CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1Â Â Â Â Â Â Background of the Study
The majority of secondary school students in Nigeria are adolescents. This is regarded as a transformation phase between childhood and maturity. The cultural goal is the preparing of children for adult responsibilities (Larson & Wilson, 2004). Â According to Coleman and Roker, (1998), I It is an era of various transitions including education, training, occupation, and joblessness, as well as transitions from one living condition to another.
However, it was observed by Goodie (2013) that secondary school students in Nigeria demonstrated antisocial conduct because most of them were adolescents who prefer to risk behaviors such sexual practices, abortion, rape, cultism, interring, lateness, and arrogance. These behaviours are detrimental to the students and others in their surroundings.
Furthermore, antisocial behavior is defined by Kimberly and Jacob (2002) as any act that causes bodily or psychological damage to other people or their property. According to them, lying, stealing, attacking others, being nasty to others, and being sexually promiscuous are all examples of antisocial conduct. Also, such activity may occasionally represent a breach of legal rules, and it is frequently performed through disruptions of thoughts and emotions.
Clare (2006) defined antisocial behavior as marful behaviors marked by conversion and overt animosity and purposeful aggressiveness towards others. According to Clare (2006), a high risk factor in the home context may produce antisocial behaviour in students. These variables include parental alcoholism, drug addiction, chaotic and unstable family life, absence of good, death or other separative parenting skills, parental mental problems, maternal depression, economic anguish owing to poverty, and unemployment.
Other factors of antisocial behaviour include extensive exposure to media violence via television, movies, the internet, video, games, and cartons (Clare, 2006). Â He suggested that indulging in antisocial activity posed a considerable harm to an individual’s mental and physical health. It boosts the risk of alcoholism, cigarettes, smoking, illicit drug use, excessive sexual activity, depression, and indulging in aggressive actions against others and oneself. In other words, the greatest risks of interpersonal and intra-personal consequences of antisocial behaviours are those with disabilities.
One of the types of students that are prone to antisocial conduct includes those with impairments, even young ones. According to Hallathan (2006), antisocial behavior may be overt, including hostile activities towards siblings, parents, friends, teachers, or other adults, such as verbal abuse, bullying, and striking, or covert, involving aggressive actions against property, such as theft, vandalism, and fire-setting. Covert antisocial behavior in early childhood may involve disobedience, sneaking, lying, or surreptitiously harming another’s property. Antisocial behaviors could include drug and alcohol misuse. Antisocial conduct is visible when a person finds it extremely difficult to comply to the rules or standards of a social context like school. Kay (2012) claimed that antisocial conduct may typically be described as an overall lack of conformity to the social norms and standards that enable members of a community to co-exist peacefully. According to Kayne (2012), many persons who demonstrate this style of conduct may look attractive, but they frequently inflict damage to others and show no regret for their acts. Antisocial behaviors interact in intricate ways to psychological processes, home and school social settings, and emotional and cognitive pathways. As many as half of all secondary school students who display antisocial behavior patterns continue to do so throughout adolescence, and as many as 75 percent of adolescents who exhibit antisocial conduct do so into early adulthood. Antisocial students who demonstrate externalizing tendencies have been the major focus of study and of school intervention initiatives. These are the students who commit legal offenses and are caught. They frequently get entangled with the juvenile justice system. This is a legal term given to a student under the age of 18 who has done an unlawful conduct. Despite the fact that many students are formally delinquent at the same time throughout their childhood, just approximately 3 percent are judged each year (Kauffman, 2016). The bulk of crimes perpetrated by students are non-violent offenses including stealing, forceful rape, and abortion (Snyder, 2000).
1.2Â Â Statement of the Problem
Antisocial behaviour emerges and is moulded in the context of coercive socialization within the family, community, and educational setting. It is also impacted by the students’ temperament and irritability, cognitive capacity, the extent of participation with deviant classmates, exposure to violence, and a weakness in cooperative problem-solving abilities. Antisocial behaviour is typically accompanied by other behavioral and/or developmental issues such as hyperactivity, depression, learning challenges, and impulsivity. Multiple risk factors for the development and maintenance of antisocial behaviors include genetic, neurological, and environmental stresses starting at the prenatal stage and frequently continuing throughout the childhood years.
