloye (2000)
states that it is very essential for parents to watch out for the company that
their adolescent children associate with or keep. A popular adage says, “show
me your friend and I will tell you who you are”. This means that if a child
associates with drug pushes or abusers, sooner or later, he would join the
group. Or if he/she associates with rogues and armed robbers, he/she would
sooner or later be persuaded to join the group on one of their trips and share
in the booty”. A trial will convince you! So they say.
According
to Onuoha (2005), parents are largely responsible for the lapses in the
adolescent behaviour, because, they are expected to serve as role-models.
Parents need to give more attention to the development of their adolescents in
order to inculcate the right sense of discipline and correct orientation in
them. This is because, where parents fail to train or bring up their child in
the right direction, they (adolescents) tend to uphold the tenets of their of
peers. These peers are seemingly inexperienced in child-upbringing, therefore,
they inculcate in their friends wrong ideas that do not conform with the norms
accepted in the community (Ayodele, 2002).
No
doubt, adolescents in our contemporary society, need to be counselled and
directed on the best part to follow in life. According to Mundi (2001), the
school counsellors have enormous work on their hands, because they cannot
afford to sit down and watch the youths who are regarded as the greater
tomorrow to act as they like and then turn to deviants in the society. When the
counsellors and other significant adult members of the society fail to advise
and direct the adolescents against wrong behaviour, they (adolescents) would
continue in their wrong acts and uphold them till adult life, and the resultant
effect is a disjointed and perverse community in which anything goes, a wild
jungle where anarchy reigns supreme.
Due
to economic down-turn in Nigeria,
and generally in the world today, parents have lost the firm grips they had on
their children’s characters (Ajibola, 2000). According to Ajibola, in the olden
days, when the economy was stable and in good condition, when parents were
indeed breadwinners, they (parents) used to give effective instructions and
directions to their children and these instructions were followed to the last
letter, but these days, many parents are no more financiers of the home, and
this has caused them to loose grips on their command structure to their
children. Many parents these days, do not take proper care of their children.
For instance, due to economic adversity, in many homes, children go out to
work, by way of hawking and doing menial jobs and come to feed their parents.
This situation does not warrant these parents to have the moral rights to
discipline these children even though in the face of flagrant disobedience of
parents’ rules and regulations.
In
this perspective, guidance and counsellors have a lot jobs to do, because their
natural duties are to advise and diplomatically persuade individuals to follow
the part of good life in order to come out of their problems. According to
Uzoma (1998), the school should use the counsellors to return the wrong
behavioural pattern of the adolescents to the good behavioural patterns where
they would conform to the demands and aspirations of the decent society,
especially that of the parents, teachers and the significant others in the near
community.
1.2
Statement of the Problem
Adolescent
life is no doubt, a life full of storm and stress. Many adolescents have grown
wings and flown above parental control, due to peer pressure and bad ganging
up. In many circumstances now, the youths in the society have turned
recalcitrants, they hardly obey the rules and regulations stipulated by their
parents, teachers and the significant others in the community or the school.
The economic downturn in Nigeria
today, has caused parents and many adults to become handicapped, and could not
usurp authorities on the young ones. In this circumstance, the youths have
turned away from their parents, and have focused attention to their peers who
have swayed them into becoming armed robbers, prostitutes, violent
demonstrators, examination cheats, thieves, hired assassins, thuggs, rioters,
rapers drug abusers and addicts etc.
Due
to the fact that youths of these days have not met the social demands of good
values and norms of parents, teachers and others in the larger society, it has
not augured well in the social community where orderliness and decorum are
expected of all decent members of the society. For this lapses in lives of the
young ones, the society, and indeed, parents, teachers and other adult members
of the larger community have been at great pain and distress due to the seeming
lack of good behaviour in majority of our youngsters. For instance, the laid
down norms and expected values of the society, especially of parents and
teachers are neglected by the youths, this has caused our social system, a
great collapse, and no wonder there is so much decay in the system nowadays.
The
above problems necessitated the examination of the influence of social demands;
peer pressure and economic instability on adolescents’ behavioural patterns.
1.3
Purpose of the Study
The
specific objectives of this study are:
1.
To find out whether
social demand influences adolescents’ patterns of life.
2.
To assess whether peer
pressure influences adolescents’ academic performance.
3.
To examine the effect
of economic instability on adolescents behavioural patterns.
4.
To find out whether
gender difference exists in the social adjustment of youths.
5.
To investigate whether
peer pressure affects students’ social adjustment in school.
1.4
Research Questions
The
following research questions will be raised in order to conduct this study:
1.
Will social demand
influence adolescents’ pattern of behaviours?
2.
To what extent will
peer pressure affect adolescents’ academic performance?
3.
Will the economic
instability affect adolescents’ behavioural patterns?
4.
Will gender difference
affect adolescents’ social orientation?
5.
Will peer pressure
affect students’ social adjustment?
1.5
Research Hypotheses
The
following hypotheses will be formulated and tested in this study:
1.
There will be no
significant influence of social demand on adolescents’ pattern of behaviour.
2.
There will be no
significant relationship between peer pressure and adolescents’ social
adjustment.
3.
There will be no
significant relationship between economic instability and adolescents’ academic
performance in school.
4.
There will be no gender
difference in adolescence social adjustment in school.
1.6 Significance
of the Study
This
study is essential when we consider the power of peer group influence on the
students and the need for guidance to enable the students understand and adjust
well within the school environment.
The
work would be a contribution to knowledge and literature in the area that the
study covered.
It
will help to check some re-occurring problems which may hinder the attainment
of well planned curriculum.
This
study will also be beneficial to the following individuals:
2.
Parents:
Parents, no doubt, are those who nurture and take care of children after giving
birth to them in the home. With this findings and recommendations made in this
study, parents would be well informed, pertaining to different levels of
patterns of parenting in the home. This study, no doubt will enable
parents/guardians to be able to know how best to rear their children and wards,
it will help them to be able to identify those recommended parenting styles
that will give the children or wards good rearing process and upbringing in the
society. This is because children reared in proper ways by good parenting
styles, will be different from the children reared under bad or harsh parenting
styles. With the application of this recommended styles of parenting, parents
would be able to rear children who would be very respectful to them and the
society.
3.
Adolescents: The
children, especially the youth in the society would benefit from the
recommendations of this study because it will help them to understand the way
of nurturing and bringing them up as adolescent. With this study, children
would be able to identify some of the values in the family and society. With
this study also, adolescents would be enable to know that they ought to be
controlled and obedient to their parents, teachers and the significant others
in their communities.
4.
Teachers:
Teachers would no doubt, be able to understand more, the different aspect of
adolescents’ behaviours. Some teachers are parents also, they will be exposed
to the essence of child-upbringing by reading this work. This study will create
important knowledge on parents’ demands, peer grouping and economic
instability. Teachers will also be able to learn the more, that good parenting
would be beneficial to both the teachers and the school system where both the
teachers and the children are found. This is because, if the children are well
brought up, they would be good and right thinking individuals in the society
and the school.
5.
The Society: The
society will benefit from this study because there will be great impact of this
study on the individual in the society. Also both the new researchers and
students who want to carry out new research on topics related to this study will
find this study a reference point or material.
1.7 Scope
and Limitation of the Study
The
study covers the influence of social demand, peer pressure and economic
instability on adolescents’ patterns of behaviours in Lagos State:
Implication for Counselling.
This
research was carried out in the Kosofe
Local Government Area of Lagos State. The idea behind carrying this study in
Kosofe area is because, Kosofe Local Government area is one of the populous
Local Development Areas in Lagos.
It is one of the oldest local government areas in the state.
In
this study, the main constraints are sourcing of materials and other logistics
that may crop up during the investigation of this problem, and may subsequently
hinder the timely completion of the project. Also, the respondents’
unwillingness to give correct and sincere information regarding the study will
be a hindrance.
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