STOP-GAPIN FAMILY CARE AS CONTRIBUTORY NEGLIGENCE TO YOUTHFUL DELINQUENCY IN THE CONTEMPORARY NIGERIAN SOCIETY

Abstract

Early childhood care, education and good- grooming have been identified as proven measures for raising the normal standard of children in the society. Although many scholarly works have explored the issues of parental factors in isolation as contributing to isolated problems of children, there are still relatively scarce studies on the effects of stop-gaps in family care on the rising omnibus problems of the juvenile and youth in the current state of affairs of the Nigerian sociopolitical reality. Based on two principal and significant theories of adolescence and conformity, this write-up explores the links between the presence or absence of the parental care in the upbringing of a child and conforming or defiant codes that the growing youth exudes within the society. Since the
electronic and print media are daily inundated with reports of activities of the Nigerian youth, the paper relies on records of the youth segment of the populace for our analysis.

Qualitative and sometimes, quantitative analyses form the bases of our conclusion. The findings are that children who lack the full compliments of parental guide, care, love and tutelage grow up into errant and deviant youth contributing social menace and non-conforming social entities. The conclusion is that society should ensure that every culture in Nigeria must provide the basis for children to enjoy the fullness of parental guide, care and education to ensure that they are nurtured into youth with acceptable social norms and desirable behavioural patterns.