THE EFFECT OF VIOLENT BEHAVIOR ON ADOLESCENT
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ABSTRACT
This study was design to examine the effect of violent behavior on adolescent. Using selected secondary school in Sapele Local Government area of Delta State as a case study. In attempt to achieve the objectives of the study, three hypotheses derived from the research questions were tested. A structured question was the instrument for the collection of relevant data from the sampled respondent. The collected data were subjected to both descriptive (frequency count, table and percentages) and inferential statistical (chi-square) analysis. The analysis of data revealed the following findings; that there is a significant relationship between perception of lack of equity and adolescent violent behavior, there is a significant relationship between poverty and adolescent violent behavior and also there is significant relationship between ineffective government and breakdown of law and order. Based on these findings, it was recommended among others that the government should create enabling environment for the youth, more job opportunities and sustainable development for the area as well as adopt equity and fair play in the sharing of the resources in the state. Adults and government officials should lead by good examples, because adolescent in the society observe the behavior of their role model and put such behavior into practice. And also, media content should be restricted to adolescent.
TABLE OF CONTENT
Title page …………………………………………………………….….i
Certification…………………………………………………..…………ii
Dedication ……………………………………………………………….iii
Acknowledgment……………………………………………………….iv
Abstract…………………………………………………………………..v
Table of content………………….…………………………………….vi
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
- Background of the study…………………………………1
- Statement of the problem………………………………13
- Objective of the study…………………………………..17
- Research question……………………………………….19
- Significance of the study……………………………….20
- Research Hypothesis……………………………………20
- Scope of the study………………………………………21
- Operational definition of terms………………………22
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEWS
2.1 Introduction……………………………………………….24
2.2 Causes of adolescent violence……………………….29
2.3 Roles of mass media……………………………………30
2.4 Family influence…………………………………………31
2.5 Poverty…………………………………… …..…………..33
2.6 Unemployment……………………………………………34
2.7 Forming of groups/ gangs……………………………..36
2.8 Culture of drugs abuse…………………………………38
2.3.1 The Nigerian state and its response to adolescent violence in sample………………………………………….….39
2.3.2 Implication for human development………….……39
2.3.3 Introduction of security operatives………………….41
2.3.4 Establishment of development commission and board…………………………….……………………………….42
2.5 Theoretical frame work………………………………..46
2.6 The reason why the theory is appropriate for the study………………………………………………………………55
2.7 Founding fathers of social learning theory……….55
CHAPTER THREE: THEORETICAL FRAME WORK AND RESEARCH METHOD
3.1 Research design………………………………………….60
3.2 The study of population……………………………….61
3.3 Sample size and sampling technique………………61
3.4 Data collection instrument……………………………62
3.5 Method of data……………………………………………63
CHAPTER FOUR: PRESENTATION, DATA ANALYSIS, AND FINDS
4.1 Table analysis of questionnaire used………………65
4.1.2 Table of age distribution……..………………………66
4.1.3 Table of gender distribution………………………….67
4.1.4 Table of religious background of respondents……68
4.1.5 Table of ethnicity………………………………..….…..69
4.2 Presentation of data analysis……………………..…..70
4.3 Discussion of findings………………………………..…70
CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
5.1 Summary of findings……………………………………72
5.2 Conclusion………………………………………………..75
5.3 Recommendations……………………………………….76
REFERENCE
APPENDIX
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
- BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
There is a great concern about the incidence of violent behavior among children and adolescents. This complex and troubling issues needs to be carefully understood by parents, teachers and other adults.
Children as young as preschoolers can show violent behavior. Parents and adults who witness the behavior maybe concerned, however, they often hope that the child will grow out of it. Violent behavior in a child at any age always needs to be taken seriously. It should be no be quickly dismissed as just a phase they are going through.
Adolescent access to and consume a variety of these different media forms, many of which have high level of violent content. Most home have television sets and next to sleeping, watching the television (TV) is the frequent activity of adolescent. Lomonaco, Kim, and Ottaviano (2010) assert that the average child in the United States spends four hours a day watching the television. The situation in Nigeria is not very different most children, between 5 and 20 years of age, spend over 6 hours a day using entertainment media (television, commercial and self recorded videos, movies, video games, print, radio, recorded music, computers and the internet(Roberts, Foctir and Rideout, 2005). In recent times, watching Nigeria movies, (Africa Magic) most of which have a high violent content, has become a popular pastime of many youths. The implication n of this is that by the time the average child is 18 years old, he/she would have witnessed many act of violence, including murders. Beresin (2009) found that up to 20 acts of violence per hour occur in adolescent programmes.
The high level of violent content of the media forms correlate with youth violence. Internet website showing violence; (killing, shooting, fighting, etc) correlate with about 50% increase in reports of seriously violent behavior (Lomonaco et al, 2010). The result of the violent media programmes and desensitization to violent video games (Caragey, Cray and Bushman, 2007).
TV sets are commonly present in bedrooms. The effect of having a TV set in a child’s bedroom is that it increases their TV viewing time. It may also imply that parent will be less likely to monitor the content of what is watched, and might not be able to set consistent for media use. Also, such children might participate in fewer alternative activities, like reading, sports and games.
Violence is often considerable, even in programmes which are not advertized as violent. Overall, weapons appear on prime time TV on an average of about nine times each hour. Adolescent shows are programmmes are more likely to juxtapose violence with humor, and are less likely to show the long term consequence of violence.
While violence is not the human race, it is an increasing problem in modern society. With greater access to firearms and explosives, the scope and efficiency of violent behavior has serious consequences. We need to look at the recent school shootings and the escalating rate of youth homicides among urban adolescents to appreciate the extent of this ominous trend. While the cause of youth violence are multi factorial and include such variable as poverty, family psychopathology, child abuse, exposure to domestic and community violence, substance abuse and other psychiatric disorders, the research literature is quite compelling that adolescent exposure to media violence plays an important role in the etiology of violent behavior. While it is difficult to determine which children who have experienced violence are at greatest risk, there appears to be a strong correlation between violence and aggressive behavior within vulnerable at risk segments of youth.
Violent behavior among Nigerian youths
One of the greatest problems in Nigeria is the menace of youth violence and the causes include such variable as poverty, family psychopathology, child abuse, exposure to domestic and community violence, substance abuse and other psychiatric disorders. It has become more sophisticated, dangerous and murderous in propensity. They have greater access to firearms and explosives and have acquired more precision, skill, and have become desensitized through watching media violence and playing violent video games. Youths are often involved in the vanguard of violent video conflicts in different parts of the nation and this has assumed a very serious dimension in recent years. Murder, robbery, rape, cult activities, ethno-religious military, kidnapping, vandalism, arson, etc have become very regular feature in our society.
Cult activities are still thriving in most Nigerian institutions of higher learning. Just in March, last year (2013), a arising hip-hop artist, Olariyan Mamilola was shot dead by suspect cult members, in an inter clash, (between a rival cult and the Buccaneers, to which he was believed to have belonged), in the Lagos State University, (Ige, 2013). At about the same time, a fourth year student of Abia State University, Uturu, was reported to have died during a cult initiation.
Social learning theory and violence behavior
Children learn by observing, imitating and adapting behaviors in his theory Bandura (1997) found that people learn through observation and that internal mental states are essential part of this process. A social model is required, and this allows one to cognitively process behavior, encode what is observed, and store it in the memory for later imitation. The social model can be a parent, sibling, friend, teacher, or the mass media. To learn through observation someone must notice something someone else is doing, remember to record it in their mind, and finally replicate the behavior. The choice to continue exhibiting the behavior depends on the outcome (positive or negative, reward etc). The only things that limit this type of learning are the intelligence level and the level of ability to copy the