Correlational Study of Age, Family Warmth and School Connectedness as Factors Affecting Juvenile Delinquency among Secondary School Adolescents in Osun State, Nigeria

摘要

Delinquency has been a major challenge of adolescents in the recent time. It has now gone beyond ordinary youthful exuberance to heinous crime. Hence, these young ones that are believed to be the hope of the nation, the future leaders and strength of the country are turning criminals by the day. It is therefore suffice to say that the whole country is resting on a keg of gun powder that may explode any time. The issue must be vigorously addressed in order to secure the future for this country. Therefore, this study investigated the influence of age, family warmth and school connectedness on juvenile delinquency among secondary school adolescents in the State of Osun, Nigeria. The study adopted a descriptive survey of the ex-post type. Using a multi-stage sampling technique, three hundred students were selected for the study. The State of Osun is divided into three Senatorial Districts namely; Osun East, Osun West and Osun Central. Each Senatorial district consists of 10 local governments. Two schools were selected from each local government through simple random sampling method. From each school, 50 SS2 students were randomly chosen for the study based on balloting. The age of the students ranged from 14-16, with a mean age of 14.45. Three hypotheses were raised and answered at 0.05 level of significance. Data was collected using three validated research instruments: Family Warmth Scale, School Connection Scale and Self-Report of Delinquency Scale. Analysis of data was done using Pearson Product Moment Correlation analysis. Findings indicated that the three null hypotheses were rejected as significant relationship was found between each variable and juvenile delinquency. This indicate that the family from which the child comes, his current age and the kind of school must be taken note of in finding lasting solutions to adolescents’ delinquency. Thus, it is recommended that the family and school which happen to be two significant environments where adolescent behaviour could be moulded either positively or negatively should take proper care of the adolescents.