Juvenile Delinquency among Nigerian University Students: Implication for Counselling

The enormous occurrence of chaotic and sometimes criminal behaviour by not only the adult population but also the youth of this country in recent times has since begun to give cause of concern particularly to guidance counsellors and other behaviour therapists. This study investigated some aspects of juvenile delinquency in Nigeria, using a sample of 821 undergraduates of the University of Benin, Benin city, Nigeria. The findings of this study included that contrary to wide spread belief, children from the more affluent (middle class) homes were almost as implicated in delinquent acts as their counterparts from poor home backgrounds. Male children were by far more involved in such acts than their female counterparts. The study also found that the incidence of disruptive delinquent behaviours is currently increasing rather than decreasing. Counselling intervention such as counseling for value orientation that is expected to fill the missing ingredient in the overall educational enterprise was advocated.