Proposal on: Family Background, School Location, and Peer Group as Predictors of Juvenile Delinquency Among Secondary School Students
The objective of the Study
The main objective of this study is to investigate family background, school location and peer group as predictors of juvenile delinquency among Secondary School students. Specific objectives of this study include to:
- Investigate the impact of family stability on juvenile delinquency among secondary schools in Lagos State.
- Examine the effect of peer influence on juvenile delinquency among secondary schools in Lagos State.
- Evaluate the role of family adaptability on juvenile delinquency among secondary schools in Lagos State.
- Assess the impact of the socio-economic status of the family on juvenile delinquency among secondary schools in Lagos State.
- Explore the impact of family separation on juvenile delinquency among secondary schools in Lagos State.
Literature Review
Concept of Family Background
Ikediashi & Akande (2021) define family background as any permutation and combination of the parent’s medical histories, estimated wealth, educational and professional backgrounds, reputations, and marital eligibility (especially mental health and genetic diseases). Family background also includes all of the elements, strains, and circumstances that exist within the family and have an effect on a child’s physical, emotional, and mental growth. Children come from a variety of households; therefore, these variations have an impact on them in various ways. This explains why some kids come from contented, happy families while others don’t. Parents are primarily responsible for starting the family and exercising control over it, so they are responsible for the type of family background that exists in the home, according to Nwankwo et al. (2020), who also claim that a person’s family background may occasionally change for the same person.
Concept of Juvenile Delinquency
Several authors defined juvenile delinquency in a variety of ways, and the bulk of these formulations contained the idea of child offenders. Juvenile delinquency is the word used to describe criminal activity among children and teens, a particular age group. Juvenile delinquency, according to Zapolski et al. (2019), refers to community problems that children produce that are now recognised as crimes that are frequently committed by young people under the age of 18. Ojo (2020) asserts that juvenile delinquency is a relatively recent legal term for a very old phenomenon. It is described as kid behaviour that, under the law, could subject the child to legal proceedings in a juvenile court. He stated that the “Code of Hammurabi,” the oldest known body of laws, particularly mentioned the duties of children to their parents and outlined penalties for transgressions, with offenders eventually being dealt with following their age as the legal system evolved. The adolescent years have historically been associated with youth delinquency since this is the time when young people are battling for their freedom, claim Olashore, Akanni, & Olashore (2017). They transgress the law so frequently in this endeavour.
Methodology
Research Design
Research design is the general plan selected to integrate the several study components logically and coherently. It serves as a guide for data collecting, measurement, and analysis(Kamangar & Islami,2017). A descriptive survey research design will be adopted for this study. In other words, information will be collected from a group of respondents.
References
- Burfeind, J.W & Bartusch, D.J. (2019). Juvenile Delinquency: an integrated approach. (2nd Ed.) Massachusetts: Jones & Bartlett, LL.C.
- ÇeÇi, N. (2021). How Parents Influence Deviant Behaviour among Adolescents. An Analysis of Their Family Life, Their Community and Their Peers. Проблеми на постмодерността, 7(1), 41-52.
- Conners, N.A. Bradley, R.H, Mansell, L.W; Liu, J.Y. Roberts, T.J. Burgdorf, K & Herrel, J.M. (2018). Children of mothers with serious substance abuse problems: an accumulation of risks. American Journal of Drug and Alcohol abuse, 30 (1): 85 – 100.
- Elliott, G.C. (2017). Family matters: the importance of mattering to family in adolescents. United Kingdom: Wiley-Blackwell.
- Esiri, M. O. (2016). The influence of peer pressure on criminal behaviour. Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 21(1), 08-14.
- Estevez, E & Nicholas, E. (2019). Assessing the links among adolescent and youth offending, antisocial behaviour, victimisation, drug use, and gender. Journal of Clinical Health Psychology, 11 (2): 269 -289.
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- Gottffredson, D.C. (2017). Schools and delinquency. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
- Griffin, K.W, Botvin, G.J, Scheier, L.M, Diaz, T & Miller, N.L. (2018). Parenting practices and predictors of substance use, delinquency, and aggression among urban youth: moderating effects of family structure and gender. Psychology of Addictive Behaviours, 14 (2): 174-184.
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