University Students’ Perception on the Influence of family type on vulnerability to Radicalization in Kenya: Implications for Counselling

The threat and likelihood of radicalisation and recruitment into violent extremist groups has increased in Kenya and internationally. Those at risk of being radicalised need to be identified and positive alternatives to extremism promoted. In Kenya, the government has promoted security oriented interventions to fight radicalisation and terrorism over the softer approach called Countering Violent Extremism (CVE). The concern is the provision of long term prevention oriented interventions that would involve counselling individuals who are vulnerable to induce resilience. The students in public universities are vulnerable to radicalisation because there is maximum exchange of ideas in the universities contrary to the rigid ideologies of extremist groups. The family as the first socialization agent of an individual can contribute to vulnerability to radicalisation. This study focused on investigating university students’ perception on the influence of family type on vulnerability to Radicalization in Kenya and implications for counselling. The mixed methods research design was used. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected concurrently. The target population comprised of all the 443,783 students enrolled in 31 accredited universities, 120 student counsellors and 960 student peer counsellors. Purposive sampling technique was used to select two public universities in Kenya. Determination of sample sizes were done using Yamane’s formula and then proportional sampling employed. The study sample size comprised of 644 respondents as follows: 216 students from University A; 184 students from University B; 26 student counsellors and 218 peer counsellors from the two public universities. Questionnaires, interview schedules and focus group discussions were used to collect data from the university students, student counsellors and peer counsellors, respectively. A pilot study was carried out at Egerton University, Njoro Campus and 65 respondents participated to establish the reliability of the instrument. In the study a reliability coefficient of 0.79 was established using Cronbach alpha. Both descriptive and inferential statistics (chi square) were used to analyze data. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23.0 and QSR NVivo 12 for Windows aided in data analysis. The study found that family type had insignificant influence on vulnerability to radicalisation. The results of Chi-square test of independence on the basis of the interpretation of likelihood ratio test (χ²(20) = 27.849, p = 0.113) showed that the family type in which the students were raised had insignificant influence on level of agreement or disagreement to reasons to justify extremist ideologies. The study recommended that other factors may contribute to make students more at risk to radicalization therefore more research needs to be done. Therapy related to students’ identity, belonging and family relations can improve the student’s life skills and broaden their knowledge on radicalization. The development of effective counselling intervention programs and sensitization programs to parents should also be enhanced for the prevention of radicalisation. Keywords: Student’s perception, influence of family type, vulnerability to radicalization, implications for counselling DOI : 10.7176/RHSS/14-7-04 Publication date : September 30th 2024