Chaotic Home Climate and Antisocial Behavior among Secondary School Adolescents in Aba Education Zone, Nigeria

Abstract

This study examined the influence of chaotic home climate on the social behaviour of adolescents in Aba Education Zone, Nigeria. The author selected sibling rivalry and parental infighting as independent variables for study. Two research questions and two null hypotheses were formed to guide the study. The study adopted the ex-post facto survey design and collected data from a random sample of 1400 adolescents in the study area. Data for the study was collected with the Domestic Abuse and Antisocial Behaviour Questionnaire with a Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficient of .862. The instrument was designed to generate responses on a 4-point scale of strongly agree to strongly disagree. Analyses of data collected in the study show that adolescents who experienced higher incidents of sibling rivalry at home recorded higher mean scores on the antisocial behaviour scale that their peers who experienced minimal sibling rivalry. It is further shown that adolescents whose parents fought frequently also recorded higher antisocial behaviour mean scores. Thus this study found that both sibling rivalry and parental infighting significantly influenced antisocial behaviour among secondary school adolescents in Aba Education Zone. Recommendations were thus advanced to assist curtail the effect of chaotic home climate on adolescent student behaviour.