December, 2016, Vol 4, No. 1 (1-20) www.iscprce.com
COUNSELING AND CONFLICT RESOLUTION IN MIDDLE CHILDHOOD: A STUDY ON THE PHENOMENON OF SKOLOMBO BOYS AND GIRLS IN CALABAR METROPOLIS, CROSS RIVER STATE, NIGERIA.
Dr. Stella B. Esuabana
Department of Guidance & Counseling,
University of Calabar, Calabar
stellaesua@yahoo.com
+2347035448948
ABSTRACT
Empirical evidences shows that counseling is relevant in child development, beginning from early to mid-childhood. Thus, it is envisaged that if properly applied, it can ameliorate the increasing rise in street urchins in Calabar Metropolis and other societies, where it has constituted a social problem. Data collection for this study was through direct interviews with street urchins in the study area. The check-list was used to serve as a guide in line with the study aim and objectives. Six streets/areas were purposively selected for this study, while 56 street urchins were interviewed, representing about 20% of the 280 estimated population of street urchins in Calabar Metropolis. The Chi Square and Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC) analysis were used to analyze the association between the distributions of street urchins along the sampled streets/area, as well as examine the relationship between counseling and crime rate among street urchins. The Person Product Moment Correlation (PPMC) analysis showed a correlation coefficient (r) of -.693 at 0.05 alpha level. This implied a 69.3% inverse relatedness between counseling and the rate of crime committed by street urchins in the study area. The inverse relationship indicates that the more the children are exposed to counseling, the greater the likelihood of them not participating in committing crime. Since the calculated t value of -7.0637 (7.0637) is greater than the table t value of 1.98 (-1.98), hence the alternate hypothesis (H1) was accepted and the null hypothesis (HO) was rejected. Based on the findings of the study, it is hereby recommended that counseling and rehabilitation centers should be set up for both parents and children by the government. This will complement the efforts of the government through the Operation Skolombo Task Force.
Keywords: Street Urchins, Street Children, Child Abandonment,Conflict Resolution, Skolombo
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