A STUDY OF DEVIANT BEHAVIOR AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

1.1 Introduction

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 numbers 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.

As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Research hypothesis and questions, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.

1.2 Background of Study

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.

Deviant behaviour is any behaviour exhibited by members of a group or society which is at variance with established rules of the group or society (Idris, 2016). It has been noted that deviant behaviour increases globally yearly (Hayden, 2007; Damron-Bell, 2011; Hanimoglu, 2019). Without good discipline in school teachers will find it difficult to teach and students cannot learn effectively (DFE, 2010; Hayden, 2011). Deviant behaviour is a common feature of secondary schools across the universe. In Britain, Neill (2005) reported that deviant behaviour was high among students as some brought dangerous weapons to school. In another study Hayden (2011) expressed that the number of physical assaults on teachers have escalated and that some students have been bullied by fellow student’s thereby causing misery on those students bullied and disrupting learning.

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 affects 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.

Therefore, in Nigeria where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to know the Deviant Behavior among Secondary School Students.

1.3 Statement of Problems

Investigation revealed that 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. One of the issues of global concern in effective school administration is handling students’ deviant behaviour. Management of behaviour problem is a serious challenge in the administration of any secondary toward achievement of goals and objectives.

Deviant behaviours in school can damage the school’s reputation both locally and internationally. A school where disruptive behaviour predominates becomes dysfunctional, making it difficult for teaching and learning to go on smoothly. An unsafe school environment is an eye sour to any visitor and an inhibitor of effective learning and teaching.

1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study

The aim of the study is to investigate 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. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:

1. To ascertain the extent of prevalent of deviant behaviours in large and small schools in Delta State;
2. To identify deviant behaviours prevalent in urban and rural schools in Delta State;
3. To ascertain the impact of deviant behaviour on students’ learning;
4. To investigate whether parents in some ways, either knowing or unknowingly contribute to the deviant behaviour of students in secondary school; and
5. 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.

1.5 Research Questions

The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:

• Could the effect of deviant behaviour contribute to the performance of the child?
• Could deviant behaviour attribute to parent inability to meet the student school need?
• Could deviant behaviour cause students dropout from school?
• To what extent has deviant behaviour contribute to the academic performance of the child?
• Why is deviant behaviour common among secondary school students?
• What are the possible solutions that could be adopted to eradicate deviant behaviour in secondary schools?
• What is the effect of deviant on the academic performance in secondary school?
• What role can the parents, school, society and the environment in which they live where play to control deviant behaviour in secondary school?

1.6 Research Hypothesis

In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.

Hypothesis One

• 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

Hypothesis Two

• H0: There is no significant relationship between democratic parenting styles and delinquent behaviour among secondary school students
• H1: There is a significant relationship between democratic parenting styles and delinquent behaviour among secondary school students

1.7 Significance of 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.

This study will be of immense benefit to other researchers who intend to know more on this study and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their research work. This study contributes to knowledge and could serve as a guide for other study.

1.8 Scope of Study

The scope of the research is focused on the Study of Deviant Behavior among Secondary School Students in Ethiope East Local Government Area of Delta State.

1.9 Limitations of the Study

During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:

1. Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
2. Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
3. Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
4. Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).

1.10 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.

1.11 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 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.