The Effects of Parental Socioeconomic Status on the Delinquent Behaviour of Students in New Generation Preparatory School in Sekondi
CHAPTER ONE
Purpose of the Study
The research had a main aim of examining how the socio economic status of a family relates to juvenile delinquency in, Sekondi.
Specific Objectives
- Examine the relationship between family socio-economic status and children participating in crime in Sekondi.
- Investigate the relationship between family socio-economic status and alcohol and drug abuse among children in Sekondi.
- To evaluate the relationship between family socio economic status and anti-social behavior among children in Sekondi.
- Assess the association of family socio-economic status on petty offences among children in Sekondi.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
Relationship between Family Socio-Economic Status on Crime
Relationship between family socio-economic status and crime has been researched by various researchers. Matters such as alcoholic parents, delinquency in the family, poor parenting styles ,violence in the family, large size of the family, parents level of education, family economic status, separation, cohabiting parents and divorce.(e.g., Loeber and Loeber-Stouthammer, 1986).
Impact of Age on Crime
(Brown, 2008) found that older people were involved in crime at a lesser rate than the young age. This is to show that as the age increases there is a decrease in the rates of crime. More crime is committed by the young age than the adult ages. The relationship between age and crime is comparable from ancient periods, in all parts of the world, as well as the types of offenses. (Steffensmeier & Ulmer, 2008). Age is also said to project criminality in a number of ways, with age of first offence determining the future involvement in crime. (Delisi, 2006; McCluskey et al., 2006; Najman et al., 2009).
In conclusion we can say that, age is instrumental in establishing how natural factors form criminal rates. This study also wants to find out if there is a relationship between age and criminality.
Effect of Gender on Crime
Law breaking among the male and female due to the involved consequences of the long term negative or positive perception by the community is more severe for the females (Steffens Meier and Allan, 1996). According to several researchers, there are differences between women and men in terms of social engagement with those with close ties whether family or in school (Alarid, Burton, and Cullen, 2000; Steffens Meier and Allan, 1996: 473, 476; Uggen and Kruttschnitt, 1998: 342). Therefore females conduct is closely watched and corrected (Steffens Meier and Allan, 1996: 477) the study will also want to find out if there is a relationship between gender and crime.
Effect of Family Background on Crime
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Family factors such as Child upbringing (parenting styles), types of parents (whether criminals or not, educated or not, history of mental illness and their socio economic status) are associated to juvenile delinquency (Derzon and Lipsey, 2000; Wasserman and Seracini, 2001).
McCord’s (1979) in a study involving 250 young boys of 10 years of age indicated that divorced/separated families, lack of parental guidance and violence in the family including severe punishments contributed greatly to committing crime at a later age
Relationship between Family Socio Economic Status on Antisocial Behavior
The studies on relationship between Family socio-economic statuses on antisocial behavior have indicated that there is a relationship between the two variables. For example (Farrington et al., 1996).This study also intends to find similar results. Age, gender and family background on antisocial behavior are reviewed.
Impact of Age on Antisocial Behavior
Several factors are associated with adolescent’s antisocial behavior. Young persons suffered more influences from the parents and neighbors than the older persons as they emulate the parents in what they do (Bryant, 1985; Herman, Heins, & Cohen, 1987). Research by; Letourneau et al. (2013) suggest that environmental factors are influenced by age. Which imply that as age increases, there is a decrease in environmental factors on antisocial behavior.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Introduction
This chapter discussed the Research study design that was adopted, Sampling method used, sampling procedure, study area, target population, research instruments, data collection procedure, data analysis as well as presentation and ethical considerations are outlined.
Research Design
In order to achieve the desired results from this research, the research design that was adopted by the researcher was descriptive research design. This research design was adopted for this study because it involves extensively analyzing family socio economic status and juvenile delinquency in Sekondi.
CHAPTER FOUR
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Introduction
This chapter presents the results of the statistical analyses. The first section describes the basic information derived from analysis of demographic characteristics through descriptive statistics. The second section presents the results from inferential analysis to determine the relationship between dependent variables and independent variables. This Chapter therefore provides descriptions of the results and the subsequent discussions.
CHAPTER FIVE
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Introduction
This chapter describes key study findings derived from the analyses and discussions on the interaction between demographic characteristics and the crime and violence, petty offences, alcohol and drug abuse and finally antisocial behaviour in Sekondi, Ghana. The chapter reiterates the research problem, explains the meaning of the findings, and relates of the findings to similar studies, limitations, conclusion as well as some policy recommendations and suggestions for further research considerations.
Summary of the major finding
Summary
The study aims to examine the relationship between family socio economic status and juvenile delinquency in, Sekondi. The research was motivated by the fact that there is limited research on the juvenile delinquents especially in Sekondi as per the 2016 economic survey, due to their higher vulnerability/susceptibility to crime owing to their young age and the rising cases of crime by the juvenile delinquents. Further most of the studies focus on some institutions rather than the whole population both in the institutions and those not in the institutions. Socio-economic status was chosen because socio economic instability is often linked to persistent unemployment and low incomes among the young, which can increase the likelihood of the juvenile delinquents being involved in criminal activity.
Recommendation
Arising from this research, the researcher makes the following recommendations that would contribute towards further research as well as formulations of interventions to deal with juvenile delinquents.
- Undertake Economic Empowerment of families through community development activities which would in turn enable families to meet their obligations thereby enhancing
- Encourage the parents to undertake education at various stages of their lives that help community by increasing their literacy levels and thus promote a peaceful
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