Abstract:

Deviant behaviours among secondary school students have remained a global concern. It is on the increase and is affecting the educational sector across the nation as it is capable of disrupting teaching and learning process in schools. This study investigated the teachers and students’ perceptions of the influence of deviant behaviours on academic performance of senior secondary school students in main land educational district IV of Lagos State. The population was 3,101 participants made up of 290 (135 male and 155 female) teachers and 2811 (l, 495 male and 1316 female) students. The moderating variables in the study comprises years of experience of teachers and gender. Descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study and simple random sampling was employed to select 300 participants made up of 50 (male  and female) teachers and   250  (male and female students). The instrument used  to generate data for the study was “Influence of Deviant  Behaviours on Academic Performance of Students (IDBAPS)”. The instrument was validated by experts in psychology department and the reliability coefficient of   0.91 obtained after a test – retest administration of the instrument. Collected data were analyzed using mean and standard deviations and t-test to test the null hypotheses at 0. 05 level of significance. The result of the findings revealed that deviant behaviours influence students’ academic performance. There was no significant difference in the perception of male and female teachers on the influence of deviant behaviours on the academic performance of students but there was a significant difference in junior and senior teachers’ perception of the influence of deviant behaviours on students’ academic performance. There was significant difference in male and female students’ perceptions of the influence of deviant behaviours on academic performance. Based on the findings, it was recommended that parents, teachers and schools administrators should sensitize students on the negative outcomes of deviant behaviours. It was also recommended that professional counsellors should be deployed to schools to help deviant students’ change the maladaptive patterns to positive ones.