CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
The home is a mini society and the society grows out of the home. The child is conceived at home and born at home, so the home is its first port of call (Odunukwe, 2008). The child moves from the home to the community and then to the society at large. According to Ikulayo (2003) the home is the first social contact in any human groupings and it is seen by sociologists as the microcosm (or a replica) of a society.
At home, the interaction among various variables goes a long way in determining the type of behavior children are likely to exhibit (Olayinka, 1995, Omoegun 1995 and Dowell, 1996). These various variables of the home as enumerated by Odunukwe (2008) are type of parents, home atmosphere, socio-economic status of the parents, family size, birth order, relationship with other sibling and social cultural setting in which a child is born. All these affect the child as he is growing and even up to his working life.
Ikejiaku (2006) is of the opinion that the type of behaviour an indivdial develops is reflected in the kind of upbringing he receives Ijeoma in Odunukwe (2008) believes that sound personality development is achieved through healthy child rearing practices in the home. According to this author, a child inherits some behavioural traits from his parents and that good home gives the child a sense of security, love and mutual respect among others and allows the chil to think ahead for a fruitful future. A child who enjoys no love from the home is bound to develop several behavioural problems such as hatred for others in later life.
Oladele (1989) in Ikejiaku 2006) summarizes the influence of various home variables on mal-adaptive behaviour of children as follows:
1.   The rejecting home promotes submissiveness feelings of insecurity, nervousness and non- compliance.
2.   The overprotecting home promotes infantile and with drawal reactions, submissiveness, feelings of insecurity, jealousy and nervousness.
3.   Dominating parents have dependable, shy, submissive, polities, self-conscious children.
4.   Submissive parents have aggressive, careless, disobedient, independent and self-confident children.
5.   Disharmonious homes promotes aggressive, neurotic, jealous, delinquent, unco-operative children.
6.   Harmonious homes promote co-operation, good adjustments, superior achievement and independence.
7.   Defecting home promotes poorly adjusted, aggressive, jealous, diligent and neurotic children.
Since the home is the first port of call, the child’s social world and relationship begin with the family and then widened as the child grows older. So, the type of behaviour and attitudes of parents and other home variables affect to a large extent the child’s behavioural development.
Based on the picture presented above, the researcher therefore examined the various home variables such as socio-economic status of parents, birth-order, family size and child-rearing approach and how they influence maladjusted behaviour among adolescents in Isolo Local Government Area of Lagos. State.
1.2   THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
Seven models have been used to explain the cause of maladaptive, maladjusted behaviour. These models are:
1.   Cognitive model
2.   Medical model
3.   Humanistic model
4.   Behavioural model
5.   Psycho-analytic model
6.   Socio-cultural model
7.   Eclectic model