THE INFLUENCE OF BROKEN HOMES ON ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN NSUKKA EDUCATION ZONE IN ENUGU STATE

ABSTRACT

This study investigated the influence of broken homes on academic achievement of secondary school students in Nsukka Education  Zone of Enugu State. The study was  guided  by five research questions and two null hypotheses. Ex-post facto research design was adopted for the study. The sample size for the study comprised of 450  secondary school students from broken homes in the study area. Two different instruments were used for this study. The first instrument was in broken Home Questionnaire (BHQ) designed to collect data on students’ family structure (broken or intact) and their academic challenges while the second  was  students  academic  performance  checklist.  The  instrument  was  face validated  by  experts  in  the  faculty  of  Education,  University  of  Nigeria,  Nsukka. Cronbach  Alpha  method  was  used  to  determine  the  internal  consistency  of  the instrument.  The data  were  analysed  using  mean  and  standard  deviation  to  answer  the research questions while the hypotheses were tested using t-test. The  major findings of the study revealed   that  secondary school students from broken homes     within Nsukka Education Zone  face  education challenges like lack of sufficient text books, inability to meet education related financial obligations, poor academic performance and lack of concentration while in school. Also, result showed that secondary school students from broken homes     within Nsukka Education  Zone face emotional  challenges  like emotional stress, despair, inferiority complex, feeling insecure and unhappiness. It was also found that secondary school students from broken homes    within Nsukka  Education Zone face social challenges  like neglect, prone to sickness  due to  malnutrition,  among others.  Result also  showed  no significant    statistical   difference  in the mean   academic achievement scores of secondary school students from broken homes based on gender and no significant  statistical difference in the mean  academic achievement scores of secondary school students from broken homes based on location. The  researcher recommends, among others, that State   ministry of education should make   arrangement   for   the  provision of special    packages  for  secondary    school  students  from  broken  homes  with  a  view    to improving their attendance in  school.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

The family is the child’s first place of contact with the world. The child as a result, acquires initial education and socialization from parents and other significant persons in the family. Agulana (1999) defined a family as the   smallest   unit of the society made   up of people  leaving  in    the    same  house.  Agulana     pointed  out  that  the  family  lays  the psychological,  moral,  and  spiritual  foundation  in  the  overall  development  of  the  child. Alesina  and  Giuliano  (2007)  added  that  the  family is  one  of the  most  important  socio economic institution in the society, but the nature of the links between family members varies dramatically across nationalities.

Family is broadly defined as any two people who are related to each other through a genetic connection, adoption, marriage, or by mutual agreement (Yara & Tunde-Yara, 2010). According  to  Bonnie    (2001),  family  members  share  emotional  and  economic  bonds. Operationally, a family is the smallest unit of the society that is made up of people  who are related  by blood.

Structurally,  a family is either broken  or intact.  The child  is morally upright  and emotionally  stable  when the  caring responsibilities  are carried  out by both  parents.  The family is the first socializing agent the child comes in contact with. It has great influence on the child’s  physical,  mental,  and  moral  development.  The  family  lays the  foundation  of education before the child goes to school and the personality that the child takes to school is determined by the home. Salami (1998) pointed out that both parents have roles to play in child education. The father is to provide the necessary tools for the educational advancement while the mother is supposed  to supplement  the  father’s efforts in this regard. When the father is absent and the mother is not privileged enough to cater for all the basic needs as well

as supervise the academic performance of the child, he or she (the child) will be backward or withdrawn. The same thing occurs when the mother is absent and the father is not privileged enough (Ortese, 1998). A child  receives better attention when both parents are constitute  a home.

According to Hornby (2000), a home as the house, flat/apartment that an individual lives in especially with his or her family. The home is essential in the upbringing of a child as the first environment of a family, whether it is a happy one or not. The home, which is the traditional nuclear family–mother, father and children, is the smallest unit and microcosm of the larger society. Operationally,   a home   is an apartment   whose occupants are made of husband and wife as well as their   children.  When either of   the   parents is   permanently absent on account  of  irreconcilable disagreement, the  home is  said to  be broken

A broken home is one that is not structurally intact, as a result of divorce, separation, death   of   one   parent   and   illegitimacy   (Akomolafe   and    Olorunfemi-Olabisi, 2011). Operationally, a  broken home  is  that in which the  husband  and  the  wife  are  no longer living together as a  result  of irreconcilable disagreement.

Life in broken homes can be stressful for both the students and their parents.  Most people from broken homes suffer from emotional problems such as depression, negative self- concept  and  aggression.  Students  from  broken  homes  suffer  from  lack  of  concentration resulting to poor academic achievement and maladaptive behaviour such as truancy, lateness to  school,  examination  malpractice  and  drug  abuse  (Ikechukwu-Ilomuanya  2010).  When families break, it is the children that suffer.   Children are important assets to the society. Every child is unique. Children are at the centre of whole process of education and the all round development of the personality of the child is the ultimate goal of education. Therefore, the learning experiences provided to him right from birth by the family contribute towards the achievement of this goal.

The child’s development is influenced by many other factors among   which   is his genetic  endowment  and  environmental  forces  operative  around  him  (Mishra  &  Bamba,

2012). The authors further stated that two agencies that influence most directly the nature and quality of children’s educational experiences and development are the family and the school. Families  vary greatly in structure  and functioning.  Variations exist also in  school and in children  themselves.  Given  this  diversity in families,  there  is a need  to  understand  how children’s experiences within the family contribute to their educational outcomes (Mishra & Bamba, 2012).

When families disintegrate, it is the children that are greatly affected as they often end up with intellectual, physical and emotional scars that persist for life (Anderson, 2002). Most one-parent  families,  however,  eventually become  two-parent  families  through remarriage. Thus,  a  step-family  is  created  by  a  new  marriage  of  a  single  parent.  (Ottawa,  2004). According to Bonnie (2001), in the family formed by the second marriage, the children from each spouse’s first marriage become step-siblings. Children born or adopted by the couple of the second marriage are half-siblings to the children from the first marriage, since they share one parent in common.

In a step family, problems in relations between non-biological parents and  children may generate tension; the difficulties can be especially great in the marriage of single parents when the children of both parents live with them as siblings (Keith & Amato, 2001). When a female or a male decides to produce and rear children outside wedlock, it is referred to as single parenthood, hence a broken family (Ortese, 1999). According to Child Trends (2004), single parent families refer primarily to families in which only one parent is present, but may include some families where both parents are present but unmarried. No-parent families refer to families where neither parent of the child lives in the household.

In some cases, a step-parent will legally adopt his or her spouse’s children  from  a previous marriage. The biological father or mother must either be absent with no legal claim to custody, or must grant permission for the step-parent to adopt (Yara & Tunde-Yara, 2010). In situations where a single parent lives with someone outside of marriage, that person may be  referred  to  as a co-parent.  All  these  family  structures  have  been  found  to  influence children’s academic achievement.

Influence  of broken home on academic performance  of secondary school  students could be viewed from the point of gender. According to woolfolk (2001), gender refers to traits and behavior that a particular culture judges to be appropriate for males and females. Operationally,  gender  refers  to  socially  roles,  behaviours,  activities and  attributes  that  a particular society considers for men and women. It is possible that influence of broken home on academic performance of students may be more on boys than girls or vise vasa. Jacobs, Lanaz, Osgood, Eccles, and Wigfield (2002) found that self-concept of ability and task value in math decline for both genders  between first and twelfth grades with no real difference between girls and boys trajectories over time.  In fact, by the twelfth grade, girls valued math more  than  boys  when  controlling  for  self-concept  of  ability  in  math.  Although  Lanaz, Osgood, Eccles, and Wigfield did not directly examined academic performance along gender line with regards to broken homes, the important thing to note here is that, they considered gender as a determinant in academic performance.   It is  therefore, necessary to  examine the influence of gender on academic performance of students from   broken homes. .

Closely related to gender is location.   Owoeye   and Yara (2011)   added that  apart from gender, location also influences    the  academic  performance of  school  children.  To prove  their point, Owoeye  and Yara argued that children  from urban areas  are more  likely to better  in school  than those    from  rural   areas.  Alokan  and  Arijesuyo      (2013,p.213) comment on the influence of location thus:

Many schools in the area of education in recent past seemed to have shifted studies from the measures of individual to the measure of the environment. The reason that could be adduced for this trend ranges from the accurate prediction which measures of  environment  could  bring  to  learning  in  order  to  possibly  manipulate  the environment so as to bring about optimal conditions  for learning. For quite some time,  a  general  perception  of  the  comparative  inferiority  of  rural  schools  has prevailed.  This view implies the existence  of  rural-urban  differences  in students’ academic  performance.  The  general  perception  of  rural-urban  differences  also extends to many other socially desirable outcomes, such as aptitude, intelligence and aspiration.

The submission of Alokan and Arijesuyo   above paints a vivid picture on the relationship between location and learning.  However, Alokan (2010) submits that  location do not affect the negative relationship  between student problems and academic  performance.  In another development, Considine and Zappala (2002) studied students in Australia and found out that geographical location do not significantly predict academic achievement.

Academic   achievement   is  an  objective   score   of  attainment   after   a   specified instructional programme. Academic achievement can be influenced by many factors, yet the impact   family  relationships   play  on  a  child’s   scholastic   achievement   alongside   the development   of   the   child   cannot   be   overemphasized.   The   tension   in   the   home, family  discord or family instability all cumulatively produce an emotionally unpleasant atmosphere  in  the  home.  The  relationship  between  the  husband  and  wife,  parents  and children, relationship among siblings if not cordial, can result to conflicts especially between husband and wife. If this persists, it can lead to a stretch of frequent quarrels and antagonism of both parties from time to time and thereby resulting to broken homes (Yara & Tunde-Yara,

2010).

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 comes from can seriously affect the academic performance of an individual especially an adolescence.

Secondary school is the type of school that absorb  pupils that have  graduated from primary  school and   prepared  students for higher education.The secondary school students are mostly adolescents.  Yara and  Tunde-Yara  (2010)  viewed  adolescence  as  a  period of transition between childhood and adulthood.

Life in a single parent family can be stressful for both the child and the parent. Such families are faced with the challenges of diminished financial resources, assumptions of new rules  and  responsibilities,  establishment  of  new  patterns  in  intra-familial  interaction  and reorganization of routines and schedules (Agulanna, 2000). Brofenbrenner (2006) argued that the mother’s capability in handling  her child after  separation is greatly influenced  by the assistance and support received from friends, relatives, and the child’s father. Whether or not a child’s parents are married and stayed  married has a massive effect on his or her future prosperity and that of the next generation. Unfortunately, the number of children born into broken homes is increasing  by the day especially in Nigeria (Wegman, 2006). One-parent families were the result of the death of a spouse in the past. Now, most one-parent families are the result of divorce, some are created when unmarried mothers bear children (Munroe & Blum, 1999; Wadsworth, 2002).

In Nigeria, the existence of single parents was formerly unknown and where  they existed, they are ignored as exceptional cases. However, they are currently the fast-growing family patterns both inside and outside Nigeria (Nwachukwu, 1999). Marriage involves an emotional and sexual relationship between particular human beings. When children see their parents getting along and supporting each other, they will mirror and will likely get along with each other and their friends. This implies that the energy that two individuals (husband and wife) put into their relationship  will come  back to them through their children. It has

been argued that the entrance of a new and possibly unwelcome adult into the family can be a source of stress and rivalry for the children (Hetherington & Camara, 1999). Simons (2000) asserted that children may become resentful of the time they lose with the custodial parent as a result of the new partner. Furthermore, dating and remarriage may destroy children’s belief that their parents will remarry.

Remarriage is often confusing for children and adolescent because they must learn to adapt and accept yet another new family structure.  However,  it is interesting to  note  that students living with stepfathers are much more likely to say that their stepfather is a member of their family than they are to include their non-residential  biological  father as a family member  (Furstenber  &  Nord,  2005).  Stolba  and  Amato  (2003),  however,  argue  that adolescents’  well-being  is not solely associated  with the loss of  the noncustodial  parent. Instead, they conclude that alternative family forms can be suitable for raising adolescents, if they provide support, control and supervision. They however, suggested that extended single- parent  households  may be less  beneficial  for  younger  children.  Usually,  one of the first impact that divorce/broken home has on a child is a dramatic decline in the standard of living in the custodial household (Duncan, 2004; Bean, Berg & VanHook, 2005; Ross, 2005).

According to Krantz (1999) children belonging to lower socio-economic groups after divorce experience greater hardships. Do these hardships, however translate into adjustment problems? Some researchers argue that this decline in socio-economic status is directly linked to a variety of problems experienced by the child, such as psychological maladjustment and behavioural  difficulties  in school.  However,  research has found  that across the economic spectrum,  children from single parent households  or broken  homes are more involved  in crimes  and  drugs  than  students  from  two-parent  homes  (Rector,  1999).  Fincham  (2002) posited  that  the  question  of  whether  boys  or  girls  are  more  adversely  affected  is quite complex,  and the answer  is likely to depend on  a host of factors such as the sex of the

custodial parent, their parenting style, whether they have remarried, the quality of the parent- child relationship,  and the amount of contact with the noncustodial parent. The  impact of parental conflict on children’s post-divorce adjustment has received considerable attention in literature. Most theorists agree that parental conflict, at the very least, provides some negative influences  for  children’s  adjustment  to  the  divorce  (Grych  &  Fincham,  2002).    This  study therefore seeks to  determine the  influence of  broken homes on the  academic performance   of secondary school students  from Nsukka Educational Zone.

Statement of Problem

The rate at which homes are broken today appears to be on the increase.. Despite all  the efforts  the    various    governments,  religious  organizations,  non-governmental  organizations (NGOs) and   marriage counsellors  are making to promote marital   stability among couples in Nigeria and Nsukka in Enugu State in particular,   the issue  of broken homes still exists in  the country.  Literature  sources  reveal  that  students  from  such  homes  suffer  emotional  trauma, depression, negative self-concept and low self-esteem. In most cases, the adolescents from such homes manifest negative tendencies in school such as truancy, aggression, lack of concentration, examination  malpractice,  bullying, drug abuse,  stealing and other vices. All these may lead to poor academic performance.

Observation of academic records of the students in secondary schools in Nsukka Education Zone suggests that most of the students from broken homes perform below average in their exams. This affects their future career in life. It  would therefore appear  that single  parents cannot meek up with  the academic  demands  of  the  students  that will ensure academic  achievement. Perhaps students from broken homes lack emotional support that guarantees academic achievement.

The  question  then  arises,  could  this  poor  academic  achievement  of  the  students  be attributed  to the family  set up of the students?  Could  it be that  most  of these  academically incompetent students stem from broken homes? These are the questions this  study will address.

Purpose of the Study

The main purpose of this study is to ascertain the influence of broken homes on academic achievement of secondary school students in Nsukka Educational Zone in Enugu State. In order to actualize this purpose, the following specific objectives will be explored.

i.     To ascertain the educational challenges faced by students from broken homes . ii.      To identify the emotional challenges faced by student from broken homes.

iii.      To determine social challenges faced by students from broken homes.

iv.      To determine  the influences of broken homes on academic  achievement  of  junior secondary school students (JSS III) based on location.

v.      To determine  the influences of broken homes on academic  achievement  of  junior secondary school students (JSS III) based on location.

Significance of the Study

This study has both theoretical and practical significance. Theoretically, the    study will validate or disprove the tenets of moral  absolutism. The study will  provide a theoretical framework that    can  be dependent upon  when carrying out studies on broken homes and academic achievement of students (learners).

Practically,  the teachers,  policy makers,  curriculum  developers  and  students    will benefit  from  this  research  since  the  information  from  the  findings  will  enable  them  in handling vulnerable students from broken homes.

Teachers,  will  benefit    from  the    result  of  this  study  because  it    will  provide information  on  the  influence  of  broken    homes  on  secondary  school  students  school attendance  to the  teachers. This could  be when this work is presented in the school during workshop.  This information will guide the teachers in handing students from broken homes.

Policy makers will   benefit from the result  of  this  study because it will help them to determine the impact  of broken homes on the  academic achievement of  secondary school

students  when  they read  it on the   net.  This  will help  them  in  formulating  appropriate educational policies. This understanding will  help policy makers determine the formulation of policies that will take care of the needs of students from broken homes.

Also, curriculum developers will benefit from the result of this  study  because it  will help them in exploring the necessary measures to improve the   academic  achievement   of students from broken  homes when they read this work in the library.

Also, this study will serve  as a framework for  future researchers in a  similar field in order to  get better understanding of the problem at hand.

Scope of the Study

The study has both geographical  and content scope. The geographical scope of the study is secondary schools in Nsukka Educational Zone in Enugu  State. The study in  its contents covers all the prevalence  of broken  homes among junior secondary  students (JSS III) in Nsukka Educational Zone,  the challenges faced by student from broken homes, the influence of broken  homes on academic  achievement  of junior  secondary school students (JSS III) based on gender and   the influences of broken  homes on academic achievement of junior secondary school students (JSS III) based on location.

Research Questions

This study will be guided by the following research questions.

vi.      What are educational challenges faced by students from broken homes? vii.      What are the emotional challenges faced by student from broken homes? viii.      What are the  social challenges faced by students from broken homes?

ix.      What is the influences of broken homes on academic achievement of junior secondary school students (JSS III) based on gender?

x.      What is the influences of broken homes on academic achievement of junior secondary school students (JSS III) based on location?

Research Hypothesis

i.   HO1 : There is no significant difference in the mean  academic achievement scores of secondary school students from broken homes based on gender.

ii.  Ho2 : There is no significant difference in the mean  academic achievement scores of secondary school students from broken homes based on location.

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