Family Background and the Development of Delinquent Behaviour among Adolescents

Abstract

The study in a descriptive cross-sectional survey design examined the impact of family background and the development of delinquent behaviour among 120 students from Government Model School and Gaadi Comprehensive College, Makurdi. Participant's ages ranged from 14-23 years, mean age of 15.48 years and standard deviation of 2.51. A 17-item questionnaire Family Background and Delinquency Scale (FABDS) developed by the researchers were employed to assess family background and delinquency among adolescents. Thereafter, multi-statistical tool were used to test the hypotheses with an alpha level of <0.05. The first hypothesis was analyzed with Pearson correlation and linear regression and results showed a significant relationship between family background and delinquent behavior among adolescents, r (120) = 0.44, P<0.05; (β = 0.32; t = 5.39; P<0.05). The second hypothesis was analyzed with independent t-test and results indicates significant difference between participants from non-broken homes and those from broken homes on the development of delinquent behaviour, [t (118) = -5.45, P <0.05]. The third hypothesis was also retained as significant difference between participants from poor homes and those from rich homes on the development of delinquent behaviour was observed, [t (118) = -1.68, P<0.05]. Additional regression analysis revealed that demographic variables such as age, gender, school, father's occupation, and mother's occupation jointly predicted delinquent behaviour among adolescents F (5, 114) = 2.46; P<0.05). In line with findings, the study recommends among other things that further studies be conducted to come up with workshops and interventions to aid in fostering adolescent's healthy personality development.