A Study of Self Control and Deviant Behavior of Secondary School Students of Mirpur, Azad Kashmir

Abstract

This study aimed at finding the effect of self control (SC) on deviant behavior (DB) of Students. The approach of the study was quantitative. Causal comparative research design was used to investigate the effect of self control on students’ deviance. Students (8940) of grade 9th and 10th of all public schools of Mirpur, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) constituted the population of this study. Data were collected from 470 students of Mirpur, AJK. Out of them there were 291 males and 179 were females. Two scales, SC Scale originally developed by Grasmick et al., (1993) and Normative Deviance Scale by Vazsonyi et al., (2001) were adapted to measure the SC and DB of the students respectively. Descriptive statistics, t-test and linear regression were applied to analyze the data. Results of the study found a low level of SC and high level of DB among the secondary school students. Female were more SC led as compared to the males whereas male showed more DB than females. Regression analysis showed that SC has significant positive effect on the DB and it brings 49.8% variability in the DB of the secondary school students. It was recommended that SC related activities should be added into the curriculum at primary level as this is the best age for the development of SC into the students. Workshops and seminars should be held at Secondary Schools to bring awareness on the benefits of SC for the teachers and students.