Peer Influence as Correlate of Juvenile Delinquency among In-School Adolescents in Oredo Local Government Area of Edo State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study investigated peer influence as correlate of juvenile delinquency among senior school adolescents in Oredo Local Government Area of Edo State. The study was guided by two hypotheses, tested at 0.05 level of significance. The survey research design using the correlational approach was adopted for the study. A sample size of 350 students (256 males and 94 females) was drawn from five public senior secondary school using the multistage sampling technique. The researchers used two instruments for the study. Self-structured questionnaire was used for peer group influence while Juvenile Delinquency Scale was adapted from Brown et al (1986). The instruments were validated by test experts in the Faculty of Education, University of Benin, and the reliability coefficients of 0.80 and 0.86 were obtained for the peer influence and juvenile delinquency respectively. Pearson Product Moment Correlation statistic was used to test hypothesis one while the Fisher-Z statistic was used to test hypothesis. The findings showed that there is no significant relationship between peer influence and juvenile delinquency among senior secondary school students in Oredo Local Government Area. The relationship between peer influence and delinquency is not influenced by sex of senior secondary school students in the study area. It was recommended that guidance counsellors and school administrators should provide opportunities for positive peer interaction, such as clubs, sports, mentoring programmes, leadership activities. This recommendation is appropriate even though the study found no significant relationship between peer group influence and delinquency, because peer environments may still provide constructive developmental opportunities ; delinquency-prevention programmes should be made available for both male and female in-school adolescents since the study found no significant difference by sex in the relationship between peer group influence and juvenile delinquency also further research should examine other variables that may explain juvenile  delinquency, especially variables that were not included in the present study.They may also employ qualitative or mixed-method approaches to provide deeper understanding of the phenomenon.

Keywords: Peer Influence, Juvenile Delinquency, Adolescents, In-school.