The main familial factors which influence juvenile delinquency in secondary schools in homa bay county, Kenya

Juvenile delinquency is a major social problem throughout the world. Juvenile delinquents engage in antisocial behaviours. The objective of this study was to identify the main societal factors that contribute to juvenile delinquency in secondary schools in Homa Bay County. Mixed method approach was used in this study. Survey research design was used. The target population comprised 64763 students and 1801 teachers in 295 secondary schools. Three hundred and eighty one students were randomly sampled while 15 teachers were purposively sampled from the 15 sampled secondary schools. There was a questionnaire and an interview schedule to collect data from students and teachers respectively. Pilot study was conducted and the instruments were found to be valid and reliable. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics (means). The findings of this study were presented in a table. It was hoped that the findings of this study would help parents and policy makers to minimize juvenile delinquency. The results showed that the main familial factors that contribute to juvenile delinquency are poverty of parents (3.61) and lack of parental supervision and monitoring (3.51). It was concluded that familial factors contribute to juvenile delinquency among secondary school students in Homa Bay County. It was recommended that the government should create employment opportunities to eradicate poverty, and sensitization be done to parents. Further research should be conducted to find out the influence of genes on juvenile delinquency. This study should as well be replicated in other parts of Kenya.