UNEMPLOYMENT/DISRUPTION OF FAMILY STRUCTURE AND RISING LEVELS OF MENTAL DISORDERS AMONG ADOLESCENTS OF WORKING AGE GROUP IN RIVERS STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The prime focus of this study was to investigate Unemployment / Disruption of Family Structure and Rising Levels of Mental Disorders among Adolescents of Working Age Group in Rivers State of Nigeria. Two null hypotheses were generated for the study. Survey design was adopted for the study. The population of the study was Rivers State, and it covered all parents whose adolescents had a case or cases of mental disorders in the State. A sample of 300 respondents was selected for the study. The selection was done through the use of simple random sampling and purposive sampling techniques. The questionnaire was the instrument used for data collection.  The instrument was content validated by professionals in the Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Port Harcourt, Choba. Furthermore, the reliability value of 0.82 Correlation Co-efficient was obtained for the study. The statistical methods used for the study were percentage, frequency and contingency tables and a bar-graph as well as Chi-square (²) for the study. Percentage was used to analyze biographical data of respondents’ results as presented in a frequency table and a bar-graph for the study. In addition, ²was used to analyze the tested hypotheses for the study at 0.05 level of significance. The results of the analysis revealed that correlationships (associations) exist between unemployment/disruption of family structure and rising levels of mental disorders among adolescents of working-age group in Rivers State in Nigeria. In view of these findings, the study recommended, among others, that the State Government should, through its agencies for employment generation, implement all laws and policies for youth employment to the fullest, in order to avert the dangers of neglecting them and subsequent negative effects on the mental health of adolescents in Rivers State in Nigeria.