EFFECT OF FAMILY STRUCTURE ON JUVENILE DELINQUENCY AMONG SCHOOLS ADOLESCENT IN PORT HARCOURT
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
An adolescent is views in different ways by different authors. To some authors, adolescence period is looked at in terms of transition to adulthood. The adolescent is seen to have left the childhood behaviours, be more matured and begins to exhibit some other characteristics that will enable him flow into real adulthood.
The adolescence period is viewed by some look at this period between ages 10 to 24 while some look at this period as starting from 8 years to 21 years. Juvenile delinquency refers to the term given to children who have not attained the adult age. This is normally defined by the court of law.
Delinquency on the hand can be defined as the engaged in actions considered as being unlawful by the state. Basically, Juvenile delinquency can mean any crime committed by a minor whether small like not going to school often or robbery and murder.
Juvenile delinquency is an intractable problem worldwide and has been increasing phenomenally by as much as 30 percent since the 1999 (Sheryln, 2008). Anti-social behaviours of young people have been posing a lot of problems to the people in Nigeria. Researchers have agreed that delinquency is rampant among children living in difficult social, economic conditions. They view the problems as originating mainly from the family as the first socialization agent. They identified the mina stressor to children as follows: the parent having a criminal record, children under child protection, parents having a semi or no job, high debt levels, drug abuse by the parents, death of the household head, and illiteracy among others. (Laura, 2007).
EFFECT OF FAMILY STRUCTURE ON JUVENILE DELINQUENCY AMONG SCHOOLS ADOLESCENT IN PORT HARCOURT
