Correlates Of Delinquency Among Selected Secondary School Students In Oye Local Government, Ekiti State.

ABSTRACT

The purpose of the study was to investigate correlates of delinquency among selected secondary

school students in Oye-Ekiti. The Family, peer group influence and Economic factors was used

as the independent variables to determine the association with delinquent behaviour. A cross

sectional research design was used in the study with a population study of 200 students ( 40

students from each school) from Concentric International School, Ekiti State Government

College,; Ilupeju High School, Itapa-Osin Community Compr~hensive High School and

Commtmity High School in Oye Local Government. Data for the study was collected through the

distribution of 200 copies of the questionnaire. Data analysis was done through SPSS using

univariate, bivariate and chi square was performed to test the association between the variables.

This study found that majority of the respondents was between 13-15 ( 45.5%) years old and with

more male (57.5%) than female (42.5%). Most of the respondents came from single-parent

families (25.0%) and most of them belonged to low income profile (27.0%) and were prone to

bad association with friends (28.0%) which increases the rate of delinquent acts notwithstanding

other factors that influence delinquent behaviour.

The findings of this study established a significant relationship between family, economic factors

peer group influence. The study established that the level of delinqdency in Oye-Ekiti is high as

56.2% respondents were insignificant delinquents while 43.8% were absolute delinquents. The

study's recommendations are that there is need eradicate poverty and that parents should pay proper attention to their children to restrain them from delinquent behaviour.