A STUDY OF DEVIANT BEHAVIOR AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

Deviant behaviour can be defined as not keeping to the rules or norms of the society, or the schools norms. According to Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary six editions define deviant behaviour as differently from others usually of expected and according to chambers dictionary in twentieth century. Deviant behaviour is to deviate from the norms of a particular people in the society or community. That is turning aside or away from set shown rules of political system or principle of a social, such behaviour could be seen as crime, drunkenness, indiscipline in school, home prostitution, cultism, gambling, other. It has been observed that quite number of students in higher institution of learning are deviant behaviour they become deviant when they engage in activities which are neither under the control of the school system in the society. In Nigeria society today is developing hence it required an education system that will enable the youth to understand the society and cultural heritage. This will help in the preservation of the society and the culture and will also help in preparing of citizens for a changing attitude, knowledge, skills manpower, and experience in the societies. The education of the youths is very essential in order to ensure the confidence of the citizens to the social and economic development of the country as well as raining the standard of living generally.

Nigerian education system must stimulate the spirit of patriotism and lay the solid function of national and international understanding and cooperation in our children. Through education service those manifestation can be eradicated of deviant behaviour in schools, of which a lot of bad behaviour are such smoking drunkenness, stealing, abortion, murder, gambling, prostitution etc. the eradication of which can be done by attempting to restructure the in term and organization of the school, peer group, religious institutions and all other primary organizations in the society. The family as an agent of socialization could have significant impact on the child. This is evident from the fact that it is the first place where the child learn about leadership and what it takes, here basis skills and behaviour pattern have to behave in the home are taught by the parents. The school as agent of socialization and training institution for out future learners and manpower needed in our society is also faced with an acute problem which also affect the society as large. This problem is that of deviant behaviour which a form of indiscipline is. The problem of deviant society manifest itself in the Nigeria society and most of our school product for example lack of total commitment and dedication of their work, lateness to work, absenteeism, neglect of duty and parent who feels less concern about their children by going late when the children are already asleep etc. all these have a way of retarding progress of work and also limit our effectiveness and efficiency. The school a guise organization should be able to deliver real services, which is geared to the betterment of the government and the society, such as the ability to teach morals, punctuality, regularity, honesty, dedication to work and loyalty to work. This means that the schools should be able to produce disciplined pupils whom will later become good citizens who are free from any deviant act or behaviour be it drug addiction, gambling, truancy in school, abortion, smoking, sexual immorality, failure to serve punishment, murder, prostitution, bribery and corruption etc.

Deviant behaviour is an act of indiscipline or behaviour disorder which served as a major is of great source of some social vices in Nigeria society, which is of great concern to the parents, government and teachers. Source of these social vices are increased rate of dropout in school drug abuse among youths, gambling, stealing, pick pocket and they also constitute nuisance of the society.

There is an adage which says that idle mind is the devils workshop. This denotes since deviant behaviour has made student to involve in bad habit they move about not staying in school to learn and they move about the streets and alleges without sense of direction, they are likely to meet with bad friends who are corrupt and learn all form of bad act from there they are likely to be tempted to engage in deviant behaviour’ such as stealing drunkenness, committing abortion, absenteeism from school and others.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The study is concern with the investigation of the cause of deviant behaviour among some selected secondary students and how it affects the academic performance of the child in some selected schools in Ethiope East Local Government Area in Delta State.

The influence of student background on deviant behaviour in schools as well as examine the possible influence of the school environment teachers, parent, society, peer group ups behaviour in promoting deviant behaviour among student. To arrest or minimize the ugly situation and answer to the following questions would be sought out.

i Could the effect of deviant behaviour contribute to the performance of the child.

ii. To what extent has deviant behaviour contribute to the academic performance of the child?

iii. Could deviant behaviour attribute to parent inability to meet the student school need?

iv. Could deviant behaviour cause students dropout from school

1.3 PURPOSE OF STUDY

This study is concern to sets out and achieves the following.

i) To investigate whether parents in some ways, either knowing or unknowingly contribute to the deviant behaviour of students in secondary school.

ii) To determine whether the nature of the school administration has influence whether the socio-economic factors in Ethiope East Local Government Area of Delta State have any influence on deviant behaviour among secondary school students.

1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This study will reveal that the incidence of deviant behaviour among some selected students in Ethiope East Local Government Area of Delta State is high. The suggestion to be made in this study will go a long way to minimize the problem. Basically, this study is necessary and it is important to the development of children, mostly in this our present complex society. To provide an insight to child needs and how best these could be met.

1.5 RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS

The following hypotheses will be tested

H0: There is no significant relationship between autocratic parenting style and delinquent behaviour among secondary school students

H1: There is a significant relationship between autocratic parenting style and delinquent behaviour among secondary school students

H0: There is no significant relationship between democratic parenting styles and delinquent behaviour among secondary school students.

H2: There is a significant relationship between democratic parenting styles and delinquent behaviour among secondary school students.

1.6 SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

The scope of the study covers a study of deviant behavior among secondary school students.The researcher encounters some constrain which limited the scope of the study;

a) AVAILABILITY OF RESEARCH MATERIAL: The research material available to the researcher is insufficient, thereby limiting the study

b) TIME: The time frame allocated to the study does not enhance wider coverage as the researcher has to combine other academic activities and examinations with the study.

c) Organizational privacy: Limited Access to the selected auditing firm makes it difficult to get all the necessary and required information concerning the activities.

1.7 DEFINITION OF TERMS

Peer Group: People who are similar in development level such as age, education and other qualifications.

School Administration: It is a formalized system which, plan, coordinate, organize, staff, reporting and evaluating of all matters of the entire school affairs.

Heritage: A valued thing or culture that is been passed down from previous generations.

Nuisance: An annoying person

Organization: An organized group with a particular purpose e.g. school

CHAPTER SCHEME

The project will be organized around following chapters;
Chapter one gives an introduction to the research work. It gives the basic information about the company and the research being undertaken. This chapter therefore consists of the background of the study and organizational profile, statement of the problem, objectives, research questions, significance of the study, scope of the study, and limitations encountered by the researcher.
Chapter Two consists of the literature review and the theoretical framework
Chapter three gives details of the research methodology. The research methodology represents the various ways and methods which the researcher used in order to gain his information.
Chapter Four gives the analysis and interpretation of the information gathered by the researcher.
Chapter five gives the findings and conclusion of the researcher. Here, conclusions will be drawn based on the findings and their implications will also be given.