CHAPTER ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE PROBLEM
In every culture, children are regarded as the strength of the nation. Their performances have great influence on the state of the society. Hence, their conduct and performances need to be directed towards attaining and contributing to a meaningful development of the society. In many homes, where disciplines strictly adhered to parents effort in maintaining discipline is concentrated on courtesy and intelligence as well as obedience, thereby gaining the children affection and co-operation in the home, school and society in which they belong.
Quoting Farrent (2004) Oloruntimehin (2007) says ‘Nationalism” racialism, class consciousness and delinquency are all acknowledgements of the effect of social environment on behaviour and the development of personality. Whatever the child is, is the product of his home and his social environment. Marriage is regarded as a sacred institution ordained by the Almighty for generational propagation and therefore should be preserved. All the societies in the world uphold this institution. In every society, marriage is recognized as an integral part of the society which is expected to be permanent.
But today in our society, marriage is regarded as a temporary “trial marriage”. The effect of this lack of seriousness according to Adigwe (2002) “is the rising rate of separation and divorce which has almost become an accepted norm in our society today”. This factor is responsible for lots of problems in our society and school. These include truancy, delinquency, armed robbery, drug addiction and peddling just to mention but a few.
These problems often contribute to educational wastage. In the view of Nwankwo (2001) “wastage is conceptualized as drop out, repetition premature withdrawal, miss-guided type of education and even brain drains. Crisis in marriage normally graduate from small stage until it gets to unmanageable stage. It will normally start with occasional verbal attack from either side. It is always a situation whereby the couples cannot correct each other with love. As time goes on, the frequency of verbal attack increases. It will be more frequent then when it started. This will generate to occasional, beating especially by the husband, this is, if not checked on time, generates to frequent beating that ends up with disaffection between the couples. The love is lot and the feelings of togetherness will be totally lost. Things would have fallen apart at this stage. The couples will not even think of the implications of this on their children. This will eventually lead to the separation of the couple. Unless with meaningful intervention from friend and relations, the end result of separation is always divorce. This is normally done by the Court of Law which will settle the issue of the children custodian.
A child that is caught up in this whirlwind will certainly exhibit some of these if not all the following trauma.
Emotional trauma
Poor academic performance Low self-concept
Personality disorder, that is, they too will be violent
Some of them might be withdrawn. According to Fafunwa (2009) “the instability in homes Caused by separation, divorce and a host of other problems has psychological effect on students and their academic performance”.
One finds out in most cases that the child’s problems are derived from his family. It is either the child is’ staying with his mother who cannot financially meet his educational needs or he is staying with his father who has remarried. The step-mother might not be in the position to assist the child. He might even become a victim of child labour and deprived of all emotional support. In this case, the child has books but his time is crowded with activities other than studying.
It is from these group of students that teachers and researchers have been studying the Effects of Broken Homes on Academic Performance of Students.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Until recently, effect of broken homes on the academic performance of students has not been given enough attention; however, poor academic performance as a result of broken homes is now a current occurrence in our schools.
It has been discovered that students from broken homes exhibit a lot of bad characters and many of them violate the schools rules and regulations, the resultant effect of which affect their academic performance. Earlier studies have established that poor academic performance is not without connection to the students family background. Therefore if the students poor academic performance must be checked, then it must start from home. Family of the students must be given adequate attention.
1.3 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
This study becomes very necessary, as it will help adult, counselors, parents, guardians, community, leaders and teachers to adequately assess the effect of broken homes on academic performance of students in our society.
1.4 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
This study is designed to investigate the causes and effects of broken home on academic performance of Students in some selected schools in Mainland Local Government Area of Lagos State. It will suggest ways of averting this social stigma from our society. It will statistically determine whether or not the students from broken homes are academically adrift.
1.5 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
In the course of this study, a number of research questions have been raised to guide the researcher in her work.
Is there any significant difference in the performance of students from broken homes and those from stable homes?
Is there any difference between performance of student from stable homes and those from broken homes?
Is there any significant relationship between socio-economic status of parents and academic performance of students?
Is there any significant influence of broken homes on student academic performance?
1.6 RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS
The basic and specific hypothesis this intends to test are:
HO1: There is no significant difference in the academic performance of students from broken and those from stable homes.
HO2: There is no significant -difference in the academic performance of male and female students from broken homes.
HO3: There is no significant relationship between socio-economic status of parents and academic performance of students,
HO4: There is no significant influence of broken homes on student academic performance.
1.7 DEFINITION OF TERMS
BROKEN HOME: This is where the members of the family are no more living together. Things are in disarray. It is also a family in which the parents have divorced or separated.
FAMILY: According to Learners Dictionary, family means all the people descended from one person.
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