ISSN 2360-7963
Abstract
Accepted 23rd April, 2021.
The research study was carried out in northwest Nigeria to determine the impact of delinquent behaviours on the academic performances of secondary school students in Mathematics and English Language. Stratified random sampling technique was used to collect data from both staff, parents, school administrators and students using 240 structured questionnaires. The questionnaires were split into sections for students, parents, teachers and school administrators. Responses gathered were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The study identified that majority of the children who were found to be delinquent lost either of their parents, parents were separated or divorced, or where cordial relationship between parents and children does not exist.37.5% of the respondents constituting greater percentage had partial cordial relationship with their parents, 4.2% respondents had no cordial relationship with their parents and teachers and 16.7% were undecided of whether their relationships with parents and teachers were cordial. From the results, it was found out that truancy (33.8%) in schools is the most serious delinquent behaviour among students which affected tremendously their academic performances in Maths and English. This is because once a class is missed by a student, it can hardly be recovered and English and Maths are such subjects that must be taught every day. In the results, it was discovered that delinquency influenced academic achievements of students significantly. The inferential statistics was statistically significant using ANOVA (F [3, 68] = 10.225, p = <.001), the adjusted R2 = 0.280 (p = <.001), and a high effect size (f2 = 0.451) to determine the impact of delinquent behaviours on students performances in Maths and English. It can be concluded that delinquent behaviour of students resulted from broken homes lack of cordial relationship between parents and students, lack of good child up-bringing, indiscipline and lack of satisfaction of students material needs particularly needs for food, clothing and money. The research recommended that, Parents should be educated on good harmonious relationship, sympathy on the side of the teachers when enforcing discipline to children, social organizations, and government should contribute in addressing delinquent behaviours among children.
Keywords: Impact, Delinquent Behaviours, Academic Performance, Secondary School Students,