MARITAL CONFLICT, DIVORCE AND SINGLE PARENTHOOD AS PREDICTORS OF ADOLESCENTS’ ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOUR IN IBADAN

Manifestation of antisocial behaviour among adolescents in secondary schools in Nigeria is escalating day by day, threatening the peace and security of the society. It has been speculated in many quarters that the menace of unstable families is likely to be the cause. Hence, this study investigated the predictive effects of marital conflict, divorce and single parenthood on antisocia l behaviours among secondary school adolescents in Ibadan. Three hundred adolescents were randomly selected from Ibadan metropolis. Three research questions were raised, and the Crime Behaviour Factor Battery was used to collect data. The result revealed t


Introduction
• The list of behaviors in the first paragraph seems to be exhaustive and not necessarily needed. Readers will have an idea of what behaviors are included in the antisocial category. The authors may wish to define these behaviors generally, provide 2-3 examples, and move into the correlates of those behaviors. • Please incorporate other references when noting the work that has been done in this area. Were all of the law breaking behaviors listed on page 2 outcomes of the Ary et al and Nwankwo manuscripts? Other work has been done and this would be a great place to incorporate a range of those. • The 2 nd and 3 rd paragraphs also provide too much detail about this literature. Please summarize this work in 1-2 paragraphs if possible. • Page 3 -line 74; Remove "obviously" and capitalize Many.
• add references for the statement that appears on lines 99-100 about young children.
• Add other countries where this work has been conducted. It would also be useful (and contribute to the unique contribution of this paper) to describe unique characteristics of Ibadan that may have led authors to originally hypothesize differently from existing literature. For instance, was there any reason to believe that Ibadan adolescents would be different or that these associations among the proposed variables would be different based on the culture, etc. in this area? Methodology • The age range of adolescents in this study was from 14-20 years. Please describe the potential developmental differences in this range and how those differences might impact the results of the study. Also provide prevalence of antisocial behavior based on age if available. • The measure used specifically assessed crime behavior. This behavior was listed as part of the series of behaviors but could have been emphasized a little more in the introduction to help support the approach. • Describe how the 30 students were chosen in each school. The authors mention this process was a random process. Were those chosen any different after the fact in terms of available data (school data, other) from those who were not chosen in each school? • Questions 2 and 3 seem like they could be answered with the same analyses. Specifically, the contribution of each individual factor could be assessed using an ANOVA. The interaction among these variables could also be assessed using the same model and would save power. Discussion • change verbs to past tense • Line 240-241-The authors note differences between absence of father or mother but the analyses did not separate for this. They only had single parent versus full. Please consider removing or modifying the results to support this statement. • "every Dick and Harry" is colloquial and should be modified on line 243

Implications
• consider adding more about what the interventions would look like in this area considering the findings of the study. Minor REVISION comments Optional/General comments The manuscript entitled, "Marital conflict, divorce, and single parenthood as predictors of adolescents' antisocial behavior in Ibadan" examines important demographic and family variables that could contribute to rising adolescent criminal behavior in this region. The topic is very pertinent to the rise in these behaviors in many countries and would be a significant contribution to the literature with additional modification and consideration. While the topic is very pertinent, the specific variables included in the manuscript have been widely studied across the world. It will be important for the authors to note how the findings they present uniquely contribute to this literature volume. Explicitly describing this contribution will not only assist the review process but will also help the reader consolidate what he/she reads in this study to other efforts.
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