-
Influence Of Social Demand, Peer Pressure And Economic Instability On Adolescents’ Behavioural Pattern
CHAPTER ONE -- [Total Page(s) 4]
Page 1 of 4
-
-
-
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1Background 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 areâ€. 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 bootyâ€. 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.
CHAPTER ONE -- [Total Page(s) 4]
Page 1 of 4
-
-
ABSRACT - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]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 th ... Continue reading---
