Schools Performance is affected by the performance of students from a broken family Essay Example

selected for the study. One hundred and fifty respondents from single parent homes were used for the study. 25 respondents were randomly selected from six schools. Results showed a significant relationship between broken homes and academic achievement of students. It was also discovered that female students from broken homes perform better in their studies than the male students, moreover, the result showed that low socio-economic status, also had an adverse effect on the academic performance of children from broken homes. It is recommended that personal social counselling should be rendered to students from broken homes, with a view to counselling students who are experiencing some challenges .

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) pointed out that the family lays the psychological, moral, and spiritual foundation in the overall development of the child. Structurally, family/homes is either broken or intact. A broken home in this context, is one that is not structurally intact, as a result of divorce, separation, death of one parent and illegitimacy. According to Frazer (2001), psychological home conditions arise mainly from illegitimacy of children, the label of adopted child, broken home, 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 broken home can be stressful for both the child and the parent. Such families are faced with challenges of inadequate financial resources (children defense fund, 1994). Schultz (2006) noted that

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. Scales and Roehlkepartain (2003), are of the opinion that the family and its structure play a great role in children's academic performance.

Levin (2001), also states that parents are probably the actors with the clearest undimentional interest in a high level of their children's academic performance. To some extent, there is simple evidence to show that marital instability brings about stress, tension, lack of motivation and frustration. Obviously, these manifestations act negatively on a child's academic performance. Johnson (2005) asserts that children of unmarried parents/separated families often fail and are at risk emotionally.

However, this may not be completely applicable in all instances of broken homes. Some children irrespective of home background or structure may work hard and become successful in life. Moreover, Ayodele (2006) stated that the environment where a child finds himself/herself goes a long way in determining his learning ability and ultimately his academic performance in school.

The study investigated the relationship between broken homes and academic achievement of students. Three research hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. The study was correlational because the study sought to establish the extent of relationship between broken homes and academic achievement. The statistical method used in analyzing the data was the Pearson product moment correlation coefficient (r). Reliable and validated questionnaires which were designed to elicit information on the hypotheses of study were used. Six senior secondary schools were randomly selected for the study.

One hundred and fifty respondents from single parent

homes were used for the study. 25 respondents were randomly selected from six schools. Results showed a significant relationship between broken homes and academic achievement of students. It was also discovered that female students from broken homes perform better in their studies than the male students, moreover the result showed that low socio-economic status, also had an adverse effect on the academic performance of children from broken homes. It is recommended that personal social counselling should be rendered to students from broken homes, with a view to counselling students who are experiencing some challenges

LifeSiteNews.com reported on January 16, 2006:

The U.S Center for Marriage and Family released a study in November 2005 that shows broken family structures consistently lead to education difficulties for children. “When it comes to educational achievement,” the study says, “children living with their own married parents do significantly better than other children.”

The report found that children from non-intact families (children living in a situation other than with their own married father and mother) have significantly higher rates of difficulty with all levels of education, from pre-kindergarten through to primary, secondary, and college-age levels. Each year a child spends with a single mother or stepparent “reduces that child’s overall educational attainment by approximately one-half year” suggests the report.

The study, a comprehensive review of recent academic research on the relationship between family structures and children’s academic performance, compared education outcomes from children growing up with their own married parents to children in non-intact family structures such as divorced, single, remarried or cohabiting parents.

Family structure was consistently found to be the deciding factor in a

wide range of child behaviors that directly influence academic performance, including emotional and psychological distress, attention disorders, social misbehavior, substance abuse, sexual activity and teen pregnancy. Children from non-intact homes had higher rates of stress, depression, anxiety and low self-esteem, particularly as teenagers. The study found that preschool children from broken homes were three times more likely to suffer from attention deficit disorders than children from intact homes. Children from single-parent homes suffered from more physical health problems, as well. Pre-school children from single-parent homes were also less likely to be read to or given help with letter-recognition.

During elementary school, children from non-intact families scored consistently lower on reading comprehension and math, and had more difficulty maintaining their grade levels overall. Children from married parents had much lower rates of behavioral problems in the classroom than children who did not live with married parents. In particular, boys from broken marriages showed a higher rate of classroom misbehavior. For teenagers, students from broken homes were 30 percent more likely to miss school, be late, or cut class than students from intact homes, in part because single parents had more difficulty monitoring their children. These children were also at higher risk for smoking, using drugs and consuming alcohol.

Teenagers from non-intact families were more likely to be sexually active and had higher rates of pregnancy. Girls from divorced single-mother homes were at greatest risk for teenage pregnancy. The study also found that children who were in a single-parent or step-parent home by the time they were ten were more than twice as likely to be arrested by age 14. Children who never lived with

their own father had the highest likelihood of being arrested. The study reports that a majority of U.S. children will have spent a significant part of their childhood in a one-parent home by the time they reach 18. Single parent homes in the U.S. nearly doubled in the period from 1968-2003.