Moderating Role of Socioeconomic Status in the Relationship between Neigborhood Disorder and the tendency to Commit Crime among Undergraduates of Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka

Abstract

The study investigated neighbourhood disorder and tendency to commit crime; and the moderating role of socioeconomic status among undergraduates of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. Participants from the study were randomly selected undergraduates who volunteered and were allowed to fill out a Google form, three instruments were used for data collection: criminal behaviour scale, Neighborhood disorder scale and interviewer-rated multivariate assessment of socioeconomic well-being. The study adopted moderated predictive design and analysis was carried out using process macro in the SPSS version 30.0. Results revealed that neighbourhood disorder positively predicted the tendency to commit crimes, socioeconomic status positively and significantly predicted the tendency to commit crimes and socioeconomic status significantly and positively moderated the relationship between neighbourhood disorder and the tendency to commit crimes among undergraduates. It was recommended that the government should provide a secure environment to enable all people’s freedom to engage in economic activities.