PERCEPTION OF CRIME, SAFETY AND SECURITY AS PREDICTORS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL WELLBEING AMONG RESIDENTS OF ONDO STATE, NIGERIA

ABSTRACT
There is dearth of literature on roles of crime, safety and security perception among Nigerian residents and how these perceptions affect their psychological well-being. This research investigated perception of crime, safety and security as predictors of psychological well-being among Nigerian residents in Ondo State. 179 (92 males; 87 females) residents of Ondo State participated in the study. Four self-report validated scales were used for data gathering. Subjective Happiness Scale (SHS) developed by (Lyubomirsky & Lepper, 1999) was employed to gauge psychological well-being. Safety Perception was assessed using a 3-item environmental safety questionnaire developed by Sheldon, Elliot, Kim & Kasser (2001). Crime and Security Perception scales were adopted by the researcher from the work of (Shibata, Hanyu, & Asakawa, 2011). Four hypotheses were generated and tested for this research, using multiple regression analysis. Crime, safety and security perception did not significantly predict psychological well-being of Ondo state residents {β = -0.09; t= -1.18; P > .05}, {β = 0.08; t= 1.11; P > .05} and {β = -0.11; t= -1.52; P > .05} respectively. It was further shown that, perception of crime, safety and security did not jointly predict psychological well-being of Ondo state residents significantly {R2= .02, F (3,175) = 1.31; P >.05}. In conclusion, perception of crime, safety and security did not jointly and independently predict psychological well-being of Ondo state residents significantly. Thus, it is important for researchers to look out for other variables that might possibly predict this community residents’ psychological well-being especially in the face of a dwindling national economy.

Keywords: Perception of Crime, Safety and Security, Psychological well-being.