FAMILY INSTITUTION AS AN AGENT OF SOCIALIZATION IN THE FACE OF INCESSANT YOUTH RESTIVENESS IN NIGERIA
Socialization is a lifelong process during which we learn about social expectations and how to interact with other people. Nearly all of the behavior that we consider to be ‘human nature’ is actually learned through socialization. And, it is during socialization that we learn how to walk, talk, and feed ourselves, about behavioral norms that help us fit in to our society, and so much more.
Socialization occurs throughout our life, but some of the most important socialization occurs in childhood. So, let’s talk about the most influential agents of socialization. These are the people or groups responsible for our socialization during childhood – including family, school, peers, and mass media.
Family is a fundamental social institution in society, the family, is considered the primary and most important agent of socialization. Family typically consists of a man and woman and their children or two or more people who usually reside in the same home and share same goals and values. Traditionally, in all societies, the family has always been seen as a social institution; that has the biggest impact on society. Everyone is born into some form of family, with the family taking the responsibility of nurturing, teaching the norms or accepted behaviors within the family structure and within society.
There is no better way to start than to talk about the role of family in our social development, as family is usually considered to be the most important agent of socialization. As infants, we are completely dependent on others to survive. Our parents, or those who play the parent role, are responsible for teaching us to function and care for ourselves. They, along with the rest of our family, also teach us about close relationships, group life, and how to share resources. Additionally, they provide us with our first system of values, norms, and beliefs – a system that is usually a reflection of their own social status, religion, ethnic group, and more.
Youth restiveness in Nigeria has been a prominent issue in recent times. There has been an increase in the occurrence of acts of violence and lawlessness, including things like hostage-taking of prominent citizens and expatriate oil workers, as well as oil bunkering, arms insurgence, cultism, etc., especially in the Niger Delta region. Nevertheless, youth restiveness is not a recent phenomenon. Various forms of youth restiveness that are economically, politically, or religiously motivated have existed for a long time. Elegbeleye (2005) vividly captures the landmark cases of youth restiveness in Nigeria. Young people all over the world are a vital and important segment of the society in which they live. A disciplined, focused, and law-abiding youth can create a bright future for any nation. Conversely, a lawless, indulgent, and violent youth is a great threat to a nation’s peace and security.
Youth restiveness is a phenomenon which in practice, leads
to breakdown of law and order, economic misfortune due to disruption of
economic activities, increasing crime rate, intra-ethnic hostilities,
harassment of prospective developers and other sundry criminal tendencies.
One of the outstanding causes of youth restiveness identified in this study is poor child upbringing. This is a challenge to the marriage and family counsellors. Seminars, workshops and group counselling could be organized for parents occasionally. This is to help them understand effective child rearing practices and characteristics peculiar to adolescents and youths and how best to handle such. Since the study also identified overpopulation as one of the perceived causes of youth restiveness, parents could also be counselled on positive effects of having small family size.
Assertive training could also be given to the youths at such forum. Since it has been observed that most youths are recruited by politicians and highly placed individuals to act restively in the society, the youths should be equipped with assertive skills in order to be able to say NO to such elders and peers without hurting them. Until youths are able to refuse such enticements of horror, the problem of youth restiveness in this nation may continue.