The Sociological Impact of Youth Restiveness on Christianity in Mushin, Lagos State

Abstract

Youth restiveness is a significant issue in 21st-century Nigeria, impacting national growth and development. It manifests in immoral behaviours like cultism, prostitution, sexual assaults, street violence, gambling, looting, drug addiction, and child trafficking. This menace has impacted the Mushin environment of Lagos State, posing threats to the physical and spiritual development of Christianity in the local government and affecting life, properties, religious organisations, and corporate existence in the area. This research utilised participant observation and archival search methods to study youth restiveness, especially its effects on Christianity in the Mushin Local Government of Lagos State. A study involving 1,000 parishioners of Holy Trinity Anglican Church and United African Methodist Church in Mushin, Lagos State, with the distribution of 500 questionnaires, found that youth restiveness is influenced by factors such as lack of parental upbringing, unemployment, poverty, corruption, gangs, and ecclesiastical negligence. This leads to depletion in church membership, cultism, sexual discrepancies, extortion, family breakdown, drug abuse, human trafficking, and a bleak leadership future. The research advocates for comprehensive programs, including physical and spiritual ones, to address youth restiveness and its sociological concerns. It suggests parents as role models and the church as a catalyst for policy shaping and evangelization. The Nigerian government should prioritise education, research, and empowerment, including moral education and civic engagement. School administrators should adopt appropriate managerial styles to curb restiveness and immoral acts. The church should also enhance youth and women's status.