SOCIO-PERSONAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS AS PREDICTORS OF VIOLENT BEHAVIOUR AMONG ROAD TRANSPORT WORKERS IN OGUN STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The Road Transport Workers (RTWs) contribute socially and economically to national development. However, reports have shown that the activities of RTWs are often characterised by Violent Behaviour (VB). Previous studies largely focused on interventions to reduce RTWs’ violence with little emphasis on predicting the influence of socio-personal and psychological factors. This study was, therefore, designed to investigate the social (Peer Pressure - PP, Explosive Social Relations - ESR and Violent Political Practice - VPP), personal (mentoring and age) and psychological (Anti-social Personality - AsP, Aggressive Behaviour - AB, Risk Perception - RP, intimidation and Immune Delusion Syndrome - IDS) factors predicting RTWs’ VB in Ogun State, Nigeria.

The Frustration-Aggression and Social-Ecological System theories provided the anchor, while the survey design of correlational type was adopted. Two major inter-state Motor Parks (MPs) were purposively selected from each of the sub-ethnic groups (Remo, Ijebu, Yewa and Egba) of Ogun State. The Taro Yamane sampling formula was adapted to select members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) 377 and the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) 377, across the selected eight MPs. The instruments used were AsP (α=0.85), AB (α=0.75), RP (α=0.86), Intimidation (α=0.78), PP (α=0.79), IDS (α=0.71), ESR (α=0.77), VPP (α=0.74) and Mentoring (α=0.88) scales, and VB Questionnaire (α=0.85). Eight key informant interview sessions were held with crime/traffic agents, while 10 in-depth interviews were held with officials of NURTW and RTEAN. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics, Pearson’s product moment correlation and Multiple regression at 0.05 level of significance, while the qualitative data were content- analysed. The RTWs were mostly males (91.6%) and married (76.9%) with a mean age of 35.16±3.25 and 15.12±4.27 years of driving experience. Involvement of RTWs’ in VB was occasional conflicts with: police (56.4%), rival leadership factions (56.0%), passengers (48.9%), union members and members of the same union (46.4%), supporters of politicians (37.9%) and duty collectors (37.1%). Disposition of RTWs’ to VB was struggle for power (89.0%), space (75.5%), political activities (54%), poor up-bringing (81.5%), drugs (92.5%), PP (72.5%) and AsP (85.0%). The VB was resolved by union leaders (68.0%), traditional rulers (59.0%), the military (48.0%) and the police (48.0%). The VPP (r=0.67), AsP (r=0.60), age (r= -0.49), RP (r=0.47), mentoring (r=0.45), ESR (r=0.43), intimidation (r=0.33), PP (r=0.26), IDS (r=0.17) and AB (r=0.13) correlated with RTWs’ VB. Socio-personal and psychological factors had joint significant prediction on RTWs’ VB (F(3;753)=244.21, Adj. R2=0.49), accounting for 49.0% of its variance. The PP (β=0.27), ESR (β=0.21), VPP(β=0.32), mentoring (β=0.41), age (β=0.11), AsP (β=0.39), AB (β=0.23), RP (β=0.36), intimidation (β=0.30) and IDS (β=0.14), personal (β=0.13) and psychological (β=0.12) factors relatively predicted RTWs’ VB. Perceived ruling government and security agents’ bad treatment and intimidation made RTWs to react violently to the slight provocation, while the peculiar nature of MPs shielded them from reprimand. Violent political practice, anti-social personality, age, risk perception, mentoring, explosive social relations, intimidation, peer pressure, immune delusion syndrome and aggressive behaviour influenced violent behaviour among road transport workers in Ogun State, Nigeria.