TABLE OF CONTENTS
Content Page
Title page i
Certification ii
Dedication iii
Acknowledgements iv
Table of Contents v
List of Tables vii
Abstract viii
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
Background to the Study 1
Statement of the Problem 8
Research Questions 10
Research Hypotheses 11
Purpose of the Study 12
Significance of the Study 12
Operational Definition of Terms 14
Scope of the Study 15
CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF THE RELATED LITERATURE
Concept of Adolescence 17
Concept of Juvenile Delinquency 30
Theories of Juvenile Delinquency 36
Age and Juvenile Delinquency 40
Patterns of Juvenile Delinquency among Students 43
Causes of Juvenile delinquency among Students 45
Summary of Review of the Related Literature 54
CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY
Preamble 57
Research Design 57
Population, Sample and Sampling Procedure 58
Instrumentation 59
Procedure for Data Collection 61
Procedure for Scoring the Instrument 62
Method of Data Analysis 62
CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS
Preamble 63
Demographic Data 63
Hypotheses Testing 66
Summary of Findings 70
CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Preamble 72
Discussion of Findings 72
Conclusion 77
Recommendations 78
Suggestions for Further Studies 79
References 80
Appendix 90
LIST OF TABLES
Title Page
1. Demographic characteristics of respondents 63
2. Mean and rank order of patterns of juvenile delinquency
among students 64
3. Mean and rank order of causes of juvenile delinquency 65
4. Mean, SD and t-test results comparing respondents’ expression
on patterns of juvenile delinquency based on gender 66
5. Mean, SD and t-test results comparing respondents’ expression
on causes of juvenile delinquency based on gender 67
6. ANOVA result comparing respondents’ expression on patterns
of juvenile delinquency based on age 67
7. ANOVA result comparing respondents’ expression on causes of
juvenile delinquency based on age 68
8. Mean, SD and t-test results comparing respondents’ expression
on patterns of juvenile delinquency based on residential area 68
9. Mean, SD and t-test results comparing respondents’ expression
on causes of juvenile delinquency based on residential area 7
ABSTRACT
The challenges of adolescents are enormous simply because of the 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. A descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. The using proportional, simple and stratified random sampling techniques were used to draw a sample of 200 secondary school students in Ibarapa Local Government Area, Oyo State. A self-designed instrument entitled “Patterns and Causes of Juvenile Delinquency Questionnaire (PCJDQ)” was used to amass data for the study. The instrument has reliability co-efficient of 0.72 through use of test re-test reliability method. The hypotheses were analyzed with t-test and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) statistics at 0.05 level of significance.
The findings of this study revealed that the major patterns of juvenile delinquency among secondary schools in Ibarapa Local Government Area, are school violence, examination malpractice, bullying of other students, sexual immorality, involvement in graffiti behaviours and using abusive languages in school and public places. The findings also revealed that juvenile delinquency is caused by negative influence of mass media, unmet needs of adolescents, broken home, single parenting and peer pressure. The hypotheses tested revealed no significant difference in the patterns and causes of juvenile delinquency as expressed by secondary school students in Ibarapa Local Government Area on the bases of gender and age, while significant difference was found based on residential area. Based on the findings of this study, it is recommended that parents and the society should provide for the needs of adolescents, the school authorities should monitor students’ activities and encourage them on the needs to associate with good peers, teachers should be role models for the students by demonstrating good behaviour to the students, government should regulate the activities of the media making appropriate laws to prevent adolescents’ exposure to delinquent acts, the school counsellors should organise seminars, workshops and symposia on regular basis in order to sensitise adolescents against delinquent behaviours and equip them with necessary social skills.