ASSESSMENT OF PREVALENCE OF SELECTED DEVIANT BEHAVIOR AMONG ADOLESCENTS IN SELECTED SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS: A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY

Introduction: Deviant behavior is dened as activities or conduct that differs from social norms or expectations. Social norms are unwritten rules that a group or culture deems to be appropriate. Any activity that violates accepted social norms or legal restrictions is considered to be deviant behavior. Objective: To assess the prevalence of selected deviant behavior among adolescents in selected senior secondary schools. Methodology: The study evaluated the assessment of prevalence of selected deviant behavior among 9th to 12th senior secondary school students using a descriptive study. Conducted at a senior secondary school with 105 students (experimental group), the study employed a quantitative approach. Participants included 9th to 12th class students, selected via non probability convenient sampling. Data collection involved a self-administered questionnaire for demographics, and a modied deviant behavior rating scale. Reliability of the tool was conrmed with the Karl Pearson correlation coefcient for the rating scale reliability score (0.932) and the Inter-Rater Form method for the rating scale, which produced reliability score of (0.9648) both exceeding the acceptable threshold of 0.8. Results: The study assessed the prevalence of selected deviant behavior among adolescents who are 9th to 12th class students by comparing post test scores in experimental group. The experimental group showed 79.05% of adolescents had mild deviant behavior, 19.05% of them had moderate deviant behavior score and 1.90% of them had severe deviant behavior score. Minimum deviant behavior score was 1 and maximum deviant behavior score was 49. Mean deviant behavior score was 17.88± 8.44. Mean percentage of deviant behavior score 27.09 ± 12.79. statistical analysis with unpaired ttest revealed experimental group, with t-value (6.70) exceeding the critical value of 1.98 and f-value (3.19) exceeding the critical value of 2.68 demonstrating the association of behavior. Conclusion: The assessment of selected deviant behavior in adolescents (9th to 12th class) students, with the experimental group showing deviant behavior. Statistical analysis conrmed the assessment of association of level of deviant behavior.