The Triad of Influence: Peer Pressure, Community Factors, and Gender as Determinants of Delinquent Behaviour among School-Attending Adolescents in Ibadan, Nigeria

Abstract

The prevalent rate of juvenile delinquent behaviour among adolescents in different parts of the world gives room for concern. This study therefore, investigates the influence of peer pressure, community factor and gender on juvenile delinquent behaviour among in-school adolescents in Ibadan, Oyo state. The study adopted the descriptive survey research design. Three hundred adolescents were chosen from the selected schools through multi-stage random sampling technique. Their ages ranged between 9 and 21 years with mean of 15.2. Three research questions and two hypotheses were postulated and tested. Adopted questionnaire consisting of 
demographic section, and standardized scales on juvenile delinquent behaviour, peer pressure, community factor was used to collect data. The data was analyzed using frequency counts, percentages and Pearson Product Moment Correlation. The 
findings revealed that there was significant relationship between peer pressure and juvenile delinquent behaviour among adolescents in Ibadan (r = .650**, N= 300, P < .05) followed by community factor (r = .575**, N= 300, P < .05), followed by 
gender differences (r = .298**, N= 300, P < .05) on juvenile delinquent behaviour among adolescents. It was recommended that parents should monitor their children and maintain consistent openness, effective communication which could help the adolescent to stay away from juvenile delinquent behaviour.