PREVALENCE OF DEVIANT BEHAVIOR AMONG COLLEGE STUDENTS: A STUDY BASED ON THEIR BIRTH ORDERS

Abstract

This article mainly focused on the deviant behavior (comprising vandalism, misconduct, general deviance, and assault) of college students (boys and girls) in relation to their birth order. The correlational research design was employed and data of (N=288) was taken through a purposive sampling technique, comprising first born (n=93), middle born (n=106), and last born (n=89) around the colleges of Lower Dir and Swat of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. The collected data was then analyzed via statistical tools including ANOVA, t-test, and correlational analysis using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) 23 version software. Correlational analysis revealed that vandalism, misconduct, general deviance, and assault are significantly positively correlated with each other. The comparative analysis demonstrated that male students scored higher on deviant behavior than female students. Further data comparison disclosed that male students showed high scores on misconduct, general deviance, and assault than female students. Lastly, ANOVA indicated that last born students scored more on deviant behavior than middle born students while first-born students scored least in deviant behavior among all three birth orders.
This article would be beneficial for filling the gaps in Pakistan-based literature for future studies in the same domain. It would practically help educational psychologists better understand and cater to students’ deviant behavior in institutional premises and in general settings.