ABSTRACT

Antisocial behaviour has been a problem among university students in the Enugu metropolis. This could be as a result of the existence of many tertiary institutions in the city and its environs. This study was designed to identify the key causative factors of some selected anti-social behaviours such as cigarettes smoking, alcohol consumption, drug abuse, involvement in illicit sex, fighting and stealing. The factors include father’s highest education, mother’s highest education, family financial status, relationship with mother, relationship with father, relationship with friends, mother’s reaction about smoking, father’s reaction about smoking, satisfaction with personal financial status, satisfaction with own health. Survey research method was employed while simple random sampling technique was used in selecting the samples for the study. Sample of one hundred and ninety seven (197) students were drawn from among the third and final year university students of University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus, Godfrey Okoye University and Enugu State University of Technology. Data for the study were collected using questionnaires. Data collected for the study were analysed using linear regression and ANOVA. The following findings were made: majority of the students were engaging in all the selected anti-social behaviours irrespective of the classification of institution they are attending; More female students (49.74%) were involved in illicit sex while more males (80.2%) engage in all the other anti-social behaviours; students in the age group of 17-21 years are more involved in all selected anti-social behaviours. The most significant determining factors were father’s highest education as college or university and family financial status as poor among others. The study concludes that university students ought to be more knowledgeable about the longer-term outcomes of these antisocial behaviours in order for them to minimise them or to completely stop them on their own volition. The study suggests there should be activities such as awareness creation, sensitization, and antisocial-behaviours campaigns for the students especially for new entrants into the universities. Parents and guardians of the students should as much as possible try to check the kind of friends their wards keep. There should be forums for female university students to be properly addressed about the short and long term effects of involvement in illicit sex by the school authorities especially through the faculty of health sciences. Again, the university authorities should always address new entrants on the need to start from the first year to study hard in order to graduate with excellent academic results which could help focus their attention on their studies other than engage in antisocial behaviours.