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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
This chapter give insight into the background of the study, the problem statement, purpose of study, research questions, and objectives of the study, significance of the study and delimitations of the study. It also dealt with the limitations, definition of key terms as well as how the study was organized.
Background to the Study
The incidences of broken marriages are on the increase, as well as the failure of children in all levels of education(Bubelwa, 2014).According to Ghaerba (2001) broken home is a situation whereby one's family is submerged with misunderstanding of marriage and family structure. Egbo (2012) viewed broken home as a place where the parents engage themselves in quarrelling, fighting suspecting, keeping late hours to the detriment of the children's primary drive for food, sleep and other basic needs. Broken homes are in various aspects and these include: divorce, separation and death of either of the parents.
Broken home is generally associated with increased stress and emotional difficulties among children, several aspects have a mediating effect. The amount of family conflict experienced by the children, their religious background, age, and place in the sibling order were reported to have a vital impact on their efforts to adapt to this transition (Farber,Primevera&Felner, 1993).
As the home become insecure, children respond by developing tension, prostration and aggression and anger and hatred toward one or both parents because of their behaviour, that lead to separation. Broken homes could cause the children to feel isolation and humpies, hence, they are frustrated and psychologically disturbed even when they are in classroom. As a result, they cannot do well in the school activities.
Parental relationship plays a very important role in determining the academic performance of their children in school. Children that grow up in a broken home are unlikely to develop their academic potentials to the fullest while children brought up in a stabilized and organized home are more likely to develop to a full fledge of human beings, being able to discover their academic and other attributes leading to success in life endeavour.
The influence of broken home on the academic achievements of students is beyond measure, when a home is broken, children are affected in many ways for example the girls amongst them may run into men in order to pay their school fees some of them may get pregnant in the process which might warrant them to quit, education entirely (Okoye, 2001). Nwosu (1991) noted that some girls too go after prostitution in a bid to also pay their school fees which may be difficult for their single parents. Boys also give in to robbery roistering in the school, joining criminal gangs and exhibiting all form of social vices. These results in loss of concentration during class hours leading to poor academic performance and loss of focus on education. It is in light of this that the researchers sought to assess the impact of broken homes on students' academic performance at Aboadze Dar-Nnur Islamic School.
Statement of the Problem
One of the tasks that should be fulfilled by parents is to educate their children because; the education of children does not start from school but from home. In an ideal atmosphere, children should happily be with their parents, feel and appreciated and the love of their parent towards them. In most cases, adequate parental affection may not be given to the children from a broken home. Children who find themselves in such a manner feel neglected by the peer groups and society instead of being loved and cared for. Researchers have found that children from broken home feel very sad when they lack the affection, security and concern for their lovely home. Such children tend to develop a kind of inferiority complex, and aggression, hostility, reserved and isolated among their pear groups. They said when children are not secured and not enjoying the love and parental upbringing, it will affect the cognitive of the children, thereby affecting their academic achievement.
Studies conducted by Hetherington, Cox and Cos, (1995) further confirm that children in one parent household not only do or perform poorly in school because they tend to lack self-control, but also become disruptive in the classrooms, instead of paying attention to what is being taught in class. It is in this regard that the researchers sought to assess the impact of broken homes on students' academic performance at Aboadze Dar-Nnur Islamic School.
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of broken homes on students' academic performance at Aboadze Dar-Nnur Islamic School.
Research Questions
What are the causes of broken homes?
How does broken home affect children?
What are the impacts of broken homes on the academic achievement of female students?
What measures would the government take in reducing cases of broken homes?
Objective of the Study
The objectives of the study were to:
Identify the causes broken home.
Find out how broken home affect children.
Ascertain the impact of broken homes on the academic achievement of female students.
Evaluate measures would the government take in reducing cases of broken homes.
Significance of the Study
The rate of marriage failure is on the increase in our modern society. It is therefore it important that a timely study be carried out in order to give useful suggestions and recommendations to teachers on how to help such unfortunate children to learn properly in school so that they can come out with a good academic performance in school for themselves and be useful to the society as well. This study would help policy makers to help make policies that will cover students in this situation so that future dreams could be achieved. Finally, the study would also serve as a reference material for other studies related to the topic.
Delimitations of the Study
This study was carried out on students of Aboadze Dar-Nnur Islamic School in the Ahanta West District of the Western Region.
Limitations
This study encountered some challenges which included difficulty in gathering information for the project since only few researches have been carried out in this respect. Also there was difficulty in getting the necessary information because of the sensitive nature of the problem under investigation. Also, some students felt reluctant to respond to questionnaire due to its emotional inclination. Lastly, there was language barrier due to their level of education.
Definition of Terms
Broken home is a situation that arises when (a) a man or woman losses his/her spouse by death; (b) a man or a woman divorces his/her spouse; (c) family separation; (d) single parenting and (e) never married but with a child/children (Olatunde and Tunde, 2010).
Divorce:Agu (2012) defines divorce as permanent separation of husband and wife.
Single Parenting:Akintayo (2002) referred to single parent family as a broken home she describes single family as a condition where either the man, woman takes care of children alone without the help of the second party or parties Akintayo said and explained further that single families have become permanent and noticeable feature in many societies today throughout the world.
Organisation of Study
The study was organised into five chapters. Chapter one dealt with the introduction which talked about the background to the study, statement of the problem, purpose of the study, research questions, objectives of the study, significance of the study, its limitations and delimitations which were framed to guide the researcher.
Chapter two of the research looked at what has already been written in terms of theories or concepts and empirical evidence, then reviews these theories and empirical evidence.
Chapter three of the research is methodology. It explained the research design and the procedure employed in obtaining data for the study, population and sample characteristics, sampling techniques used, the sampling procedure and data analysis used for the study.
Chapter Four focused on results and discussion. Chapter five is the summary, conclusions and recommendations.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
This chapter will look at other articles and journals already been written in terms of theories or concepts and empirical evidence.
Conceptual Framework
A conceptual framework is a collection of concepts or models from literature which inform a research study. It relates a study to existing ideas or principle. As a result of constant family conflicts, pupils' academic performance and interpersonal relationship may be affected. If there is no intervention in form of guidance and counselling, the pupils may grow up to become disturbed and unstable. They may use the modelling effect to repeat the same in their families. A disturbed and unstable individual may eventually mean a disturbed and unstable society. In the figure, Guidance and Counselling appears as the intervening variable with an arrow pointing towards independent variable (family conflicts) and another towards the dependent variables (academic performance and interpersonal relationships)
Overview of Broken Homes
A home is where a family lives. It may be alternated to the word "house" but a house is more appropriately referring to the material structure whereas home refers to the intangible things that bind together the family members. It has the immeasurable love and care that keeps together the mother, father and their children. Broken home occurs as a result of separation of marriage either by death or divorce. Broken home, contributed a lot to anti-social behaviour society. Children who come from broken families will most likely have difficult time in life.
Children of divorced parents are roughly two times more likely to drop out from school than their peers who benefit from living with parents who are not divorced (Mclanahan 1994). Some children from broken marriages are more likely to turn to drug abuse or other negative behaviors. The truth is that every child needs and deserves the love and provision of a mother and a father. The loving two –married –parent family is the best environment for children. A strong family and home is a place where children gain the identity, discipline, and moral education that are essential for their full individual development. Children from divorced families are nearly five times more likely to suffer damaging mental troubles than those who live with both parents. This shows that two parents are much better in bringing up healthy children than one.
Concept of Broken Home
According to Ghaerba (2001) broken home is a situation whereby the family is engulfed with misunderstanding of marriage and family structure. This implies ma-adjustment, mal-functioning psychological decadents and the existences of family squabbles. This disorganization grade, Ghaerba (2001) referred to as the breaking of family into.
Akintayo (2002) referred to single parent family as a broken home she describes single family as a condition where either the man, woman takes care of children alone without the help of the second party or parties Akintayo said and explained further that single families have become permanent and noticeable feature in many societies today throughout the world.
Doris (2002) wrote that various terms are used around the world to describe mother who raises children alone. She wrote that in some countries single mother is used to refer to never married mothers, while on the other hand 'lone mothers' is a term that compresses a whole range of mothers who are bringing up children without male par terns in their hold. Such mothers may be divorced separated, widowed or they may never have been married.
Causes of Broken Home
Janet (2002), a single parent mother of three stated that; in Hong Kong, where old Chinese values are still strong, the divorce rate is more than doubled in six years between 1981-1987. In Singapore divorce among both Muslims and non-Muslims increased almost 70 percent between 1980-1988.
Ghaerba (2001) in his study identified reasons for broken home under various types of family disorganization as follows:
Divorced cause
Maltreatment from the man
Lack of proper care for the family
Maladaptive behaviour by either party
Charge of adultery
Charge of witchcraft against wife
Broken home due to death of bread winner
Husband
Wife
Marriage without mutual consent
Husband dislike wife
Lack of true love non reciprocal love
Wife dislike their husband
Parental disagreement
Separation case caused by
Economic activities (trading)
Problem of urbanization
Quest for job (social mobility)
Economic inequality (education)
Breakdown of social status
Inter-family misunderstanding
Childlessness
Disrespect and disloyalty for husband relations
Lack of respect for each other
Interference from both parties family members
Inability have desire to have sex especially male children is another reason to have broken homes. Broken homes have been known to be due to poverty misunderstanding between couples, external interference of in-law, adultery love for materials, wealth instead of love for husband and wife especially in urban areas, childlessness or sterility, love for money, guest for getting married or anybody that comes one's way due to over aged or the likes, prolonged illness and insanity for the disability such as blindness paralysis or illness caused by accident.
Research shows that there is a tendency for product of broken home to more likely experience the problems later in marriage. Girls married from a broken home have high tendency to end up in the same way. They have been trained not to belong to a single man throughout their life time. (Ghaerba 2001). There is the argument that the phenomena of house maids may lead to broken home if the wife is in the high society class and is offer way from home the poor husband may be tempted to have fun with the maid aid this could lead to divorce.
Researchers have shown that children from broken homes have social economic attainment over long term and also have high rate of instability in marriage. Single parent family likes particularly those headed by a mother are likely to find their living standards lower than what it used to be before the family got broken or separated. The social effects of broken homes on the child has no respect for constituted authority, they are prone to innumerable dangers from which they could have been protected by parents of stable home.
Children from broken home are affected educationally hence the focus on Esan West Local Government Areas students. It is now that the home is the school of children and is the place where foundation of life service is laid. The children from broken homes are easily moved emotionally than their counterparts from stable homes Ghaerba (2001).
In his view, Henry Pasco stated in Nwaozuzu (1998) that a child who for any circumstance who has been deprived of a substantial portion of the variety of stimuli which he is maturational capable of the respondent to, is likely to be deficit in equipment of the child depend grossly on the qualities of parents Davison in Nwaozuzu (1998) said that 'children who are ill nourished are reduced in their responsiveness to environment distracted by their visceral state and reduced by their ability to progress and endure in learning condition in the authors view 'without doubt' most children who constantly present disciplinary problems in school and public places are product of troubled and broken'.
Theoretical Frame Work
The Abraham Maslow's theory on hierarchy of needs was adopted for this study. Maslow (1970) focuses on self-actualization of a person. Some characteristics of a self-actualized person include tolerance, welcoming uncertainty, acceptance of self and other, creativity, need for privacy, autonomy, genuine caring for others, sense of humour and directedness. He divided human needs into five categories. The most basic category is the physiological needs. These include food, shelter, clothing and education. When pupils lack these basic needs, they cannot grow and their concentration is on their discomfort. If pupils are hurt by conflicts in the family, they may not acquire all the needs that they need. After the basic needs, a person yearns for safety needs. This is the need to feel secure. Pupils who witness their parents fighting all the time do not feel safe in that home. There is the fear that the parents might separate or even hurt them. Maslow also talked about the belonging needs. This refers to the need to be accepted and to affiliate with others. If pupils are communicating well with parents, they will feel accepted. In most cases parents who are fighting do not have time to make the pupils feel needed. Pupils are bound to think that they are the cause of their parents' fights and this makes them feel that they are not loved. Esteem needs come fourth on the hierarchy. This need makes one gain approval from others. When a couple is fighting, they cannot gain approval from the pupils and other society members. Therefore, this need is not fulfilled. The highest need on the hierarchy is self-actualization. This need makes one feel self-fulfilled and realize one's potential. If all other needs are not fulfilled, one cannot reach the stage of self-actualization. It all starts at the physiological needs. These physiological needs can only be fully and satisfactorily met in a loving family without any conflicts.
Empirical Framework of the Study
The Influence of a Family on an Individual's Behaviour
A family is far more than a collection of individuals sharing a specific physical and psychological space, (McLanahan and Sanderful, 1994). A family may be considered a natural social system, with properties all on its own, one that has evolved a set of rules, is replete with assigned and ascribed roles for its members, has an organized power structure, has developed intricate overt and covert forms of communication and has elaborated ways of negotiating and problem solving that permit various tasks to be performed effectively (Goldenberg and Goldenberg, 2000). In the process of growing up, family members develop individual identities but nevertheless remain attached to the family group. These family members do not live in isolation, but rather are interdependent on one another – not merely for money, food and shelter – but also for love, affection, companionship, socialization and other non-tangible needs. A well-functioning family encourages the realization of the individual potential of its members, allowing them freedom for exploration and self –discovery along with protection and the instillation of a sense of security. This may not be the case in a family that experiences conflicts.
Academic Performance of Children from Broken Homes
Academic performance is an objective score of attainment after a specified instructional programme. Academic performance can be influenced by many factors, but the impact family relationships play on a child's scholastic achievement alongside the development of the child cannot be overemphasized. This may be associated with tensions in the home, family discord or family instability (Okoye 2012). All these cumulatively produce an emotionally barren atmosphere in the home. The relationship between the husband and wife, parents and children, relationship among siblings if not cordial, resulting into conflicts especially between husband and wife and also leading to continuum of frequent quarrels and antagonism of both parties from time to time can completely end in broken homes.
The gradual development of these problems till its full manifestation directly affects the emotions of growing children especially young adolescents and can adversely disrupt the level of concentration and learning abilities of these children in school. Thus, the family structure a child
emanates from can seriously affect the academic performance of an individual especially an adolescent. It has been proven that children from stable homes do better in their academic pursuits in their various schools due to their emotional stability/balance and family than those from unstable or broken homes.
In a stable home, where both parents live and stay together there is little or no emotional illness because the child lives with and receives cares and attention needed from the parents. The emotional stability goes a long way in him to school and in every place he found himself performing excellently well in his academics.
According to Eszewu (1990) 'the family has the potential of exercising a strong influence over the life of the child in school and long after he left school. He wants on to say that the child's mental and emotional developments which are factors for school education could be greatly influenced by nature of the family into which the child is born. A child who is brought up in a stable home is well fed and provided all he needed will definitely perform well in his academics in school. The status of the family determines the type of influences and the level of educational attainment of children that are brought up in various homes.
Relationship between Parents and their Children's Educational and Social Life
Each child is an individual with its own behaviour and temperamental styles. The mother and father's personalities are important in designing a child's behaviour. A parent-child relationship is interpersonal. According to Jersild (1969), the 'accepting parent' is a loving one, accepts his/her child and knows his/her rights. For the child, consequences of being accepted include the following: child can count on protection from the parents; child acquires an attitude of confidence and trust in those taking care of him/her; when older, the child will extend his capacity for affection to others; child has freedom to grow, venture and try new things; child has better communication skills; child has better chances to learn to accept himself. On the other hand, consequences of rejection include the following: child cannot count on protection and help of parents; child does not have the strength to defend himself; other members of community, for example, peers may assault the child/do not accept him; child is seen as constantly failing; child has difficulty in learning good behaviour; child learns not to accept affection/to expect nothing but the worst thus his guard is always up against everyone he encounters; there is no free flow of emotions thus everyone cuts him off and lastly, s/he may not have confidence in him/herself.
According to Waithaka (2006), violence between partners is often viewed as a couple's private affair because it often involves 'only' the husband and wife. The truth is that this violence often has a bigger impact on the children. This could be attributed to the fact that children born to a couple grow up regarding the mother and father as one unit. They become attached to both parents and learn to depend on them for their survival. As a result, children become extremely overwhelmed after witnessing violent scenes between their parents and the parent – child relationship they have been relying on for nurture, safety and help is threatened by this violence. Waithaka (2006) also asserts that usually, it is men who are perpetrators of domestic violence and because children form a special relationship with their mothers' right from birth, any form of suffering experienced by the mother greatly affects them. Their reactions may include acute fear for their own and their mother's safety.
Many women tolerate abusive marriages for the sake of their children. But the sad fact according to Waithaka (2006) is that children reared in violent homes grow up largely confused about the meaning of love, violence and intimacy. Often, men who batter their wives also harass the children. Studies have established that about half of battering husbands also physically assault their children. In later years, the father's rage is re-directed to the children when they attempt to defend their mother.
Waithaka (2006) indicated that generally, children are not aware of the cause of the violence and they are subjected to living in a constant state of fear that it might happen again. Shantz and Hartup (1992) established that most children from homes where parental abuse is prevalent suffer irreversible damage in some or all aspects of their development, which can be difficult to reverse. The long term effects of domestic violence on children vary with the child's age. Infants are fragile and can easily be injured in violent homes. Generally, infants require relaxed and responsive care- takers.
According to Bronfenbrenner (1979), mothers who are battered may be so preoccupied with stress that they cannot respond to their infant's needs. These children are likely to be under-weight, have problems sleeping and eating, whine constantly and be generally unresponsive adults. As a result, many infants from violent homes show signs of health problems, stunted growth and neglect. Children between three to five years still rely on their care takers for the control of emotions and behaviour.
They turn to their parents for psychological support and emotional refuge. In the event of domestic violence, they feel helpless and become increasingly aware of the unrest. The hostility overwhelms them because they have not yet acquired the ability to deal with such frightening events. Consequently, they tend to show signs of behavioural and emotional problems. At this age, children are likely to blame themselves for the violence and suffer unthinkable guilt. These children have feeding and sleeping difficulties and they often get nightmares. All this affects their ability to concentrate in school. They also lag behind in language and communication development. In addition to chronic fear and anxiety, they also experience frequent illness. They become clingy and display unusual separation anxiety. They withdraw from peers and enjoy causing pain by hitting and biting.
Waithaka (2006) goes ahead to say that children between the ages 6 to 12 years have expanded their social circles to include friends and members of the extended family. Nevertheless, the parents still occupy a special place in their lives and are viewed as role models. They regard the aggressive father as enviably powerful but also fear him. They are concerned about the victimized mother and at the same time, they are angry with her for being weak. The natural respect that a child has for the mother gradually wanes and s/he becomes unruly not only to her but to all authority. In many cases, boys become remarkably disrespectful towards females. In addition, the children are ashamed of their homes and isolate themselves in an attempt to keep the violence a secret. For consolation, they keep the violence a secret. They may also turn to bad habits such as drug abuse and undesirable sexual behaviour.
Edleson (1997) asserts that problems among children who have witnessed assaults of one parent by another in the home include psychological and emotional ones such as aggression, hostility, anxiety, social withdrawal and depression. There are also cognitive functioning problems such as lower verbal and quantitative skills and the development of attitudes supporting the use of violence. Other long term development problems according to Edleson include depression, trauma related systems and low self-esteem among women and trauma related symptoms alone among men.
Effects of Broken Marriage on School Going Children
Reaction of children to parental divorce may be influenced by remarriage of custodial parent. According to Zinsmeister (1996), remarriage of parents can add to, rather than subtract from, the stress of a child. Divorce makes children unsafe, uncertain of the future or makes children feel that the future is bleak and they become helpless because they fear that something bad could happen to them (Wallerstein & Blakeslee, 2003). Some children perform better in school as an attempt to shut out problems at home (Lansky, 2000).
In contrast, other children may intentionally allow grades to slip in an attempt to gain attention from both parents (Richmond, 1998). Children living with newly divorced mothers are more likely to be late for school and are less likely to have a help in their homework (Hetherington, 2002).
Amato conducted a quantitative meta-analysis in an effort to bring order to find the relationship between divorce and academic achievement. The results relating to academic achievement showed statistical significance in lower academic achievement in children of divorce when compared to children from continuously married parents (Amato, 1991).
Amato recently updated the meta-analysis to include studies performed in the past decades. The findings show that when compared with children from continuously married parents, 25 children with divorced parents continue to score significantly lower on measures of academic achievement as well as in the areas of conduct, psychological adjustment and social relations (Amato, 1991).
Although divorce is a major loss to children, however, not all children react the same way to their parents' divorce (Wade & Tavris, 1993). Each child's reaction depends on how she/he perceives it (Clandos & Kemp, 2007) or the different personal or familial circumstances before or after the divorce.
While some children react with anger, fear or tremendous grief, others are happy or indifferent. Some children feel shame and hide the news of their parents' divorce from their friends or pretend that it is not happening; other children react by feeling relieved especially if there has been intense fighting in their homes (Clandos & Kemp, 2007).
There have been numerous studies that have documented the impact of divorce to children. Sun cited in ValderValk et al., (2005) found children of divorced parents may have a lower sense of psychological well-being than children who grew up with intact families. Research also confirms that children of divorced parents may experience emotional problems such as loneliness and depression (Asetline & VanderValk, 2005).
Studies comparing the school records of children from single-parent and two-parent families have found that children raised in single–parent home have an increased risk of poor academic achievement (Mitchell, 1986). The effects of broken homes on students depend on many factors, the most important of which are the causes of the broken homes when it occurs, and it is either temporary or permanent. When there is a break in the home as result of death and children realize that, the parent will never return, mourn the loss and transfer their affection to the remaining parent, hoping in this way to regain the security they formally had.
By so doing one will find the students forgetting that they had other things to attend to like their academics and as a science student there is need for determination and commitment to the classroom activities and laboratory practices, but a child who happen to have a parent pre occupied with grief and practical problems of a broken homes give rise to children that feel rebuffed and unwanted. This will, however, result to resentment that can seriously cause damage or affect the child's intellectual potentialities required from him/her as science student and that could deter his/her academic achievement in classroom and elsewhere. However, Hauwa et al. (2005), observed that the loss of the mother in early life is more damaging to a child than loss of father.
She stated the reason for this to be that the care of young children must - under the circumstances, be turned over to relatives or paid housekeepers whose child training techniques may differ from those used by mothers and who rarely can give children the attention and affection they formally received from their mothers. Therefore, a science students brought up under this condition may likely fall victim of missing the love and care of the mother which thereafter affect him/her in the later life of the science students achievement when it comes to classroom or practical aspect of science.
The Long-term Effects of Divorce
In a full-scale review of a longitudinal survey over the 1990s, Amato (2000) noted that adults and children score lower than their counterparts in married-couple families on a variety of indicators of well-being. He found that adults raised in divorced families suffered from a deficit in social skills and had special problems in handling conflicts within their own marriages. Cherlin and his colleagues drew their divorce population from a public health study in the United Kingdom (UK) begun in 1958 (Cherlin, Chase-Lansdale, & McRae, 1988; Cherlin et al., 1995). Although they found that many of the children's difficulties were evident prior to the divorce, their most recent work (Cherlin et al., 1995) showed that subjects from divorced families were experiencing serious psychological difficulties after they reached adulthood which had not been foreseen.
Wallerstein (2005) did a study on 'Growing up in the Divorced Family' and concluded that: The findings from this study call for a shift in our dominant paradigm of understanding the impact of divorce on children and in the interventions that have been developed to mitigate its effects. The widely accepted premise has been that divorce represents an acute crisis from which resilient children recover, typically within a 2-year period, and then resume their normal developmental progress, if three conditions are obtained: (1) the parents are able to settle their differences without fighting; (2) the financial arrangements are fair and (3) the child has continued contact with both parents over the years that follow.
Academic Achievement among Adolescents of Divorced Families
Past studies have shown that children and adolescents who are exposed to high level of parental conflict had more problems in academic compared with children and adolescents who had not experienced parental conflict. These children and adolescents have two to three times more tendencies to drop out from school (Kelly, 2000; Amato, 2001; Rodgers & Rose, 2001).
Rodgers and Rose (2001) examined the relationship between family factors and academic performance among a sample with mean age 15 years old from intact, divorced and blended families. This study revealed that adolescents of divorced families reported less parental support and monitoring which strongly predicted their academic achievement. Support from family is critical because poor support contributes to lower academic achievement among adolescents even in intact families (Siti Nor & Zaline, 2005).
According to Sun and Li (2002), high parental conflict is associated with lower score on Mathematics and reading exams among adolescents from divorced families compared to adolescents in intact families. Divorce generally leads to a severe decline in the standard of living of single mother families, and this decline may increase children's development risk in various aspects including academic achievement. According to Sun (2001) and Sun and Li (2001), the economic hardship associated with divorced families was found to mediate the educational defects of children in such families.
Comparisons of Children from Divorced and Two-Parent Families
Early in the decade, Amato and Keith (1991) published a meta-analysis of 92 studies that compared the well-being of children whose parents were married to each other. Their meta-analysis showed that children from divorced families scored significantly lower in a variety of outcomes including academic achievement. During the 1990s, the number of people touched by divorce increased, school-based programs for children divorced families became common, and education courses for divorcing parents became mandatory in many states (Emery, Kitzmann & Waldron, 1999). A large number of studies in the 1990s continued to find that children with divorced parents score lower than children with continuously married parents on measure of academic success (Teachman, Paasch, & Carver, 1996).
Impact of Broken Homes on Academic Performance of Students
The influence of broken home on the academic achievements of the primary school students is beyond measure. Broken home, could either be single-parenthood home, divorce or separated couple. In order words, broken home can be defined in which the parents are divorced or separated. While single-parenthood can be defined as when one out of two people who are responsible for bearing and as such nurturing the child is not available and the work meant for two parents, is now been carried out by only one parent, according to the Longman dictionary of contemporary English, single-parenting, is defined as a mother or father who looks after children on their own, without the other partner. Single parent can be defined as a situation in which of one of the two individuals involved in the conception of the child is being responsible for the upbringing of the child (Levin, 1999).
Single parenthood may arise when either the male or the female decides to produce and rear a child or children outside wedlock (Ortesse, 1998). In some countries, the existence of single parenthood was unknown and where they existed they are ignored as exceptional cases. However, nowadays, they are fast growing family patterns. In Nigeria, among Yoruba's, the parental roles are culturally determined and distributed. The maternal roles are that of child's rearing, home training and playing of complementary roles, while the paternal roles are that of economic responsibilities and disciplining of children. The child reared up with these complementary maternal and paternal responsibilities is morally, mentally upright and emotionally balanced, that is when the caring responsibilities are carried out by both parents.
Summary of the Literature
Attempts were made in this chapter to define the concept of broken homes. Various definitions provided by earlier researchers with more emphasis on divorce as the control issue. Most of the researchers however arrived at a definition with the control issue being that the parents are no more living together as husband and wife.
In an attempt to portray the nature of broken homes, divorce, death of parent and separation has been identified, as being the course of broken homes. Divorce being a major constraint of broken home has its causes identified further, economic booms, post war period, in the relationship between home and academic achievement. The student of broken homes are said to be likely to find themselves in situations like insecurity, inferiority complex and lack of parental love that is being normally found with single parents. Each of those variables brings some hardship to the students.
The literature reviewed in this section agued in support and against, the view that it is the net conditions prevailing in the broken homes that is responsible for students' low performance. A number of studies show that children of broken homes are unhappy in fact unlike children staying with both parents. Irrespective of its possible implication to teachers in school setting, the literature review revealed that the problem mostly reencountered by subjects of broken homes are those of frustration, insecurity, anxieties and emotional feedings. Such problems made the children unable to concentrate in class and subsequently fail to achieve good results. In general teachers are advised to understand the problems of children from broken homes to be able to treat them alongside with other children.
Some researchers have carried out a study on this topic. They covered several of the effect of broken homes on student academic achievement. Inferiority complex is a result of lack of care, love, security, social state and affection inferiority complex is a psychological deficiency that can affect the academic achievement of the individual students.
CHAPTER THREE
METHODOLOGY
This study followed a non-experimental research approach. According to Porter (2004) non-experimental research is a type of research where the researcher identifies variables and may look for relationship among them, but does not control any of the variables. Therefore, the researcher only identified the independent variables but did not control them. The research design for the study was a descriptive survey. Descriptive research is designed to provide a picture of a situation as it naturally happens. It may be used to justify current practice and make judgment and also to develop theories (Burns and Bush, 2003).Therefore, the study focused on only students from broken homes and described how their situation had an impact on their performance.
Study Area
This study was carried out in Aboadze Dar-Nnur Islamic School in the Ahanta West District of the Western Region.Aboadze is a town in the Western region of Ghana. It is 20 kilometres from the centre Takoradi the Western regional capital. The town serves both as a dormitory town as well as an industrialized zone. It houses Ghana's only Thermal plant for electricity production.
Population
Babie (2001) defined population referred to population as an aggregate or totality of all the objects, subjects or members that conform to a set of specification. According to Kaplan and Saccuzzo (2009) target population refers to the set of people, subjects, products that contains the information that is of interest to the researcher, thus, the target population of the study was pupils. The target population for the study was students of Aboadze Dar-Nnur Islamic school. Sample size is the number of respondents or observations used for calculating estimates of a given population (Julious, 2009). The sample size was made up of forty (40) respondents. The categories of respondents comprised students from JHS one to JHS three.
Sampling Procedure
The sampling techniques used for the study were convenience and purposive sampling techniques. Both techniques were used to select the respondents. Purposive sampling is one that is selected based on the knowledge of a population and the purpose of the study (Kaplan & Saccuzzo, 2009). Purposive sampling was used to select the students since they have the relevant information that was beneficial to the study thus, the required information related to the topic of study was obtained. Convenience sampling is simply one in which the researcher uses any subjects that are available to participate in the research study (Babbie, 2001). However, convenience sampling was also used to select the students since all of them cannot be reached at a time therefore, any students who fall in the category of student the researchers were looking for were selected to represent a sample until the required sample size is obtained.
Data Collection Instruments
Data collection instrument is a device or tool used to collect data such as questionnaires, interview guide and observation forms (Babie, 2001). The research instrument used for the study will be questionnaires and interview guide since students will be busy at school with their studies and other activities like playing with friends. Questionnaire is a systematically prepared form or document with a set of questions purposely designed to collect data from respondents (Annum, 2014). The researcher will design a questionnaire consisting of open and close ended questions. Open ended questions allowed the respondents to provide their views on the questions, whereas the close ended questions restricted the respondents to the questions posed in the questionnaire.
Data Collection Procedure
Questionnaires were administered personally by the researchers to the respondents while on school premises and was collected within a limited time frame. Nonetheless, the researchers conducted short interviews with the students since not all the information needed would be put on paper. This helped the researchers to the get the detailed information from the respondents and the data obtained was recorded with pen and paper.
Data Processing and Analysis
According to Ader and Mellenbergh (2008), data analysis is a process of transforming and processing data with the goal of discovering useful information, conclusions and supporting decision making. The data after collection was sorted ,edited and analysed using Microsoft Excel and Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) and results will presented using frequency distribution tables, charts and percentages.
CHAPTER FOUR
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
Introduction
Forty pupils (respondents) from broken homes were carefully selected from JHS one – three six. This was done to seek for their opinion concerning the impact of broken homes on students' academic performance. All the questionnaires administered were fully answered and returned, thus used for the analysis.
Table 1: Background data of respondents (Pupils)
Pupils
Demographic Characteristic
N
Frequency
Percent (%)
Gender
40
Male
19
48
Female
21
52
Age
40
8 – 10 years
3
8
11 – 13 years
17
42
14 – 16 years
7
17
16 years above
13
33
Source: Fieldwork, 2016
Table 1 represents the demographic data of respondents involved in the study, it is shown in the table that there were 22 females representing 52% and 19 males indicating 48% of the total population involved in the study. This indicates that there were more female pupils from broken homes than male pupils in the schools. With regards to the age range of the respondents selected, majority of them (17) representing 42% fell between 11 – 13 years, 13 respondents indicating 33% were above 16 years. Also, seven (7) respondents were aged between 14-16 years with few (3) of the respondents who aged between 8 and 10 years. This shows that majority of the pupils from broken homes for this study were teenagers.
Causes of Broken Home
Table 2: Mother and Father Alive
Responses
Frequency
Percentage
Yes
31
78
No
9
22
Total
40
100
Source: Fieldwork, 2016
Respondents were asked whether both parents were alive, majority of the respondents (31) indicating 78% said their parents were alive whilst only 9 respondents representing 22% indicated that their parents were not alive as shown in table 2. This showed that majority of the pupils have their families alive thus, have families even though they are divorced. According to Goldenberg and Goldenberg (2000) a well-functioning family encourages the realization of the individual potential of its members, allowing them freedom for exploration and self –discovery along with protection and the instillation of a sense of security. However, this is not case of pupils of Aboadze Dar-Nnur Islamic school in the Western Region since their families are alive but may not function properly due to the divorce
Table 3: Mother and Father Staying together
Responses
Frequency
Percentage
Yes
30
75
No
10
25
Total
40
100
Source: Fieldwork, 2016
Table 3 shows response on whether parents of the respondents were staying together, it is indicated that 30 of them representing 75% said their parents were staying together and 10 of them recording 25% mentioned that their parents were not staying together thus, separated. This showed that majority of pupils parents are staying together despite the divorce, and can result in tension the home which can affect the pupil emotionally. According to the Waithaka (2006) family structure of a child emanates from can seriously affect the academic performance of an individual especially an adolescent. It has been proven that children from stable homes do better in their academic pursuits in their various schools due to their emotional stability/balance and family than those from unstable or broken homes.
Table 4: Response on who pupils stay with
Responses
Frequency
Percentage
Mother
29
73
Father
11
27
Total
40
100
Source: Fieldwork, 2016
On the notion of who the respondents were staying with, most of the respondents (29) representing 73% indicated that, they were staying with their mothers whereas 11 of them representing 27% said they were staying with their fathers as shown in Table 4. This indicating that all the pupils selected for the study were living with single parent. Mclanahan (1994) found that children from divorced families are nearly five times more likely to suffer damaging mental troubles than those who live with both parents. This shows that two parents are much better in bringing up healthy children than one.
Table 5: Parents checking on pupils at schools
Responses
Frequency
Percentage
Yes
4
10
No
36
90
Total
40
100
Source: Fieldwork, 2016
When respondents were asked whether their parents checked on them at school, 36 respondents indicating 90% responded that their parents do not check on them while in school and only 4 respondents indicating 10% of the total population sampled said their parents checked on them at school as represented in table 5.
Broken Homes affecting Children
Table 6: Parents love their children
Responses
Frequency
Percentage
Yes
35
88
No
5
12
Total
40
100
Source: Fieldwork, 2016
With regards to whether respondents parent love them, more of the respondents (35) representing 88% affirmed that their parents love them and few (5) of the respondents representing 12% indicated they lack parental love as shown in table 6. According to Ghaerba (2001), the truth is that every child needs and deserves the love and provision of a mother and a father. The loving two –married –parent family is the best environment for children. A strong family and home is a place where children gain the identity, discipline, and moral education that are essential for their full individual development
Table 7: Pupils feeling insecure with their step parents
Responses
Frequency
Percentage
Yes
22
55
No
18
45
Total
40
100
Source: Fieldwork, 2016
Table 7 represent respondents' response on whether feel insecure with their step parents, it is indicated that more than half of the respondents (22) representing 55% said they feel insecure with their step parents whereas 18 representing 45% opposed to that opinion. This result shows that more pupils from broken home feel unsecured with their step parents. This relates to the findings of Wallerstein and Blakeslee (2003) that divorce makes children unsafe, uncertain of the future or makes children feel that the future is bleak and they become helpless because they fear that something bad could happen to them.
Table 8: Parents able to pay fees on time
Responses
Frequency
Percentage
Yes
33
83
No
7
17
Total
40
100
Source: Fieldwork, 2016
On the notion of whether the mother or father was able to pay fees on time, greater proportion of the respondents (33) representing 83% responded and only few (7) indicating 17% said No. This indicated that either of the single parents was able to pay students fees on time as shown in table 8.
Impact of Broken homes on academic achievement of Children
Table 8: response on whether broken affect academic performance
Responses
Frequency
Percentage
Yes
27
68
No
13
32
Total
40
100
Source: Fieldwork, 2016
Respondents were asked whether broken affect their academic performance, it is indicated in table 8 that 27 of the respondents representing 68% were in affirmative while 13 respondents indicating 32% of the population disagreed that broken do not affect their academic performance. This shows that broken greatly affects the academic performance of the pupils at schools. This proves the findings of Amato (1991), in his study the results relating to academic achievement showed statistical significance in lower academic achievement in children of divorce homes when compared to children from continuously married parents.
Table 9: Response on whether perform poorly in test and assignment because of the absence of the mother or father
Responses
Frequency
Percentage
Yes
26
65
No
14
35
Total
40
100
Source: Fieldwork, 2016
When respondents were asked whether they performed poor in test and assignment due to the absence of parents, more than half of the respondents (26) indicating 65% said Yes, whiles 14 respondents representing 35% said No. This implied that the presence of parent in the house have positive effect on the academic performance of the students, thus their absence greatly affects the children's performance at school. Studies conducted by Hetherington, Cox and Cos, (1995) found that children in one parent household not only do or perform poorly in school because they tend to lack self-control, but also become disruptive in the classrooms, instead of paying attention to what is being taught in class. Hetherington (2002) children living with newly divorced mothers are more likely to be late for school and are less likely to have a help in their homework.
Table 10: Response on whether pupils were beaten for poor performance
Responses
Frequency
Percentage
Yes
38
95
No
2
5
Total
40
100
Source: Fieldwork, 2016
Table 10 shows a response as to whether respondents were beaten for poor performance at school. Majority of the students affirmed that they were beaten by their parents for performing bad at school while only a few number (5) representing 5% were not in agreement with that opinion.
Table 11: response on whether pupils perform poorly in exams due to the absence of father or mother
Responses
Frequency
Percentage
Yes
26
65
No
14
35
Total
40
100
Source: Fieldwork, 2016
When respondents were asked whether they perform poor in exams due to the absence of either the mother or the father, 26 respondents indicating 65% said Yes, and 14 respondents representing 35% said No. This result again shows that the absence of either the parent can affect the academic performance of children. According to Egbo, (2012) parental relationship plays a very important role in determining the academic performance of their children in school. He added that children that grow up in a broken home are unlikely to develop their academic potentials to the fullest while children brought up in a stabilized and organized home are more likely to develop to a full fledge of human beings, being able to discover their academic and other attributes leading to success in life endeavor. This relates to the findings of a study conducted children at Aboadze Dar-Nnur Islamic school.
Measures Government should take to reduce cases of Broken homes
Table 12: Response on whether the Government should support children from broken homes
Responses
Frequency
Percentage
Yes
38
95
No
2
5
Total
40
100
Source: Fieldwork, 2016
From table 12, almost all the respondents (38) representing 95% agreed that the government should intervene to supports children from broken homes in other to help boost their life educational life thereby improving their academic performance.
Table 12: Government support to help improve performance
Responses
Frequency
Percentage
Pay school children's fees
18
45
Provide free books
2
5
Educate and advice children from broken homes
12
30
Teachers should be educated on how to deal children
from broken homes
8
10
Total
40
100
Source: Fieldwork, 2016
Respondents were asked to state some measures that the government should put in place to help children from broken homes. From table 12, majority of the respondents (18) representing 45% said that the government should pay the fees of children from broken homes, and 12 respondents representing 30% said the government should help educate and advice children from broken homes in order to boost the educational lives. Also, 8 respondent indicating 10% said the government should educate teachers on how to deal with children from broken homes in to help them perform better at school and only 2 respondents, representing 5% of the respondents said that the government should provide free books for children from broken home whose parent cannot afford to buy the books.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Summary
The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of broken homes on students' academic performance at Aboadze Dar-Nnur Islamic School. The objectives of the study were to: identify the causes broken home, find out how broken home affect children, ascertain the impact of broken homes on the academic achievement of female students and valuate measures would the government take in reducing cases of broken homes. This study followed a non-experimental research approach and convenience and purposive sampling techniques to select respondents. Data was collected with the help of questionnaire.
Findings
The found that there more female pupils (52%) from broken homes than male pupils(48%) in the schools with majority being teenagers.
It is evident from the findings of this study that about 75% of the pupils' parents were staying together.
Sixty-five percent (65%) of the pupils agreed that they perform poorly in their test and assignment because of absence of their father or mother, while 65% also agreed that they perform performs poorly in terminal exams because of absence of their father or mother.
Also, 55% of the pupils agreed that they feel insecure with their step parents
It was also discovered that, 95% of respondents affirmed that their parents discipline them when they do not perform better.
Conclusions
The study concluded that, most of the pupils are staying with their parents. It was also found that though most of the pupils were staying with their families but they perform below expectation due to the, lack of security care from their step parents and the absence of either of the parents. It can also be concluded that even though parents of the children pay the fees on time but do not check on them at school to find out their performance in terms of academic. However, it was revealed that the parents beat the pupils for poor performance.
The study also concluded that if government pay the fees of children from broken homes, help educate and advice children from broken homes, educate teachers on how to deal with children from broken homes and provide free books for children from broken home whose parent cannot afford to buy the books it will help boost pupils' academic performance.
Recommendations
From the findings of the study, the following are recommendation for this study;
The government should create academic and counselling units in schools with adequate funds, while pupils from broken homes should be given proper guidance and counselling concerning their psychological needs and social problems towards their studies for appropriate discipline.
Government should create sufficient orphanage homes and finance them so that they will take care of broken homes.
More learning materials should be provided to the pupils from broken homes by their parents and guardians for effective learning.
Proper monitoring, security and discipline should be given to the pupils by their guardians and single parents.
Principal and teachers should monitor the affairs of students from broken homes and counsel them from time to time in their schools.
Other researcher should conduct comparative analysis of broken homes students and normal students and their academic performance.
More studies should be taken on the influence of broken homes on student's learning ability.
REFERENCES
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Bubelwa, D. C. (2014). Effects of Broken Marriage on Primary School Pupils' Academic Performance in Ilala Municipality.
Egbo, A. C. (2013). Development of Guidance and counseling, Enugu: Agada press.
Farber, S., Primevera, J. and Felner, R.D. (1993). "Older Adolescents and Parental Divorce: Adjustment Problems andMediators of Coping", Journal of Divorce, 7(2), 59-75
Hetherington, E.M. and Cox, M. and Cos, R. (1995). "Long-term Effects of Divorce and Remarriage on the Adjustment ofChildren", Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 24(5), 518-530.
Levin, J. (1999) For Whom the Redundant Count: A Quantile Regression Analysis of Family Influence on Scholastic Achievement. Empirical Economic, 26, 221-246
McLanahan, S., &Sandefur, G. (1994). Growing up with a Single Parent: What hurts, what helps. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
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Olatunde, P. and Tunde, B.A (2012). Broken Homes and Academic Performance of Adolescents in Secondary Schools in Ibadan Nigeria. The Journal of International Social Research Volume: 3 Issue: 12
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UNIVERSITY OF CAPE COAST
COLLEGE OF DISTANCE EDUCATION
Questionnaire for Pupils
The purpose of this questionnaire is to assess the impact of broken homes on students' academic performance at Aboadze Dar-Nnur Islamic School .Respondents are assured that this study is solely conducted for academic purposes only as such all information provided will be treated confidential.
Please tick ( ) the appropriate space provided and write where applicable. Thank you.
Section A. Personal Data
Gender: Male ( ) Female ( )
Age: 8 – 10 years ( )11 – 13 years ( ) 14 – 16 years ( ) 16 years above ( )
Objective 1: Causes Broken Home
Are your mother and father staying together? Yes ( ) No ( )
Are your mother and father alive? Yes ( ) No ( )
Who do you stay with? Mother ( ) Father ( ) Both ( )
Do your parents check on you at school? Yes ( ) No ( )
Objective 2: Broken Home Affect Children
Do you parents love you? Yes ( ) No ( )
Do you feel insecure with you step parent? Yes ( ) No ( )
Is your mother or father able to pay your fees on time? Yes ( ) No ( )
Objective 3: Impact of Broken Homes on the Academic Achievement of children
Does the broken home have an effect on your academic performance? Yes ( ) No ( )
Do you perform poorly in your tests and assignments because of absence of your father or mother? Yes ( ) No ( )
Do your parents beat you when you do bad? Yes ( ) No ( )
Do you perform poorly in your terminal exams because of absence of your further or mother? Yes ( ) No ( )
Objective 4: Measures Government should take to reduce cases of Broken Homes
Should the government come in to help you? Yes ( ) No ( )
What should be done to help you perform well in school?
………………………………………………………………………………….
