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The Influence Of Perceived Youth Culture On Social Orientation Of Undergraduates
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CHAPTER ONE
1.0 Introduction The study of every unit of social
organization must eventually lead to an analysis of the interaction of
its elements. According to Rummer (1996) social interactions are the
acts, actions, or practices of two or more people mutually oriented
towards each other’s selves, that is, any behaviour that tries to affect
or take account of each other’s subjective experiences or intentions.
This means that the parties to the social interaction must be aware of
each other, have each other’s self in mind as in the case of the
adolescents of the youths culture group under study. Generally, the
adolescents in our institutions of learning interacts and are influenced
by various aspects of life such as dressing – same clothing styles,
same hair-do, diet, friends, sexual behaviour, use of same slang
expression, entertainment and attitude towards authority figures and
academic pursuits. The youth may be single sex, mixed group of young
people who are usually bound together by same emotion such as a group is
commonly found within a school, youth club, church or mosque. In each
case the adolescent encounters his mates and social interactions ensue
immediately. Members of the youth culture, have strong feelings of
friendship for one another and help provide opportunity to develop
social skill that will help the youth make social, emotional and
personal adjustment. Moreover, social interaction requires mutual
orientation. Therefore, peer acceptance is very fundamental and crucial
at this stage as attested to by Osarenren (2005). She said, adolescents
who are liked and accepted (star) by their peers are more likely to be
psychologically healthier and self confident than those rejected
(isolate) by their peers. This is in agreement with Nwadinigwe (2004)
who opines that when the adolescent is not able to relate well, he
becomes withdrawn, feels rejected, depressed and frustrated. He further
added that his level of concentration in school, motivation to learn and
performance in subjects invariably becomes negatively affected. When
this type of situation arises, Osarenren (2005) asserts that it is
worthwhile for an older adult, preferably an understanding elder,
counsellor, parent or teacher to intervene. The interaction may lead to
the beginning of a more constructive interpersonal relationship for a
rejected adolescent. But, Sokan and Akinade (1994) opined that the
generation gap syndrome often causes conflicts between parents/adult
differences, there is bound to be incongruence in views, beliefs and
even attitudes. According to Anusiem (1987), some observers pointed out
that youth of today are more rebellious, more troubled emotionally more
promiscuous sexually, less idealistic, more critical of values and
standards of the adult culture (hence the so-called generation gap),
more disengaged from these values than in order times. These observers
also cite demonstrations and strikes, riots in university campuses and
other institutions of higher learning, so-called lack of respect for
constituted authorities, increased use of drugs, confrontation with
police and law enforcement agents, increase rate of pregnancy among
school girls, drop-outs from schools and so on and emphasize that we are
in troubled times. It is against this background that Siann and
Ugwuegbu, in Anusiem (1987) argue that where society places excessive
demands on adolescents, where it supplies no clear expectations of the
future, and where society is changing so rapidly that the adolescent has
no one to model himself on, adolescence may on occasion be a period of
storm and stress’, not because adolescents are by nature emotionally
unstable but because too much is being demanded of them. On this note,
the need to understand and appreciate the youths as they relates with
themselves is pertinent even as they undergo ‘The crisis period’
according to Osarenren (2005) which are exhibited in different forms of
worries and concern such as identity formation, development of moral and
values and quest for independence amongst others. Hence, the youth
often times relating and depending on his peers who are facing similar
problems and who are therefore sympathetic. Hurlock (1993), views
socialization as a process of learning to conform to group standards,
mores, and customs. It is a learning process which renders a person able
to participate satisfactorily in a social group or society. Therefore,
social orientation explores how comfortable the youth is when dealing
with a lot of people on a regular basis. Hence, to Nwadinigwe (2004)
when an individual receives proper socialization, he adjusts easily in
the society. This study is therefore interested in investigating how the
perceived youth culture influences the social orientation of
undergraduates in University of Lagos.
CHAPTER ONE -- [Total Page(s) 4]
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ABSRACT - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]The study examined the influence of youth culture on the social orientation of adolescents in University of Lagos, Akoka Lagos.The descriptive research survey was employed to assess the opinions of the respondents. A total of 120 (one hundred and twenty) students were sampled for this study.Four null hypotheses were formulated and tested using the t-test and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) at 0.05 level of significance.At the end of the analyses, the following conclusions were reached: Hypothesis o ... Continue reading---
