While there has been considerable debate about tile effects of divorce or a new marriage on children, and whether it is the change in parental unions or the underlying characteristics and Family disintegration has become a thing associated with the contemporary family institution. This however, is not to say that it had never once occurred family situation of the past but that the rate at which it occurs in our present society is quite alarming. This is common in our contemporary family institution than before. The problems of family instability can be traced to the rapid growth rate of urbanization and industrialization in Nigeria. The economy is growing and it requires a lot of manpower (both skilled and unskilled). This has aroused every member of the family to become one way or the other involved in the economic growth of the nation. The involvement of women in wage carrying is a threat in the family solidarity; couples hardly find time to stay together for interaction purposes. Childcare which should be the responsibility of the parents is now shifted to the school and house helps. There are also some social factors that affect the disintegration of the family. The idea of managing more than one wife might lead to an end of the family. The habits that either the wife or the husband is involved in extra marital airs which are perpetuated by some men and some women might lead to an end of the family. The habits that either the wife or the husband is addicted to smoking or drinking also lead to family dissolution. Lack of trust in many families amongst the couples is wrecking marriages today. Peer influences also threaten the family solidarity if care is not taken by couples. As a result of outside influences, irrational decisions are made to the detriment of one’s wish and this might lead to a marital crisis. Other factors such as education, illegitimate children, religion and infertility of the wife also initiate disintegration in the family. Children of separated parents often bear the consequences of family disintegration.They always serve as the “scape goat†to the vices of either the mother or the father. The tension and hostility of unsolved conflict between parents often gets back to the child. There are so many boys and girls and even adults roaming about the streets, many are delinquents, vandar and louts while some are mutually disturbed because of family disintegration. through a lot of people are still contracting marriages in Nigeria but there exist a lot of single parents which is a product of family disintegration. The problem of family disintegration is compounding due to lack of support from local government authorities for both marriages and children form dissolved homes. There are several forms of family disintegration which includes divorce, separation, desertion, death of one of the parent etc.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Deviant behaviour in Nigeria is a major social problem which affects the whole society and constitutes a serious impediment to development (Muhammed et al 2009). For instance in Ilorinmetropolis today, deviant act is common among the young people, many of who are caught in one criminal act or the other such as examination malpractice, armed robbery, assault, rape, house breaking, forgery, truancy etc. Muhammed et al (2010) have observed that young people in contemporary Nigeria are mostly involved in armed robbery, Cultism, kidnapping, drug abuse and other deviant activities. In supporting this fact, it is widely known today that the young people were the most involved in illicit drug usage and dealings. The consequences of this malady and other deviant act such as; examination malpractice, alcoholism, forgery, rape, etc. in Nigeria include; social violence among youths, armed robbery, mental disorders, lack of respect for elders and other numerous social ills. In the light of the nauseating problems of deviant behaviour in Nigeria and Ilorin metropolis, various factors such as; poverty, peer pressure, family instability, westernization and so on have been attributed to be the cause.
This study seeks to focus on family instability and its contribution to deviant behaviour because “the family has a crucial role to play in the development of a conforming or delinquent personality. Inadequate supervision arising from family instability seems to be associaed with deviant behaviour(Alfrey, 2010). Lack of parental monitoring contributes or directly to children’s anti-social behaviours, but also indirectly as it contributes to exposing them to associate with deviant peers, which is predictive of higher levels of deviant acts. From observation, it seems that parents and care givers are not doing much in the supervision of their children in Nigeria because of their numerous economic and social engagements. This scenario tends to be giving impetus to deviant behaviours in Nigeria and Ilorin metropolis in particular. Children from broken homes are more likely to run away from their family than children who come from more stable families (Uwaoma&Udeagha, 2007 and Uwaoma and Udeagha further explained that a broken home has an imbalance and as is detrimental to a child’s socialization and personality adjustment. Children growinga up in unstable families are at a greater risk of experiencing a variety of behavioural and educational problems, including; smoking, drug abuse, vandalism, violence and criminal acts than children from stable families (Sheryln, 2008).
