Housing and Deviance among Civil Servants’ Adolescent Children in Lokoja, Nigeria

Abstract

The study investigated possible relationship between a civil servant residing with or away from the family, and involvement of children in deviant acts in Lokoja, Nigeria. Both primary and secondary data were used for the study. A cross-sectional research design technique was utilized for the study. Multi-stage and purposive sampling methods were adopted in administering a set of pre-tested questionnaire on 240 civil servants, comprising 120 civil servants that were residing in Lokoja without their families and 120 that were residing with their families in the city. Only 231 of the 240 copies of the questionnaire administered were correctly filled, returned and used for analysis. Fifteen deviant behaviours were identified and used for analysis. Descriptive statistics and Chi-square tests were used in analyzing quantitative data while qualitative data were content analysed. Higher percentage of civil servants residing away from their families were generally found to have children that have committed deviant acts than civil servants residing with their families. Higher percentage of divorced civil servants also generally recorded children that have committed deviant acts than married ones, with divorced civil servants residing away from their families recording the highest percentage of their children partaking in deviant acts. It was concluded that civil servants residing away from their families influence deviance acts among their children in the study area. Strategies were proposed to encourage civil servants residing with their families in the city.

Keywords: Housing shortage; deviance; adolescent; single parent; absentee parent.