ABSTRACT

This study investigated the family structure as correlate of in-school adolescent delinquent behaviour in secondary schools in River State, Nigeria. The study was guided by six research objectives, as six research questions were posed for the study and five null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted the Correlation Research Design. The population of the study was 17,345 Senior Secondary School II in-school adolescents which comprised 10,543 male in-school adolescents and 6802 female in-school adolescents across 187 senior secondary schools from the Twenty Three (23) Local Government Areas (L.G.As) of the three Education Zones that made up River State. The sample of the study was 400 respondents which comprised 187 Male adolescents and  213 female adolescents from 40 Senior Secondary Schools across Six (6) Local Government Areas (L.G.As) selected for the study. The Local Government Areas (L.G.As) were selected using the simple random sampling technique, as the schools and students were selected using the stratified random sampling techniques and simple random sampling techniques.  Two instruments which were the “Family Structure Questionnaire”(FSQ) and Adolescent Delinquent Behaviour Questionnaire”(ADBQ) were developed by the researcher for data collection. The two instruments were validated by three experts which comprised one from the Department of Agricultural Science/Home Science Education, one from Department of Educational Psychology and one from the department of Science Education (Educational Measurement and Evaluation). The internal consistency of the instruments were 0.83 and 0.78 respectively for the FSQ and ADBQ while the stability of the instruments were 0.75 and 0.86 for the FSQ and ADBQ  respectively. The data for the study was collected through the administration of 400 Copies of the “Family Structure Questionnaire”(FSQ) and Adolescent Delinquent Behaviour Questionnaire”(ADBQ). The research questions were answered using frequency, percentages, mean, standard deviation and Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation Coefficient (PPMCC) and the Pvalue of Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation Coefficient (PPMCC) was used to test the 5 null hypotheses at 0.05 level  of significance. Findings of the study revealed that there is a significant high positive correlation between the  nuclear family structure and adolescent delinquent behaviours, as there is a significant high positive correlation between the  extended family structure and adolescent delinquent behaviours, as significant moderate positive correlation  exists between the  single parent family structure and adolescent delinquent behaviours and significant moderate  positive correlation between the foster family structure and adolescent delinquent behaviours. Lastly, there is a significant moderate positive correlation between the polygamous family structure and adolescent delinquent behaviours.   Based on the findings of the study, the study recommended that young couples and youths who are not married yet  should be encouraged to adopt the nuclear family structure since it helps to prevent the adolescent from engaging in adolescent delinquent behaviour. Parents from extended family structure should also try as much as possible to have a close parental monitoring in other to prevent the youths from engaging in adolescent delinquent behaviour. Parents from foster family structure should ensure that the adopted adolescents be given adequate care attention that will discourage them from engaging in adolescent delinquent behaviour.