CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Juvenile delinquency has become a cankerworm which has eaten deep into the fabric of our educational system. This problem has always attracted the attention of educational psychologist. Teachers parent and other experts on educational development in our nation. According to (Olusakin, 2003) the incidences of juvenile anti-social behaviour have tremendously increased in intensity and magnitude in recent years. The high percentage of recurrence of delinquent acts has become the concern of parents, teachers, social workers and psychologists. All are anxious to minimize its rising trend in the society. It is needless to mention that thousands of youth are misled and spoil their lives in anti-social behaviour causing damage to the national property. The problem has posed a serious concern for all persons who believe in healthy and harmonious development of human personality all over the world. The teachers, parents and others, who are interested in social welfare and are responsible for shaping the personality of young generation, must understand the phenomenon of delinquency so that they may take appropriate measure to check it.

It is very difficult to reach unanimity as regards the definition of the term delinquency because the term is an umbrella for a wide variety of socially disapproved behavior that varies with the time, place and cultural variance in socio-economic and political of a country. All agree that every society prescribes a sets of norm, which it expects that all its members should faithfully follow but those who violate the social norms and behave in antisocial  manner are called delinquents.

In Nigeria today delinquency is evident in the behaviour of youth as they break parental rule school regulations and societal laws. Juvenile delinquency has given rise to offences ranging from violation of disciplinary measures of parents to truancy, stealing, assaults, robbery and other socially unacceptable acts. In the Nigerian secondary schools juvenile delinquency have increased in number. Much abnormal behaviour that are rampant in juvenile delinquents are disobedience, case of rape, and other acts of gangsterism, which are also the resultant effect of broken homes. The problem of juvenile has become a national affair, which prompted the government to build remand homes and engaged the services of social welfare officers, thus spending a lot of money to cater for them.

It is disheartening to know that juvenile delinquency has also found it’s way into virtually all the secondary school in Mainland Local Government Area of Lagos State, if one walks on the street of Mainland Local Government Area during school hours what you will see are students roaming about the neighbourhood when they ought to be in classes for less some delve into immoral acts like smoking, drinking, fighting and even prostitution during school hours. A case in point was that of two students of Lagos City College, Sabo. These students engaged each others in physical combat on the highway, just opposite their school, they used bottles on each other, it took the effort of fellow students and other passerby to quell what could have resulted to loss of life.

On another occasion, students from the same school ganged up with students from another school to sexually assault a student teacher training in Lagos City College. These are just some of the few cases of juvenile delinquency in secondary schools of Mainland Local Government Area studies have been carried out to ascertain the causes of juvenile delinquency among students. Also many theoretical models have been developed to explain the causes of juvenile delinquency Lombrosso and Davies in Bolarin (1995) put forward the biological and physiological explanation for delinquency

Juvenile crime denotes various offences committed by children or youth under the age of eighteen; such acts are denoted as juvenile delinquency. Children offences typically include delinquent acts, which would be considered as criminal acts if committed by adults.

In Nigeria and global society, the family is an important factor to be considered wherever juvenile delinquency is being examined.  Researchers like Nwadinigwe (2000), Amos (2001), Ikulayo (2003), and Odunukwe (2008) agreed that much of what a child learns is through the members of their respective households. Family units take a variety of forms, all of which involve individuals living under one roof. The family form or structure does not indicate how healthy the family is or how they function. The family form is merely the physical make-up of the family members in relationship to each other without respect to roles and function. Family type include monogamous (one husband one wife and children polygamous one husband wives and children) and single parent which consists of only one parent (mother or father)and dependent children. Some of this results from legal separation, desertion, pregnancy outside marriage or death of a parent. Family size is closely related to the types of family. It could either be nuclear which consists of father, mother and one or more children. The children may be biological or adopted and extended including all the immediate relatives of a family such as parents, children, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. Sometimes they live together or near each other. Family size can either be small or large, that is number of the family. Family structure includes intact-the two parents living together, sharing parental responsibilities on their children, they have more time to spend with their children because they share tasks of running the household; widow done parent is dead, leaving the responsibilities or the children on the other parent that is alive, and separated-due to legal separation (divorce), desertion of either parent or having a child/children outside marriage vows. Njoku (2004) believed that “family is the core of the society and whatever the family is, that is who its society is”. The indication here is that there is a critical link between children's growth, adjustment and the quality of their parent's relationship and the society at large. Characteristics of the home environment such as warmth, emotional availability stimulation, family cohesion and day-to-day activities are sources of a wholesome personality. The researcher therefore intend to investigate the influence of parenting styles on adolescent juvenile delinquency in urban area  of  Lagos state, with reference to Mushin Local Government Area of Lagos State.

Statement of the  Problem

The increase of juvenile delinquency among secondary school students in Mushin Local Government Area is a matter of great concern to many. Since the youth of today are the future leaders of tomorrow. If these notorious acts of juvenile delinquency are not checked it will ruin the progress of the nation when these set of children become the leaders of tomorrow of our great country. Many studies have been carried out to explain the causes of this phenomenon. However, little is known about the effect of broken homes on secondary school students.

Purpose of the Study

The aim of this is to determine the influence of parenting  type on juvenile delinquency among selected secondary students in Mushin Local Government Area of Lagos State. To achieve this aim the study will:

(1)               Investigates the relationship between family type and juvenile delinquency of student beneficiaries.

(2)               Finds out whether significant difference exists between family type and juvenile delinquency among adolescents from single parents and those of both parents.

(3)               Determines the difference between family type and juvenile delinquency among adolescents from monogamous and polygamous families.

(4)               Examines the relationship between family type and juvenile delinquency among adolescents from high and low parental socio – economic status.