EFFECTS OF SINGLE PARENTING ON THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF STUDENTS IN SELECTED SECONDARY SCHOOLS
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this research is to
find out the effects of single parenting on the academic performance of
students in some selected secondary schools in Ado – Ekiti Local Government Area of Ekiti
State.
The subjects for this research
comprise 40 teachers selected from four secondary co-educational schools. Two mixed and two single – sex schools were
selected with a total of 240 students.
The main instrument used for this study consisted of two research
questionnaires administered to teachers with different areas of specialization
and students offering science in SS two and SS three of the selected schools.
The result obtained showed that
children from single parents home especially those headed by mothers show
deficits in cognitive performance as assessed by standardized intelligence and
achievement test and as judged from school performance. This is as a result of negative home
influence from the mother in particular.
The study also reveals that
difference between the academic performance of students from single parent
families and students from two – parent families. The study also shows differences in the
performance of male students from the two family structures and also female
students from the two family structures.
The findings agreed with the conclusion of Hetherington and Parke (1998)
that there is difference between students from single parent families and those
from two parent families in terms of attitude to studies and academic
performance. The negative influence from
single parents leads to the poor academic performance of their children in
schools. The fact given above confirms
the previous research works.
Based on the findings and conclusion
of the study, it is recommended here that spouses should tolerate each other
for the success of their marriage, single parents should spend more time with
their children; the affected children should be encouraged to learn how to
accept their situation; teachers should move closer to their students to know
their family problems and the government should take different homes into
consideration when planning the school curriculum.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title page
Certification
Dedication
Acknowledgement
Abstract
Table of contents
CHAPTER ONE
Introduction
Background to the study
Statement of the Problem
Purpose of the study
Research questions raised for the
study
Delimitation of the study
Significance of the study
CHAPTER TWO
Review of Related Literature
Major causes of single – parenting
The immediate effect of divorce on
children
Long – term reaction to divorce
Death
Effects on children
Types of singlehood
Problems facing single – parent
families
Summary
CHAPTER THREE
Research Methodology
Research Design
Population and Sample
Sampling Procedure
Instrumentation
Validity of the Instrument
Administration of Instrument
Data Analysis
CHAPTER FOUR
Results and Discussion
Research Questions
Discussions
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND
RECOMMENDATION
Summary
Conclusion
Recommendations
Challenge
REFERENCES
APPENDIX
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background to the study: The problem of single parenting as it affects school
children cannot be over – emphasized. Co-operation between parents may dictate
the level of achievement of children in life.
It is generally believed that education is an investment. Its profit is in the future. Parents make sure that their children attend
the best schools available, provide educational materials and give them all
support and motivation.
In
specific terms, differences between children enjoying the care, attention and
affection of both parents and those left with only one of the parents may be
viewed from various perspectives. These
include finance, moral support, motivation, negative influence on children from
either of their parents and inferiority complex.
As
a result of too many responsibilities to be carried out by a single parent like
paying house rents, provision of food, clothes and Medicare, such a parent may
find it difficult to pay the children school fees on time, provide school
uniforms, buy books and other necessary school materials. All these can help the children to perform
brilliantly in schools.
Children need love, affection, sense
of belonging and commitment from the parents.
A single parent cannot alone provide all these. He/She may even fail to
play his/her own part to the children because he/she devote most of his/her
time for having love affairs with other men or women. A motivated learner learns better and faster
than an unmotivated learner. As a result
of lack of encouragement, support and commitment from single parents, children
from them become slow learners and they may thereby have poor academic
achievements.
Single parent may make negative and
destructive remarks concerning the other children in from of their
children. This may result in negative
influence on such children who may thereby become socially, emotionally, morally
and academically unstable.
In unfavourable home environment in
which a single parent has a new relationship, the children may see the man or
the woman as a rival to their other parent.
They may feel threatened and, as a result, become emotionally disturbed. This may lead to rudeness, anger, cruelty,
anxiety, fear and aggressiveness will surely have adverse effects on their
academic performance.
All the above mentioned problems
facing the children from single parent homes make them emotionally unstable,
academically poor, psychologically disorganized and socially maladjusted. In summary, they tend to have relatively poor
academic achievements.
Although there may be cases of some
children from both parents who may have financial problems as those of single
parents, they perform better in schools as a result of moral support,
motivation, encouragement and joint decision n- making of the parents. As an adage goes “two (good) heads are better
than one”.
The society at large would learn from
this study that a cohesive family life would be of greater benefit to the
children than a scattered family system where the fathers and mothers of
children live apart. The ideal family
life is to live together in harmony, peace, mutual understanding and
co-operation.
Statement of the Problem
The academic achievement of a child
are determined by the joint efforts, sense of responsibility, exposure and
financial capability of the two parents.
However, it has been observed that children enjoying the care of both
parents are usually sent to the best schools available, given all necessary
educational materials, support and motivation that can make them perform
brilliantly in school.
The situation of children from single
parents is completely the opposite of those of both parents in that such
children lack the opportunity of being in the best schools available. They are also deprived of necessary
educational materials that can make them perform brilliantly in their school
work.
Purpose of the study
The study is meant to investigate the
extent to which single parenting affects the academic performance of students
in Ado – Ekiti
Local Government Area of Ekiti State. It
is also to suggest ways of improving the status of each student in order to
improve his/her academic performance.
Research Questions Raised for the study
The
following questions have been raised for the study
i.
Does
single – parenting lead to inferiority complex on the part of children?
ii.
Does
unfavourable home environment have negative influence on children from single
parents?
iii.
Does
negative influence from single parenting lead to poor academic performance of
the single – parent children in schools?
iv.
Does
lack of moral support on the part of single parents have negative effects on
the academic performance of their children in schools?
v.
Do
the financial constraints facing single parents lead to the poor academic
performance of their children in school?
vi.
Are
children raised in a single – parent home at an intellectual disadvantage in
contrast to those brought up by both parents?
Delimitation of the study
The
study was carried out in selected secondary schools in Ado – Ekiti Local Government of Ekiti
State. The schools selected are:
1)
Christ’s
School, Ado –
Ekiti
2)
Christ’s
Girls School,
Ado – Ekiti
3)
Anglican High School,
Ado – Ekiti
4)
Ado Community High School, Ado
– Ekiti
Significance of the study
This
study would be of great benefit to the various members of the society prominent
among whom are the following: Parents, Children, teachers, guidance
counsellors, policy makers and the society at large.
Parents: The
study will assist couples to tolerate each other in order to avoid divorce.
Children: It
will also assist children to enjoy their parents and this, in turn, will enable
them to perform brilliantly in schools.
Teachers: This
study will also promote teachers to work for the fact that they are dealing
with children from both peaceful and broken homes. They may take advantage of this study to bear
the differences in the home background of their students in mind while
teaching. As such their lessons
will be quickly and effectively
understood.
Society: The
study will also promote the quality of teaching and characters of students in
schools and improve the moral standard of the society at large.
