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Patterns And Causes Of Juvenile Delinquency As Expressed By Secondary School Students
[A CASE STUDY OF IBARAPA LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, OYO STATE]
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Ethic and Self-Direction: rule and limit testing; occasional experimentation with cigarettes, marijuana, and alcohol; capacity for abstract thought.
Stage Two: Middle Adolescence (approximately 15-16 years of age)
Movement toward Independence: self-involvement, alternating between unrealistically high expectations and worries about failure; complaints that parents interfere with independence; extremely concerned with appearance and with one’s own body; feelings of strangeness about one’s self and body; lowered opinion of and withdrawal from parents; effort to make new friends; strong emphasis on the new peer group; periods of sadness as the psychological loss of parents takes place; examination of inner experiences, which may include writing a dairy (Smetana, Campione-Barr, & Metzger, 2006).
Future Interests and Cognitive Development: intellectual interests gain importance; some sexual and aggressive energy directed into creative and career interests; anxiety can emerge related to school and academic performance.
Sexuality: concerns about sexual attractiveness; frequently changing relationships; more clearly defined sexual orientation, with internal conflict often experienced by those who are not heterosexual; tenderness and fears shown towards opposite sex; feeling of love and passion (Steinberg, 2008).
Physical Changes: males show continued height and weight gains while female growth slows down (female grow only 1-2 inches after their first menstrual period) (Steinberg, 2008).
Ethic and Self-Direction: development of ideals and selection of role models; more consistent evidence of conscience; greater goal setting capacity; interest in moral reasoning.
Stage Three: Late Adolescence (approximately 17-21 years of age)
Movement toward Independence: firmer identity; ability to delay gratification; ability to think through ideas; ability to express ideas in words; more developed sense of humor; interests become more stable; greater emotional stability; ability to make independent decisions; ability to compromise; pride in one’s work; self-reliance; greater concern for others (Smetana, Campione-Barr, & Metzger, 2006).
Future Interests and Cognitive Development: more defined work habits; higher level of concern for the future; thoughts about one’s role in life.
Sexuality: concerned with serious relationships; clear sexual identity; capacities for tender and sensual love (Steinberg, 2008).
Physical Changes: most young women are fully developed; young men continue to gain height, weight, muscles mass, body hair (Steinberg, 2008).
Ethic and Self-Direction: capable of useful insight; focus on personal dignity and self-esteem; ability to set goals and follow through; acceptance of social institutions and cultural traditions; self-regulation of self-esteem.
There are few factors which directly and indirectly affect adolescents’ deviant behaviours. These factors are the adolescent family, community and peers. Families of deviant adolescents are living below the poverty line. Violence, punitive parenting and inter-parental conflict are common for them (Wadsworth & Compass, 2002). Parents of deviant adolescents usually do not use Important parenting techniques such as effective discipline, monitoring and problem-solving that have a great impact on developing deviant behaviour (Corsswhite & Kerpelman, 2009). Many deviant adolescents had experienced their parents’ fighting and later divorcing. Social control theory assumes that two parents are better able to provide affection and supervision to their children than single parents (Mack, Leiber, Featherstone & Monserud, 2007). According to the social disorganization theory, if traditional or effective community social bonds that prevent crime and deviance are absent, deviant behaviours will increase (Knoester & Haynie, 2005). The most effective community is an intergeneration where children and adults have a strong bond with each other. On the other hand, single-parent families have difficulty in providing the necessary conditions that prevent crime and deviance. Within the community, schools pay an important role in providing social norm and preventing deviant behaviour. Parents help adolescents to understand and accept the pro-social values. If they do not, the risk of deviant behaviour increases (Simons, Whitbeck, Conger & Conger, 1991). Important information is that adolescents with positive feelings towards their school are less likely to be deviant (Dornbusch, Erickson, Laird & Wong, 2001). When adolescents have trouble at school, they tend to look for a support in a deviant peer group. Deviant groups are more likely to accept each other. Thereby some adolescents begin to affiliate with deviant friends.
Concept of Juvenile Delinquency
According to Siegel & Welsh (2011), juvenile delinquency refers to criminal acts performed by Juveniles. Jones (2008) defines juvenile delinquency as ‘an antisocial or criminal act performed by an individual under the age of eighteen. Longman dictionary (1995) defines delinquency as “an illegal or immoral behaviour, especially by the young person who behaves in a way that is illegal or that the society does not approve ofâ€. Hence, delinquency is criminal or antisocial behaviour of juvenile.
Juvenile according to Encarta Dictionary (2008) are the minors in the society. It is a legal term for those under the age of authority. This varies from country to country but is usually between the ages of 18 and 21 years. Brown (1998) explains that juveniles have been presumed to lack the criminal intent to commit willful crimes; hence juvenile law is designed primarily to protect and redirect young offenders rather than to punish them. Juvenile delinquents in a simple term mean ‘adolescents engaging in anti-social behaviour that violates the social codes of the society’. This includes acts ranging from simple disrespect all the way up to murder (Regoli, 2006).
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ABSRACT - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]ABSTRACTThe 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 de ... Continue reading---
APPENDIX A - [ Total Page(s): 2 ]SECTION C: Causes of Juvenile DelinquencyDirection: Kindly put a tick ( ) in the column that you consider as most applicable to you. There is no right or wrong responses. Please respond to all items as honestly as possible using the rating scales: SA - Strongly Agree; A - Agree; D – Disagree and SD - Strongly Disagree. ... Continue reading---
LIST OF TABLES - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]LIST OF TABLES Title 1. Demographic characteristics of respondents 2. Mean and rank order of patterns of juvenile delinquency among students 3. Mean and rank order of causes of juvenile delinquency 4. Mean, SD and t-test results comparing respondents’ expression on patterns of juvenile delinquency based on gender 5. Mean, SD and t-test results comparing respondents’ expression o ... Continue reading---
TABLE OF CONTENTS - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]TABLE OF CONTENTSContent Title page Certification Dedication Acknowledgements Table of Contents List of Tables Abstract CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTIONBackground to the Study Statement of the Problem Research Questions Research Hypotheses Purpose of the Study Significance of the Study Operational Definition of Terms Scope of the Study CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF THE RELATED LITERATUREConcept of Adolescence Concept of Juvenile Delinquency Theories of Juvenile Delinquency Age and Juvenile Delinquen ... Continue reading---
CHAPTER ONE - [ Total Page(s): 4 ]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 senio ... Continue reading---
CHAPTER THREE - [ Total Page(s): 2 ]Psychometric Properties of the Instrument The psychometric analysis of the instrument was based on the validity and reliability measure. The properties are presented thus;Validity: Adewumi (1998) noted that a measuring instrument is described as valid when it measures truly and accurately the quality it is meant to measure. Validity is one of the most crucial psychometric properties of measurement and it is concerned with whether a test or scale really measures what it purports to measure. ... Continue reading---
CHAPTER FOUR - [ Total Page(s): 7 ]Research Question 2: What are the causes of juvenile delinquency among secondary school students in Ibarapa Local Government Area?Table 3 depicts the mean and rank order of respondents’ responses on causes of juvenile delinquency. The table shows that the respondents agreed to all the identified items as causes of juvenile delinquencies as the response scores are above average mean score of 2.5. However, items 1, 4, 12, 5 and 3 were ranked 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th with mean scores of 3. ... Continue reading---
CHAPTER FIVE - [ Total Page(s): 3 ]RecommendationsThe following recommendations were made based on the findings of the study:1. Parents and the society should provide for the needs of adolescents (most especially the basic needs) so that they can be prevented from engaging in delinquent behaviours that may negatively influence their future.2. The school authorities should monitor students’ activities and encourage them on the needs to associate with peers that help them improve in their academic pursuits and mo ... Continue reading---
REFRENCES - [ Total Page(s): 4 ]Smetana, J. G., Campione,-Barr, N. & Metzger, A. (2006). Adolescent development in interpersonal and societal contexts. Annual Review of Psychology, 57, 255-284.Snyder, H, N. & Sickmund, M. (2006). Juvenile offenders and victims. 2006 national report. Washington DC, US department of Justice, Office of Justice programmes office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Steinberg, L. & Monahan, K. C. (2007). Age differences in resistance to peer influence. Development Psychology 43(6): 1531- ... Continue reading---
