ABSTRACT: This research study was carried out to investigate The Effect of Single Parenting on the Academic Performance of Senior Secondary School Students. Three research questions and three research hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. The study adopted survey design method in carrying out the study. The population of the study comprised of all the SS2 students in all the public secondary schools in Borgu Local Government Area. The total population consisted of 1831 students in all the eleven (11) public secondary schools in Borgu Local Government Area. A stratified and random sampling technique was used to select six (6) schools and forty (40) students were selected from each school which made a total of two hundred and forty (240) students as sample size for the study. The Instrument used to elicit data for the study was Single Parenting Questionnaire (SPQ). Pearson Product Moment correlation (PPMC) was used to analysis data for the study. The findings of the study revealed that single parenting significantly affects students’ academic performance in senior secondary schools in the study area.
The Effect Of Single Parenting On The Academic Performance Of Senior Secondary School Students
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
It is an established fact that every member of the society comes from different homes or belongs to a family. Home is the dwelling place and the entire environment a child found his/herself. It is incontrovertible that the primary school pupils like every mortal come from a home. While some come from extremely intact homes others have single or single parenting. There are also those whose parents are illiterate while others have educated parents. Still some come from polygamous families while others come from monogamous families. Similarly, some pupils come from large families’ size while other comes from small families’ size (Ekanem, 2014). However, whichever category a learner belongs, it has either positive or negative effect on his or her academic life and brings with him/her to formal education or schooling a way of functioning which carries the imprint of his/her upbringing at home.
Accordingly, home provides to the pupils the foundational attributes and character which they take with them to school. Herein, the importance of home in the cultural, moral, social, educational and general upbringing of a child cannot be over-emphasized. Apart from serving as a breeding ground for human continuity, home which is regarded as a primary social unit in the society is the institution that sets the socialization process on course. It was in position of the unique philosophy of home that Maduakonam (2013) asserted that should an evaluation of the social influence of the home be carried out, one would find that the home has a greater influence.
The home lays the foundation for goals and motivation early in the life of a child. A child first learns what is important through the values or goals that are considered most important in the society by emulating the parents. Children most often absorb the values of the parents but even if they reject them, they will be deeply influenced by them. Essien (2015) observed that discipline and indiscipline behaviours among children is a function of the family. Ezewo (2016) equally asserted that the preponderance of delinquents among school population were from polygamous homes and large families.
However, it is a common knowledge that a number of home variables discussed above have a significant influence on the education of the child. For instance, inspite of the government policies on family planning, a number of parents are still producing an uncontrollable number of children, such parents in this era of global economic recession may not be able to cater for the socio-economic and educational needs of the family members especially if one of the parents is absent. With the limited resources of the family, it is indisputable that priority attention will be given to the education of some children while others will be left unattended to.
Malu (2016) stated that the home background of a learner has a significant influence on his educational achievement in school. The author maintained that, the home which the child comes from is the most important primary group and the smallest social unit in the society. It has its roots in biological and social nature. As such, it is universal in the sense that no human society could possible exist or has ever existed without some form of home organization. This is because parents, siblings and family members help to shape the characters, behavioural pattern, academic life and personality of a young child.
Structurally, family involves the father, mother and children. Therefore, a single parent in this context is one that the father or mother lives with the children with one of the parents being absent as a result of divorce, separation, death of one of parent and illegitimacy. According to Frazer (2014), psychological home conditions arise mainly from illegitimacy of children, the label of adopted child, single parenting, divorce and parental deprivation. Such abnormal conditions of the home, are likely to have a detrimental effect on school performance of the child he asserts. Life, in a single parent family or single parenting can be stressful for both the child and the parent. Such families are faced with challenges of inadequate financial resources.
According to Schults (2016), if adolescents from unstable homes are to be compared with those from stable homes, it would be seen that the former have more social, academic and emotional problems. Rochlkepartain (2013) is of the opinion that the family and its structure play a great role in children’s academic performance. Rochlkepartain went further to posit that marital instability brings about stress, tension, lack of motivation and frustration obviously, these manifestations act negatively on a child’s academic performance.
The structure of the home or family a child comes from may influence the availability of materials such as food, textbooks and other relevant materials which may help the children in their academic process. To Nsemin (2015), the level of attention a child receives depends on the structure of the home a child find his/herself and this generally influence the attitude and the educational outcomes of the child. This therefore motivated the researcher to investigate into effect of single parenting on academic performance of students in senior secondary schools.
The Effect Of Single Parenting On The Academic Performance Of Senior Secondary School Students
1.2 Statement of the Problem
There is a global awareness of the Importance of the home environment on students’ academic achievement. In Nigeria, most home are not intact as a result of issues of incompatibility of the couples, death of a parent and the quest for the oversea trips to make more money, and at times marital infidelity. This has resulted in the separation of couples and children. In some states in the federation, this is quite clear, in that most young ladies abandon their homes, and embark on oversea trips with a view to making money. Some men who travel abroad, abandon their homes and would not communicate with the families back-home so children from such homes are in dilemma, especially in terms of adjustment and this has also affects the child’s emotion, personality and academic achievement.
A single parent faces doubled responsibilities requiring time, attention and money of the parent. Hence, less attention is paid to the education of the child. The teachers commonly describe children from single parent as more hostile, aggressive, anxious, fearful, hyperactive and distractive than children from intact family. Thus, this study is set out to investigate the effect of single parenting on academic performance of students in senior secondary schools in the study area.
