Influence Of Personality On Criminal Behaviour Among Adolescents In Jos North Local Government Area, Plateau State, Nigeria
Peace Satzen Azi, Alfred Habila Daktong, Ochukwuma Okwudili Nwaenyi, Joseph Longshak Kosen, Patience Haruna Bitiyong, Bisan Musa
Keywords: Age, personality, crime, adolescents, Jos North, psychologists
Abstract
The study examined the influence of personality on criminal behaviour among adolescents in Jos North Local Government of Plateau State, Nigeria. One hundred and fifty (150) adolescents made up of 78 (54.2%) males and 66 (45.8%) females within the age range of 13-18 years volunteered for the study. Two scales: The Big Five Inventory (BFI) and the Likelihood of Violence and Delinquency Scale were used to generate data to test research hypotheses. Test results revealed that personality had significant effect on crime, R2=0.916, p=0.000 (p<0.05). The study concludes that the interaction between personality and age significantly influence criminal behaviors in adolescents. Hence, the study recommends that there is need for the establishment of psychological service centers in schools which will engage the services of psychologists to counsel and modify the negative traits of deviant adolescents that will help in reducing the occurrences of deviant activities among adolescents, and the need for religious bodies and organizations to continuously psycho educate adolescents on the dangers associated with crime.
Author Biography
Peace Satzen Azi, Alfred Habila Daktong, Ochukwuma Okwudili Nwaenyi, Joseph Longshak Kosen, Patience Haruna Bitiyong, Bisan Musa
Department of General and Applied Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Jos, Jos-Nigeria
Corresponding Author: satzenazi@gmail.com