i

UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA, NSUKKA.

FACULTY OF EDUCATION
TOPIC:
THE EFFECTS OF UNEMPLOYMENT ON CONTEMPOARY
YOUTHS

A TERM PAPER
SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE
REQUIREMENTS OF THE COURSE GSP: 101
(Use Of English Language 1)

BY:
CHIBUIKE FRANCIS GOMEZ
Reg No:

LECTURER: DR MRS. OLUCHI OKEUGO

JANURARY 2023

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TITLE PAGE
THE EFFECTS OF UNEMPLOYMENT ON CONTEMPORARY
YOUTHS

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DEDICATION

I dedicate this work to almighty god the giver of knowledge

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
My profound gratitude goes to God almighty who has given me the power and

knowledge to see the end of this term paper work. I also wish to acknowledge my

lecturer, Dr. Mrs. Oluchi Okeugo for............. (Please Make Sure You Use your own style

Of writing

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TABLE OF CONTENT

TITLE PAGE 2

DEDICATION 3

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 3

PREFACE 5

1.2 Meaning of Moral Decadence 8

1.3 Who Is An Adult? 9

CHAPTER TWO 10

2.1 Some Forms of moral decadence Paramount among Adults of 21st 10

2.1 Causes of Moral Decadence among Adults 13

2.3 The Effect of Moral Decadence 15

CHAPTER THREE 16

3.1 Manifestation of this Moral Decadence by Adult 16

3.2 Solution to the Problem of Immorality in the World 17

3.3 Recommendation 20

3.4 Conclusion 21

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CHAPTER ONE

1.1 Introduction

Moral deterioration is reported in different societies and cultures;

industrialized world to nonindustrial world. Behaviours and actions

denoting immorality such as rape, sexual abuse, robbery, and drug abuse,

school violence and killings have been common among adults, youth and

children all over the world.

Morality refers to the principle of right or wrong behaviour. It has its

etymological origin from the Latin word “mores” which means “conduct or

custom”. Ezekwu (2008:16) has therefore noted that “morality is used to

denote a generally accepted code of conduct in a society or within a

subgroup of society that comes to be regarded as essential to its survival

and welfare”. They appeal to the sense of humanity and relevant for the

welfare of the entire members of any society including Nigeria. Some of the

common moral codes of conduct, in Nigeria, for instance, include respect

or sacredness of human life, respect for elders, hard work and industry,

avoidance of premarital sex, and so on. To this end, any conduct that is not

in tandem with these and more accepted norms or laid down principles of

behaviour in the country is declared as immoral and unacceptable. Also, a

consistent and unchallenged abandonment and overlook of the moral

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principles of conduct in a society by members of the society, is what often

leads to moral decadence or degeneration in such society, which seems to

be the case in Nigeria.

Before going into details into the topic the adult moral decadance in the

21st century; lets first of all understand the key words in the topic.

1.2 Meaning of Moral Decadence

Defining the term “moral/morality” has been controversial and debatable

among scholars in philosophy, religion and psychology. For instance in

philosophy, the descriptive definition of morality which explain moral as a

set of conduct put forward by any actual group, including a society; and the

normative definition which is based on the idea that what is moral should

have a code of conduct that is put forward by a society and that it should

be accepted as a guide to behaviour by the members of that society (Gert,

2012).

Moral decadence or deterioration can easily be explained by referring to

behaviours associated to it. For instance, Turiel (2002) indicated that

failure of many people to incorporate moral values and ideals of the society

are indicators of moral decline. In this study, moral deterioration shall refer

to diminishing in moral values among individuals or a group of people in a

particular society. Studies indicate that moral deterioration is associated to

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a number of factors. These include genetic factors such as inheritance of a

difficult temperament; ineffective parenting; and living in a neighbourhood

where violence is a norm (Dodge & Petit 2003; as cited in Santrock, 2005);

poverty, lack of education, family background, and drug abuse ( Mbatia et al.

2009; Possi, 1996); media, culture and technology (Kumar, 2010;

Rwechungura, Olotu, Mathias, Minja & Goodluck, 2010).

1.3 Who Is An Adult?

Biologically, an adult is a human being or other organism that has reached

sexual maturity. In human context, the term adult additionally has

meanings associated with social and legal concepts. In contrast to a

"minor", a legal adult is a person who has attained the age of majority and

is therefore regarded as independent, self-sufficient, and responsible.

Human adulthood encompasses psychological adult development.

Definitions of adulthood are often inconsistent and contradictory; a person

may be biologically an adult, and have adult behaviour but still be treated as

a child if they are under the legal age of majority. Conversely, one may

legally be an adult but possess none of the maturity and responsibility that

may define an adult character.

In different cultures there are events that relate passing from being a child

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to becoming an adult or coming of age. This often encompasses the

passing a series of tests to demonstrate that a person is prepared for

adulthood, or reaching a specified age, sometimes in conjunction with

demonstrating preparation. Most modern societies determine legal

adulthood based on reaching a legally specified age without requiring a

demonstration of physical maturity or preparation for adulthood

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adult).

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CHAPTER TWO

2.1 Some Forms of moral decadence Paramount among Adults of 21st

Because morality focuses primarily on what is right or wrong, it may not be

out of place to assert that moral qualities are only present in a person who

has decided to enter into the struggle. This is because it is controlled by the

human reasoning faculty. Where the intellect is not present, a moral action

is absent. In other words, a morally ‘right’ action is only possible in a person

who has the freedom and the power to do otherwise, but does the right

thing because his reasoning faculty surrenders to the Divine moral

authority and accepts such a thing as right. Moral decadence among adults

of the 21st century in high and alarming; some of the immorality are

explained below.

• Alcoholism:

Alcoholism is a chronic disease, progressive and often fatal; it is a primary

disorder and not a symptom of other diseases or emotional problems. The

chemistry of alcohol allows it to affect nearly every type of cell in the body,

including those in the central nervous system. In the brain, alcohol interacts

with centers responsible for pleasure and other desirable sensations. After

prolonged exposure to alcohol, the brain adapts to the changes alcohol

makes and becomes dependent on it. For people with alcoholism, drinking

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becomes the primary medium through which they can deal with people,

work, and life. Alcohol dominates their thinking, emotions, and actions. The

severity of this disease is influenced by factors such as genetics,

psychology, culture, and response to physical pain. And this single effect

has led to so many other adult misbehavior or immoral act such as; rape,

domestic violence, accident and death.

• Rape:

Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or

other forms of sexual penetration perpetrated against a person without

that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force,

coercion, abuse of authority or against a person who is incapable of giving

valid consent, such as one who is unconscious, incapacitated, has an

intellectual disability or is below the legal age of consent. The term rape is

sometimes used interchangeably with the term sexual assault. Adult of 21st

century are more involve in rape especial elderly people to teenagers.

• Domestic violence

it is one of the concurrent issues among adults; Domestic violence is the

willful intimidation, physical assault, battery, sexual assault, and/or other

abusive behavior as part of a systematic pattern of power and control

perpetrated by one intimate partner against another. It includes physical

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violence, sexual violence, psychological violence, and emotional abuse. The

frequency and severity of domestic violence can vary dramatically; however,

the one constant component of domestic violence is one partner’s

consistent efforts to maintain power and control over the other.

• Pedophilia

This one of the alarming issue current among adults of today especially in

developing counties. Pedophilia or paedophilia is a psychiatric disorder and

immoral behaviour, in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a

primary or exclusive sexual attraction to prepubescent children. Although

girls typically begin the process of puberty at age 10 or 11, and boys at age

11 or 12, criteria for pedophilia extend the cut-off point for prepubescence

to age 13. A person who is diagnosed with pedophilia must be at least 16

years old, but adolescents must be at least five years older than the

prepubescent child for the attraction to be diagnosed as pedophilia.

Pedophilia is termed pedophilic disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical

Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), and the manual defines it as a

paraphilia involving intense and recurrent sexual urges towards and

fantasies about prepubescent children that have either been acted upon or

which cause the person with the attraction distress or interpersonal

difficulty. The International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) defines it as

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a sexual preference for children of prepubertal or early pubertal age.

In popular usage, the word pedophilia is often applied to any sexual interest

in children or the act of child sexual abuse. This use conflates the sexual

attraction to prepubescent children with the act of child sexual abuse, and

fails to distinguish between attractions to prepubescent and pubescent or

post-pubescent minors. Researchers recommend that these imprecise

uses be avoided because although people who commit child sexual abuse

sometimes exhibit the disorder, child sexual abuse offenders are not

pedophiles unless they have a primary or exclusive sexual interest in

prepubescent children, and the literature indicates the existence of

pedophiles who do not molest children.

2.1 Causes of Moral Decadence among Adults

When man refuses to struggle to climb the moral ladder because of its

slippery surface and sinks into the quicksand of immorality, the causes of

such a phenomenon according to Ibn ul Qayyim al Jawziyyah in his

Madarij as- Salikin, are ignorance, injustice, lust and anger. Experience has

shown that most immoral acts emanate from these maladies of the human

soul. These are however at the conceptual level. They lie at the root of the

practical causes of moral decadence which include:

1. Individual Nature: this has to do with the fact that a person is born with

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such act of immorality.

2. Poor Parenting: most of this immoral act exhibit by some adult are out of

poor parenting; just as youth of these day learn from their parents.

3. Environmental factor: Nurture is a vital tool that spread immorality

among adult of the 21st century. Some time it is called false truth that is

behaviour that the society have generally know it wrong but due to majority

of people exhibit such behaviour it become a normal thing; For example,

adolescent sex relationship.

4. Peer Pressure: this has to do with pressure and advice from friends and

age grades.

7. Cultural imperialism

8. Information Technology : media and globalisation

9. Inadequate Religious Orientation

10. Coercion

In world today, rise in science and technology has contributed to the

decline of Christian morality. The increased access to the internet,

especially the World Wide Web (www) has necessitated easy

communication via the internet. Despite other positive uses of the internet

especially in areas of researches, and communication, negative and

immoral practices are learnt from the internet. Many pornographic sites for

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example abound in the internet. A lot of Adults and youths in world today

patronize these pornographic sites which glorify sex and sexual activities.

It is no wonder then that some Christian youths try to practice what they

learnt via these pornographic sites. Like the internet, increased access to

electronic gadgetry like televisions, compact discs, digital video discs and

mobile phones etc. have also helped the cause of immoral behaviours

among adults and youths in world. A lot of immoral behaviours are learnt

through these mediums. To add to these, increased access to movies or

compact discs which glorify gangstarism, drug usage and violence have

really added to the decline of Christian morality especially among callow

minded youths. These Christian youths fall Prey to mind manipulation

induced by what they see on the internet or, watch in the movies. These in

more ways than one have added to the decline of morality in world.

2.3 The Effect of Moral Decadence

Moral decadence has dealt a deadly blow on the ethical psyche of nations.

At the individual level, it has created lack of integrity in many. It has blurred

the vision of the young and old so much that it has become difficult to

distinguish between what is right and what is wrong. At the corporate level,

it has legitimized corrupt practices to an extent that the morally upright will

feel ashamed of being so morally conscious.

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CHAPTER THREE

3.1 Manifestation of this Moral Decadence by Adult

The large chunks of irresponsible parents we have today are clearly

responsible for the moral decadence that is common with the children and

teenagers all over the world. Every parent you meet talks about the good

old days when children were brought up with sound moral and ethical

sanctity. Why is it that parents who are privileged to have received such

quality upbringing in times past are the ones bringing up useless,

irresponsible, and morally decadent children with little or no regard to

societal norms and values? There is something seriously wrong and

parents should take the blame for these shameful and troubling failures.

It is an irony! The truth is that parents have abdicated their primary

responsibility of building up their homes and families in pursuit of wealth,

riches, material things, career, pleasure and fun. And has developed all

manner of excuses to justify their negligence of this noble duty; all to the

detriment of the children who are now growing into monsters and deviant

social misfit.

Social media on the other hand plays a big role in manifestation of morale

decadence by diverting teens from what they really should be doing.

Instead of supporting their country as the new generation, studying hard,

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and qualifying, teens are interested in online dating, body building, six pack

abs, pornography and other vectors. They have been deviated. A lot of

cyber crime these days has also led to kidnappings and rape cases, so its

better if parents supervise what their children are doing on the internet. Or

the ones at a loss will be the parents themselves until the child is 18. Yes,

social media is contagious. With every positive and negative information on

a social website, it has a psychosocial effect on us, whether we notice it or

not. Unconsciously, we dance to its rhythm and since freedom of

expression has given us the leverage to say and demand whatever we want,

our sense of moral begins to decline and at such, the ease to distinguish

between what is right and wrong gradually extinguishes. Bad becomes

good and good is hardly recognized because of wanting more, more and

more.

3.2 Solution to the Problem of Immorality in the World

There is a dire need to re-orientate the entire populace. Parents as well as

their children all need to have a new focus. Religious groups too have the

social responsibility to reinstate faith in the divine. Religious clerics must

through personal conduct rebuild confidence in moral uprightness. The

school system must not only inculcate discipline in the students and

teachers through verbal counselling, morality must be built into the

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curriculum for maximum impact.

From the above, religious instruction does not end with I.R.S. True Islamic

Education requires an all-embracing system where universal moral

principles guide all actions. Government too has a major stake in moral

education that goes beyond remuneration of teachers or providing facilities

for schools. It must, through the conduct of its officials, entrench respect

for moral probity in the populace.

At the corporate level, we need a new social and economic ideology to

meet the challenges facing our Nation. This ideology does not have to be

entirely new in its contents. It may be a modification of the Western

concept of democracy plus piety, in line with our worldview, vision of

society, value-framework and moral ethos. What I am saying is that the

most appropriate governance model- governance with piety and moral

conscience must replace the most applauded, but the least properly

applied system popularly known as democracy because our quest for

social and economic justice has not completed and our failure to achieve it

has proved to be the most tragic theme of the contemporary Nigerian

history. We are not alone in this. The quest for good governance is a global

phenomenon.

Authorities such as Wilfried Beckerman in his Crisis in Economy or

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Economics, Amitai Etzioni in his ‘The Moral Dimension: Towards a New

Economics, Cristovam Buarque in his, ‘The End Of Economics: Ethics and

the Disorder of progress, have all argued in favour of morality driven

socioeconomic and political systems in the post-industrial societies. The

link between moral values and socioeconomic behaviour both at individual

and governmental levels has been torn asunder during the ascendance of

secular capitalistic systems. Political analysts, economists and social

theorists are all trying today to re-discover the missing ethical link.

Be it at home or at school, education is the core component of any child’s

development. Whether a child becomes a stable adult is largely based on

how that child is raised and what he is taught. The following are actual

courses taught in schools nationwide:

“What They Didn't Tell You About Queer Sex & Sexuality in Health Class: A

Workshop For Youth Only, Ages 14-21” or “Teach Out,” which was held in

Massachusetts. It featured Massachusetts Department of Education

employees—government employees—instructing children as young as 14 in

how to properly perform homosexual sex acts.

Or how about “One Teenager in Ten: Writings by Gay & Lesbian Youth.” This

recommended book in the California school system discusses, in explicit

detail, a 16-year old’s first lesbian experience with her 23-year old dance

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teacher. The story continues, teaching that she should hide the experience

from her religious parents.

We could continue quoting news articles from around the country. But now

ask: How sure are you that your child is not learning some of the above

courses? Many of these and others have been introduced into school

systems under the banner of “tolerance.” This has caused many educators

to open their doors to such “modern” and “politically correct” attitudes and

teachings.

By classifying such courses and assemblies as “Anti-Hatred,” many

schools allow very young children to be taught such explicit materials

without a parent ever knowing.

How hard it has become to be a parent in the twenty-first century!

Like heroin to a drug addict, sex to human nature—especially that of

children—is nearly impossible to resist! Therefore, is it any wonder that

children are performing sex acts in record numbers that teenage sexually

transmitted diseases and pregnancy are skyrocketing?

3.3 Recommendation
In view of the discussions in this paper, these recommendations are hereby

given:

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• Youths and Adults in Nigeria should imitate western cultures and values

with cautiousness.

• Youths and Adults should engage in decent means of making money in

Nigeria.

• Excessive desire for materialism prevalent in Nigerian today should be

condemned by the church, mosque and the populace.

• The government and the church in Nigeria should tackle poverty through

concrete means.

• In the above regards, job creation and youth empowerment through training

are highly imperative.

• Christians are called here to remember their status as the “light and

salt of the world”. This means that their moral lives should never be

found wanting. Indulging in certain immoral practices therefore

undermine their roles as the“salt and light”of the world.

3.4 Conclusion
This paper adopted the phenomenological approach in its study of the

moral decadence among adult in the 21st century; it highlight the causes of

moral decadence, manifestation, and panaceas of moral decadence by

adults. These phenomena were shown as contributing heavily to the

debasement of morality in Nigeria. Youths and Adult in Nigeria are advised

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to always shun immorality of all kinds and live lives that will reflect their

status as the salt ad light of the world especially in a Nigerian society

witnessing massive changes owing to westernization and modernization.

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