Adolescents’ bullying and aggression tendencies at junior secondary school as predictors of delinquent behaviour: the mediating role of self-control

Abstract

This study examined aggression and bullying acts as predictors of delinquent behaviour and the mediating role that self-control could play in the exhibition of the violent acts among junior secondary school students in Lagos, Nigeria. One hundred and fifty adolescents from three Junior Secondary Schools were selected through random and stratified sampling techniques with 25 male and 25 female from the co-educational school and 50 students from each of the two single sex schools selected for the study. The schools selected were one single sex (male), one single sex (female) and one co-educational, all are public schools at mainland local government area in Lagos State. Three null hypotheses were formulated on the basis of identified major independent variables. The results of the first hypothesis show that there is a significant influence of adolescents’ aggression and bullying on delinquent behaviour respectively among the participants with ?_???=4.04 and ?_????=3.90. The second hypothesis also revealed that self-control can play a significant role of influencing both the aggression and the bullying tendencies among adolescents having ?_???=4.18 as against ?_????=3.90. For the third hypothesis, a significant gender influence on the two independent variables among adolescents with (?_???=1.94, ?_????=2.01) and (?_???=2.63, ?_????=2.01) is inferred. The study clarifies aggression and bullying as predictive factors for delinquent behaviour later. It also predicted the impact self-control can make as a mediating factor. Thus, there is the need for an early intervention to help overcome the full blown societal risks of delinquent behaviour among adolescents.

Keywords: Adolescent, Bullying, Aggression, delinquent behaviour, self-control