The Mediative Role of Family Socioeconomic Status in the Relationship Between Parental Attachment and Deviant Behaviour Among Secondary School Students in Homabay County Kenya

Deviant behaviour among secondary school students is exhibited in all schools across the world. Being adolescents, secondary school students tend to experiment a lot and as a result they often find themselves on the wrong side of the law sometimes not knowing how. A child’s behaviour is modeled at home by the parents or the primary caregivers whose parental behaviour also depends on other factors. Some of these factors include family socioeconomic status. Parents who experience a lot of economic strain find it difficult to create a friendly parenting environment at home and consequently the attachment between the parent and the child is ensnared and this further contributes negatively to the behaviour of the child. The consequences of deviant behaviour may be devastating. They may include; destruction of property, early pregnancy, HIV and aids infection, school dropout and even death. The objective of this study was; to determine the mediative role of family socioeconomic status in the relationship between parental attachment and deviant behaviour among secondary school students in Homa bay County. The study was guided by parental attachment theory by John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth which provided a conceptual link between parental attachment and deviance together with structural strain theory by Robert Merton which provided a conceptual link between socioeconomic status and parental attachment. The study used a correlational design and the target population included all the form two students from Homa bay County. From a population of 20,160 students a sample of 512 students was randomly selected to take part in the study. The principals, deputies, HODs, and PA representatives were purposively sampled. Data was collected through questionnaires, structured and unstructured interviews, focus group discussions and analysis of documents. The validity of the instruments was ascertained by experts and through piloting while the reliability was tested using the split half method and the level of confidence was α ≤ 0.05. Data was analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. The findings revealed a very strong significant correlation between SES and parental attachment (r =.714). The study recommends that the County government of Homa bay should come up with effective poverty eradication measures in order to improve the living standards of the families in Homa bay County. The study also recommends that the county government of Homa bay should introduce free and active adult education in the County and build such centers within the county.