PREVALENCE OF ANTI-SOCIAL BEHAVIOURS AMONGST MIDDLE ADOLESCENTS’ (15-17year) AND THE INFLUENCE ON ACADEMIC PARTICIPATION IN SOME SELECTED SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN THE BUEA MUNICIPALITY

CHAPTER ONE
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
Introduction

Adolescence is the transitional phase of growth and development between childhood and
adulthood comprising of different responsibilities (Amusala, 2019). The World Health
Organization (WHO) decribes adolescent as any person who is between the ages 10-19. This
transitional period is usually marked with substantial changes in physical maturation, cognitive
abilities and social interactions. Every society has a way of measuring acceptable behaviour. This
makes behaviour that deviates from the acceptable behaviour to be referred to as antisocial
behaviour. Antisocial behaviours exist along a severity continuum and include repeated
violations of social rules, defiance of authority and of the rights of others, deceitfulness, theft, and
reckless disregard for self and others. Antisocial behaviours such as stealing, lies telling, bullying
violence, fighting, cigarette smoking and drug use, can be identified in children as young as three
or four years of age.

If left unchecked these coercive behaviour patterns will persist and escalate
in society over time becoming a chronic behavioural disorder. Antisocial behaviour is apparent
when an individual finds it very difficult to adhere to the norm or standard of his social
environment like home or school. Kayne (2012) posited that antisocial behaviour can generally
be characterized as an overall lack of adherence to the social norm and standards that allow
members of as society to co-exist peaceably.
Academic participation is the involvement of students in lessons and other school related
activities. That is the act of taking part in lessons or all academic activities required of them as
students. Items that might be evaluated in student participation are engagement in class

discussions, engagement in online discussions and student behaviour in group settings.
Adolescents’ academic participation to a large extent is affected by antisocial behaviours as some
of them get involve in early sexual behaviours, alcohol consumption, cigarette smoking and drug
usage thus neglecting their studies. Also poor academic performance by students causes some of
them to get involved in anti-social behaviours. Therefore, the present study attempts to delve into
factors inherent to anti-social behaviours that influence adolescents’ academic participation in
some secondary schools in the Buea municipality.

Chapter one comprises the background to the study which involves historical, contextual,
conceptual and theoretical backgrounds, statement of problem, objectives of the study, research
question, research hypothesis, justification of the study, significance of the study, scope of the
study and operational definition of terms.