ABSTRACT
This
study was borne out of concern about the growing statistics of delinquent
behaviour amongst secondary school students in Nigeria. The study examines the
effect of juvenile delinquent behaviour on the social well-being of secondary
school students in Ibadan North Local Government, Oyo State. The study sought
to find out how delinquent behaviour affects academic performance,
psychological well-being and social well-being of the students.
The
research design adopted was the descriptive survey method. The target
population comprised of some secondary school students from Orogun Grammar
School and Immanuel High School in Ibadan North L.G, Ibadan. The schools were
selected using the convenient sampling method. From these two schools, 150
students were selected using the random sampling method. A standardized
questionnaire was used to collect the requisite data, and the data was analyzed
using the t-test and the analysis of variance (ANOVA).
The
results showed a significant relationship between delinquent behaviour and
academic performance(r = .166, N= 150, P < .05), a significant relationship
between delinquent behaviour and psychological well-being (r = .177, N= 150, P
< .05), and a significant relationship between delinquent behaviour and
social well-being (r = .343, N= 150, P < .05).
Based
on these findings, due recommendations were made on how to educate youths about
the ills of delinquent behaviour, and how to provide necessary intervention
where needed.
CHAPTER
ONE
Introduction
1.1
Background
to the Study
One
of the serious problems in the society today is juvenile delinquency (Olawoyin,
2017). It has been a national concern since the 1940s though it is too often
seen as something ‘new’. Government has found it necessary to give attention to
the issue of crime by juveniles just as it has to deal with other forms of
crime and violence, which generally disrupt the peace of society. A juvenile is
a child or a young person between the age of 7 and 17 years (Fadipe, 2009). The
dictionary defines juveniles as ‘young persons no longer babies but not yet
fully grown ‘Delinquency on the other hand, is defined as the quality or state
of being delinquent; a tendency towards behaviour that is not in accordance
with accepted social standard or with the law; having a tendency to exhibit
socially unacceptable behaviour. Juvenile delinquency therefore is an
anti-social misdeed in violation of the law by a minor that is punishable. The
law also defines a delinquent juvenile as a young person who has violated the
criminal code.
In every society, there
are sets of norms which members are expected to observe, however, not every
member of the society abides by those norms. Members who live contrary to the
set normsare referred to as delinquents. Juvenile delinquency according to
Ben-Yunusa (2008) initially has to do with children’s
offences, misconduct or crime for which, it is thought, they are not
directly responsible.
Bello (2006) observed
that delinquent behaviours have assumed an alarming proportion in Nigeria.
Nigerians are disturbed and anxious as they are concerned about the problem of
delinquency in which today’s youths involve themselves. The issue of juvenile
delinquency is being discussed on television, radio, newspapers and journals
and recently on the internet. This cankerworm seems to survive despite efforts
made by religious and moral education teachers to eliminate them through the
inculcation of moral values in schools.
English and English in Ben-Yunusa (2008) defined delinquency as a relatively
minor violation of legal or moral code by children or adolescents. However, no delinquent
act should be considered as minor because any act of delinquency can result to
serious damage.
According to the World
Youth Report (2003), the rise in juvenile delinquency has been virtually in
all parts of
the world since
late 1990s and the early
parts of the
second millennium. This is presumably
due to social and economic upheavals and the changes that have recently occurred
throughout the African continent. The United Nations, Centre of Social
Development and Humanitarian Affairs(UNCSDAHA) report on The global situation
of youth in the 1990s: trends and prospects, also tend to attribute these
problems to the great number of street and orphaned children, breakdown of family
and social structures, rapid and dramatic social, political and economic changes
that have taken place in Africa in recent decades (UNCSDHA, 1993). According to
Urban Management Programme(2000), delinquency in Africa tends to be
attributed primarily to
hunger, poverty, malnutrition
and unemployment, which
are linked to the marginalization of juveniles in the
already severely disadvantaged segments of society. Most of the urban poor live in slum and
squatter settlements with overcrowded, unhealthy housing and a lack of basic
services. All these would make the juveniles vulnerable to delinquent acts.
In Nigeria, juvenile
delinquency involves the exploitation of children under the age of 18 in a way
that prevents them from obtaining basic education and proper development same
children are deprived of their rights, work under hazardous environment and
bear burdens beyond their age Olufeagba (1990) noted that juvenile delinquency
especially of the male child is so widely spread in Nigeria that it has been
accepted by many as part of normal life.The author stressed that juvenile
delinquency is an aberration which takes away the innocence of millions of
children
According to Gibson et
al.(2011), juveniles who grow up in a community where access to culturally
approved goals by conventional means is denied, and where a large degree
of social disorganization is
present, find themselves
in situations where
social norms governing behaviour
are not clearly
defined. According to social
strain theory the juveniles may
discover that delinquent
activities supply opportunity
to achieve social identity and social status. Therefore, delinquent activities are defined by the perception of others in the society
who defines whether an act is delinquent or not. Juvenile delinquency, also known as “juvenile
offending”, is participation in an illegal or antisocial behaviour by minors
(Siegel and Welsh, 2011). These are
individuals younger than the statutory age of majority, which in Nigerian law,
is below the age of 18 years. .
Juvenile delinquency
according to English and English is such behaviour by a young person (usually
16 or 18
years depending on
the state code)
that can bring him to the attention of a court .In a
broadest sense according to Ben-Yunusa (1998), a delinquent act is any behaviour of a young boy or girl that
can be objected to more senior members of a society. Delinquency is basically a
legal and relative
term which refers
to the breaking of
the law of a particular country. An act
therefore may make an adolescent delinquent in one country, but not necessarily
in another. However, there are certain behaviours such as stealing and killing
that are considered as violating the social and moral norms of most
societies.For quite a long time, the issue of juvenile delinquency has become a
great concern to Nigerian secondary schools, especially in Ibadan. Studies have
shown that juvenile delinquency is
rampant among secondary school students
due to a
number of causes
which, according to Adeshina.(1999) and Sunday(2007) include; parents’
attitudes towards their children, the community,social class, frustration, peer
group, foreign ideas,poverty,illiteracy, among others
1.2 Statement of the Problem
One of the major
problems that pose a threat to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal
number five is, juvenile delinquency. Education aims at enabling the Nigerian
child to develop the spirit of patriotism, tolerance and other types of productive
qualities of a citizen. Unfortunately juvenile delinquency has constituted a
problem that has led to student’s attrition, late arrival at school, and low
academic performance.Other related behaviours among students that are also of
concern include, aggression, theft burglary, destruction of school property,
truancy, rudeness and sexual harassment. These negative behaviours are observed
amongst male and female students of different age categories and locations. According
to the media report, the adolescents’ involvement in crimes is getting bolder each
time. Their involvement was
not only in
petty crimes, but also includes
rape, gangsterism, robberies,
and even recruiting
new members to commit crimes (Bernama, 2014)
Delinquent behaviours
are also linked to quality of teaching and learning in the classrooms. The
prevailing delinquent behaviours among students and the effect of these on the
society led to the choice of the present research topic to enable the
researcher investigate the effect of juvenile delinquent behaviour on the
social well-being of secondary school students.
1.3 Purpose of the Study
The overall objective
of the study is to researcher investigate the effect of juvenile delinquent behaviour
on the social well-being of secondary school students in Ibadan North Local
Government of Oyo State. The specific objectives include:
i.
To evaluate the nature, extent and
causes of juvenile delinquent behaviour in secondary schools
ii.
To determine the level of perceived
social support and the level of psychological well-being among the delinquents
iii.
To examine the impact of other personal
characteristics in the promotion of delinquent behaviour to lead to low
academic performance
iv.
To suggest workable measures to
minimizing the problem of juvenile delinquency in secondary schools
1.4 Significance of the Study
This
type of study would be very useful to the government of Oyo State and Nigeria
at large, as it would help facilitate measures and
programs aimed at creating awareness about the ill effects of juvenile
delinquent behaviour and social well-being of adolescents; and how to curtail
deviant tendencies in students in Ibadan north and all students general. It
should serve as a resource material for anyone that may want to learn and know
more about drug abuse, its causes, and its consequences on health and how to
manage drug abuse related issues.
1.5 Scope of the Study
The study is designed
to investigate the effect of Juvenile Delinquent Behaviour on the Social
Well-being of Secondary School Students. The study will be conducted in Ibadan
North Local Government Area of Oyo State, Nigeria.
The study will put into
consideration that Ibadan North East and Ibadan North West Local Government
Area of Oyo State, Nigeria. The knowledge and awareness levels about juvenile
delinquency among adolescent may not be similar to that of their counterparts
from other local government. The need for this study was felt considering the
fact that many studies on juvenile delinquency behaviour had focused on
universities, polytechnics and colleges of education, but none from a secondary
schools.
1.6 Operational Definition of Terms
Deviant/delinquentacts: Behaviours
which are against societal accepted norms.
For this study, these includes stealing, running away from
home/school, eloping, rape and defilement,
murder, abusing alcohol
and drugs, Truancy, bulling
and abusing other children.
Factors influencing
juvenile delinquency are limited to Individual, Family and Community Factors.
Individual
Factors: will refer to those factors that
emanate from the individual’s emotional,
social and self-control characteristics that are established early
in life which in turn may contribute to juvenile delinquency.
Family factors: in this
study refers to life situations such as inadequate child parenting styles,
maltreatment, family violence, poverty, parentalsocial isolation or lack of sufficient
emotional support, and parental supervision, abuse of alcohol and drugs, and
lack of parental modelling which can contribute to delinquency.
Community
factorswill be defined as factors
such as neighbourhood
domain like childhood exposure to violence, alcohol and drug abuse,
poverty, disorganisations, peer
pressure, lack of school bonding and technological which may influences
the children negatively.
Juvenile
Delinquency: This study defined the term
juvenile delinquency as children below the age of 18years whose conducts are
out of accord with accepted behaviour or the law.
Juvenile justice
system: is a system that provides
legal setting in
which youth can account for their wrongs or receive
official protection. In this study, this will include the Juvenile Remand Home
and the courts
Juvenile Remand
Home: refers to a
temporary detention centre,
under the administration of children’s department,
to which children are committed by the court pending adjudication and final
disposition of their cases.
Adolescent/youth/youngster:
a young person that is just past the stage of puberty; in early teenage years
or twenties.
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