Impact of Broken Home on Academic Performance and Psychosocial Adjustment of Secondary School Students
Chapter One
Purpose of the Study
The main purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of broken home on the academic performance and psychological adjustment of secondary school students in Kosofe Local Government Area of Lagos State. The specific objectives hence are:
- To determine the extent to which conflicts in a family affect students’ academic performance.
- To establish the nature of the relationship between students who experience broken families and their peers.
- To establish whether it is the male or female students who are more affected by conflicts in families.
- To establish the nature of the relationship between students who experience broken families and their teachers.
- To determine the attitude of the students who experience broken families towards their parents, peers and school.
- To determine the role of the school’s counsellor in assisting students who experience broken families.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
Introduction
This chapter presents a review of related literature on the influence of broken homes on student academic performance under the following sub-headings: concept of broken home, causes of broken homes, concept of academic performance and empirical studies.
Broken Home
Concept of Broken Home
The concept of broken home is defined by Hurlock (as cited by Frank, 2012), as a home where one of the parents is dead, separated, divorce or a vocation that necessitate long absence of one or both parents. Broken homes are defined as one in which one of the partners loses his/her spouse by death separation, divorce, desertion or single parenting (Conkline, 2006). Deborah as cited by Ogbeide, Odiase&Omofuma, (2002), See broken homes as a situation where two spouses separate leaving the children to the hazard of the society. Momoh (2011) Sees broken home as a home torn apart by separation of parents. Aremu (2011), described broken home as the integral part of the setting that is father and mother, the integral part is not available either by dead, separation or divorce.
Broken home occur when husband and wife separate from each other through either natural causes (death) or by human cause (divorce), leaving the care responsibility of the children to one parent. Broken home could be temporal or permanent. It is temporal when there is still hope of coming together after the relevant laws must have been put in place. According to Oxford Advanced Learner`s Dictionary (2010) defined Broken
Home as a family in which parents are divorced or separated. This is to ensure that issues that created the temporal separation are settled. But if the broken home is permanent, it means there is no hope of coming together. Broken home has to do with either one of the partners quitting or saying „bye bye‟ to his/her spouse as a result of infidelity, pride, superstition, religion, disagreement, in-laws interferences, alcoholism, and disrespect for one another or bulling (violence). Death is natural cause of why homes tear apart. It is unpredicted phenomenon that has gone beyond any body`s control. It can occur as a result of war, illness, accident, and through natural disaster such as flooding, earthquake, and plane crash or bomb blast.
According to Hurlock (as cited by Frank, 2012), “The home is the place the child comes back to with his experiences. It is the place where he retreats to lick his wounds, the stage to which he returns to parade the glory of his performance the refuge he finds in which to brood over his ill-treatment, real or fancied. The home in other words is the place to which one brings the everyday run of social experience to sift, to evaluate, to appraise, to understand or to be twisted, to faster, to be magnified or ignored as the case may be”. There is always cordial existence in the home when both husband and wife play their parental roles satisfactory but turns emotional when one parent neglects his or her parental role. When both husband and wife are disenchanted with the parents‟ role, the financial relationship would be intensified resulting in a further deterioration in family relationship. A study conducted by Craig, Donald and Suzanne (1997) indicates that divorce is a product of broken homes, therefore children in single – parents families are more likely to drop out of school than in two parents‟ families. In actual fact, causes of broken homes are varied and numerous as revealed by contemporary empirical research and also from others observation. Some of the possible causes include; Socioeconomic status, early marriage, pre-marital pregnancy, lack of communication, in- compatibility, adultery, external influence, differences in value especially Nigeria.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Introduction
This chapter describes the research design, the location of the study/study area, population of the study, sample and sampling procedures, instrumentation, data collection procedures and data analysis procedures.
Research Design
The research design to be applied in a study is dictated by the type of study one wants to conduct. This study was intended to find out the impact of broken families on the academic performance and psychosocial adjustments of students in public secondary schools in Kosofe Local Government Area in Lagos State. The research design adopted was descriptive survey research design, a research design where the researcher does not have direct control of independent variables and there is no treatment or manipulation offered to any variables. It attempted to describe such things as possible behaviour, attitudes, values and characteristics, (Mugenda and Mugenda, 1999). A descriptive survey research technique is the most appropriate when the purpose of study is to explore and create a detailed description of a phenomenon.
Area of Study
Kosofe is a Local Government Area of Lagos State, Nigeria. Its headquarters are in the town of Kosofe. It has an area of 81 km² and a population of 665,393 at the 2006 census.. It was selected for the following reasons:-
- It has a high catchment of public secondary schools.
- The area is cosmopolitan with people of diverse cultures and social inclinations. The respondents for this study therefore represented this diversity.
- It was accessible and familiar to the researcher. It was therefore possible to trace the respondents.
Population of the Study
The target population of study was public secondary school students in schools within the Kosofe Local Government Area in Lagos State. The total number of these students was 47870. The accessible population was students in class seven and eight in ten public secondary schools within the area which had been purposively selected. The total number of these students was 2023. Two teachers in each school filled in questionnaires.
CHAPTER FOUR
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Introduction
This chapter presents research findings, interpretation of data and discussion of research results.
The data collected on each study objective was analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and Descriptive statistics. The chapter further gives a discussion of findings and a comparison with similar studies done. The results and discussions presented were based on a total of 384 public secondary school students and 20 public secondary school teachers who filled in questionnaires.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Introduction
This chapter gives a summary of the study, how it was conducted, the findings and the objectives that were attained. It gives a brief of the findings of the study, implications of these findings and the recommendations towards averting broken families. Finally, areas which require further investigation are indicated.
Summary
The study was carried out on the impact of broken homes on academic performance and psychosocial adjustment of secondary school students.
This study was conducted in Kosofe Local Government Area in Lagos State, Rift Valley Province. Purposive sampling was used to select ten public secondary schools within Kosofe Local Government Area in Lagos State. In each of these schools, class seven and eight students who constituted the sample were selected using stratified random sampling. The class teachers of class seven and eight in the schools selected were purposively selected into the sample. Statistical analysis was employed to draw conclusions according to stated research questions. Based on the analysis and subsequent interpretation of results, the study came up with the following conclusions in relation to the stated objectives:-
- When there are conflicts in a family, students’ performance at school is negatively affected.
- Conflicts in a family affect a student’s relationship with peers; thus they do not have a good relationship.
- More female students are exposed to violence, abuse or molestation than the male.
- Broken families create bad communication between a teacher and students which leads to poor academic performance.
- Students who experience conflicts in families have a negative attitude towards their parents/guardians, teachers/school and their friends/peers.
- Most schools have a school counsellor whose role is to assist students deal with problems that they experience.
Conclusions
The following conclusions were made on the basis of the findings:-
- When there is conflict in the family, a large number of parents/guardians spend little time discussing academic issues with their students.
- Most students do not confide to their peers when their parents are fighting.
- More female students have average or poor academic performances since they are more exposed to conflicts/violence.
- School attendance for students who are experiencing conflict is poor and this negatively affects the teacher – student relationship.
- Students from violent homes do not have all their school needs met by their parents, have poor relations with peers and are rarely in school.
- School counsellors play a major role in students’ academic performance and relation with peers.
Recommendations
Based on the above conclusions, the researcher made the following recommendations:-
- Parents or guardians who are experiencing conflicts in their families should consider counselling options as soon as possible to avoid negative effects on their students.
- The schools and the Ministry of Education should consider training peer counsellors among the students so that they can assist their fellow students.
- Subject teachers should refer any student to the guidance and counselling officers when they detect a problem in them.
- Teachers in schools should frequently organise parents days whereby parents or guardians go to school and together with the students get a full report on the student’s overall performance.
- Parents and teachers should unite with a common goal of fully assisting students to excel academically and socially.
- All schools should have a school counsellor from whom students can seek assistance.
- The Ministry of Education should introduce in-service training in guidance and counselling for all teachers who do not have basic training in guidance and counselling skills. This will equip the teacher with skills to handle students who require assistance.
Suggestions for Further Research
Based on the observations during the study, the researcher recommends further research in the following areas:-
- The role of the School Counsellors in Primary and Secondary Schools.
- The role of Parents or Guardians in their Students’ overall growth. iii) The role of Peer Counsellors in Primary and Secondary Schools.
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