WELCOME TO KENTERPRO:
CAUSES AND IMPACT OF DIVORCE ON THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN MANGU LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF PLATEAU STATE

 CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

• Background to the study

        Every human institution is faced with one problem or the other. The Problem facing the family unit today is divorce. It is a social problem which has become a threat to the existence of marriage institution. Liman (2012) defined divorce as the final termination of marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties. Robinson (1995) defined divorce as the dissolution of marriage contract between a man and a woman by the judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction, or by an act of legislature. To Liman (2012), adultery, infertility, desertion, negligence, abusive treatment and infidelity are reasons for divorce. The effect of divorce is enormous and the truth of the matter is that the off springs of the union are the chief casualties and victims of divorce.

        There are common effects of divorce on children and they are psychological problems, poor intellectual development and poor parent-child relationship. Nwoye (1991) opined that psychological effect of divorce on children can cause them to develop anxiety disorders where they experience overwhelming fear of being abandoned. Their feelings of isolation and sadness can manifest through other problems such as eating disorders. He went further to say that divorce affected children usually display insecurity, neediness, irritability and constant craving for attention. These behaviors consequently lead to aggressiveness towards peers, resulting in poor relationship with others.

        George (2000) opined that the effects of divorce on the children educational performance in examination and continuous assessment pose a great problem in our society. Unstable parents must bear in mind that children’s education is the pivot on which their lives depend, and considered to be the most vital avenue for producing worthwhile children. Failure to maintain a stable family and give the children sound education will hamper their progress in life, growth and development, and even the society in general. Education is one of the investments that can last for life, and make them fit for socio political functions. It is not in doubt that children from divorced families perform poorly in academics as a result of emotional instability and uncoordinated direction in life.

        Akinboye (1992) maintained that during the confusion period of family and high emotional intensity in divorce families, anti-social actions occur more frequently among children of divorced than other groups. Thus, these behavior materializes as fighting, bullying on other children, cheating, lying and stealing which affects their cognitive and perception in the classroom setting and thus lead to poor academic performance. He went further to say that divorce is a terrible thing for everybody concerned. It has a negative effect on married couple, their children, their friends and relatives. But it is more devastating for the growing children as they are confronted in their home by situations and experience that may be frustrating, unpleasant, and capable of arousing anxiety from time to time in their lives. Some of these negative experiences arouse fear, pain and stress. This is in line with Schaffer (2011) that children are also affected by divorce in many other ways. Some children may blame themselves (however unrealistic) for their parents divorce, and subsequently harbor unrealistic expectation that they can bring their parent back together. Again this prevents them from accepting reality and it has a negative implication on their studies. Children may also be ashamed of their parents’ situation. They may attempt to hide it from their friends (thus further pushing off reality) or they may withdraw from their classmate in attempt to avoid embarrassment. After a divorce, a child’s performance may be adversely affected by the custody arrangement. Onibokun (2005) stressed that a poorly arranged visitation schedule, aggravated by different transitions between the parents’ home may prevent a child from functioning well in school. One by product of divorce is the stress of a single parent family. A child may be affected by the financial difficulties include mandatory tuition. A single parent may also have difficulty in coping with raising a family while working at the same time.

         Parents need to remember that divorce is stressful for the children, just as it is for the parents. In the short term perhaps for several months or even couple of years, the children may start to act in ways that are irritating and most disrupting on their general classroom works or learning outcome, since education today is child centered, the child would be expected to acquire certain specific or desirable skills; knowledge, attitude, capabilities and academic excellence which marital instability therefore is standing as a barrier Hence, this study is prompted to investigate the effects of divorce on students academic performance in secondary schools, in Bende local Government Area of Abia state.

In Nigeria, divorce rate has been rising since the beginning of the 20th century, and especially since 1980s. Some experts contend that the availability of divorce laws has helped weaken the strength of marriage making it difficult for couples to work out the inevitable difficulties that arise in marriage ( Edinyang, 2012).Thus,  secondary  education of an adolescent which is a process of facilitating learning, knowledge, skills, values and beliefs throughout the period of  learning is being affected(Dewey & John , 2013) as both parents get divorced. Problems associated with divorce, such as lack of adequate parental care and concern for the adolescent is one of the great effects of divorce on an adolescent since the adolescent at early age needs parental care to be able to adjust to the educational environment and to be able to cope with academics. In the absence of this care, the adolescent’s secondary education may be affected and he or she stands the chance of performing poorly in academics due to lack of parental care. Adequate guidance from the parents who often time may be in the position of helping the adolescent in their studies at home is very necessary for the adolescent’s learning but divorce hampers this care. It is on this note that this study tends to investigate the causes and effects of divorce on academic performance of SS2 students in Mangu L.G.A.

• Statement of the Problem

         Marriage is an ageless contract desired and designed by God for the purpose of unity of man and woman and procreation. The family has enormous amount of influence on the education of the child both directly and indirectly. In the pre-school or formative years of the child, the home discriminate transmit culture and knowledge to the child correcting him where he goes wrong and directly him in other various aspects of his life in the society. The problem for broken home are: Divorce caused by maltreatment from the man, lack of proper care for the family, charge of adultery. Marriage without mutual consent, lack of true love non reciprocal love, parental disagreement. Inter-family misunderstanding – childlessness, disrespect and disloyalty for husband relations, lack of respect for each other, interference from both parties family members. As a result of divorce, children of divorced parents usually exhibit insecurity, irritability and endless desire for attention. The children’s skill and perception become dampened and many lead to poor overall academic performance. In fact, the effects are numerous. These problems have therefore prompted the researcher to carry out a study on the causes and effects of divorce on SS2 students’ academic performance in Mangu Local Government Area of Plateau State.

• Purpose of the Study

        The general purpose of this study is to ascertain the causes and effects of divorce on the academic performance of SS2 students in Mangu Local Government Area of Plateau State. Specifically the study sought to;

1. Examine the problem that causes divorce in marriages.
2. Identify the impact of divorce on students’ academic performance and proffer solutions to it.
   • Research Questions

       The following research questions were formulated to guide the study;

1. What are the causes of divorce in marriage?
2. How does divorce affect students’ academic performance?
   • Significance of the Study

      The result of this study will be of immense benefit to the public and private individuals, government, parents, religious leaders, school counselors, students, teachers, school management and researchers.

      The findings of the study will be of great help to the public and private individuals as it will expose the ugly and negative effect of divorce on children generally and Senor secondary school students in particular which will serve as a caution to couples to avoid divorce by all means

       The result of the study may help the government to know the negative impact of divorce on children that are members of the society and future leaders. It will then motivate the government to establish a law or policy against divorce in order to have sound disciplined citizens.

       The result of the study may also help teacher and the school management to study and understand the coping strategies to apply to the solution of the effects of divorce on the affected students’ academic performance.

        The findings of the study may help the religious leader and school counselors to identify the characteristics of children from divorced family (parents) and then devise the best way to mold their behavior to suit and be acceptable by the society they belong.

        The study may help the researcher to understand the negative effect of divorce on children. It may motivate them to study and carry out research on other aspect of divorce there by creating strong awareness of the negative effect of divorce on the society as a whole.

        Lastly, the findings of the study may help to educate the students of the divorced parents about the need for them to report their problems to other family members, and social welfare officers for assistance, instead of indulging in anti-social behavior.

• Scope of the study

        The study centered on the effect of divorce on the academic performance of SS2 students in Mangu Local Government Area of Plateau state. The areas of performance the study intend to cover are: the causes of divorce in marriages, effects of divorce on students’ academic performance and possible solutions to the causes of divorce. Furthermore, the researcher will use only one thousand four hundred and fourty four(1044) SS2 students in 40 (fourty) Senior Secondary Schools in Mangu Local Government Area. 1044 SS2 students will be used because the Local Government have over 52 schools with a population of about 3480 SS 2 students and any attempt to cover the entire schools in the  Local Government will result to time shortage and money constraints.

• Operational definition of terms

Marriage: It is the legal relationship between a husband and wife.

Home: The house of apartment that one live in, especially with your family.

Learning: A relatively pertinent to permanent change in the behavior of an individual as result the learning.

Performance: This is the ability to successfully carry out a given task following instructions.