GENDER DIFFERENCES IN THE PSYCHO-SOCIAL ADJUSTMENT OF NIGERIAN SINGLE PARENTS

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the study

Poor academic performance of secondary school students has been of great worry to educationist, guidance and counselors. In spite of all the guidance programs and counseling strategies employed in schools to improve students’ academic performance, yet, poor performances are still recorded yearly. There have been decline the in performance of students sitting for the West African Senior Secondary School Examination in Nigeria (WASSCE). Over the years, student performance has been dwindling. For instance, WASSCE result for June 2010/2011 indicated that out of  1,351,357 candidate consisting of 611,893 females and 739,464 males, only 50.1% of the student obtained five credit above and 39.6% obtained six credit and above. In the WASSCE result for June 2011/2012 in which 1,540,250 candidates sat for the examination, 40.55% obtained six credits above and 51.71% obtained five credits above. In the WASSCE June 2014, out of 1,692,435 that sat for the examination only 46.8% obtained six credits above and 58.04% obtained five credits and above (Osewa 2014). Education is considered as the first step for every human activity, it plays a vital role in the development of human capital and it is linked to an individual’s wellbeing and opportunities for better living. It was quite observed in one of the private secondary school in Mushin local government area of Lagos state that children raised by single parents perform below expectation compare with children from two parent family, they also have problem when it comes to interaction with their colleagues. This is perceived to be as a result of negligence and lack of parental care for the children, which has prompted the course for this investigation. It is as a result of this the educationist and counselors are so much interested in the academic performance of student. Various reasons have been attributed to the achievement of poor academic performance by student, some of this hindrances are; socio economic, in terms of parental level of income, educational background of the parent, the determination of the student to learn, working conditions of the teachers among others. The most sensitive aspect that can hinder the successfulness of children academic performance is the structure of the family because the structure of the family can have either positive or negative effects on the members of the family, in terms of emotion, psychology, social and economic state. (Ajila and Odutola, 2007). The ideal nuclear family structure consists of the father, mother, and their children. Another variance of family structure is the single parenthood, which is one of the factors that attributed to poor academic performance of student. Single parenthood can be defined as when one of two parents who are responsible for the nurturing and child rearing is not available and the responsibilities meant for two people is now being carried out by one person. (Azuka-Obieke, 2013). According to the Longman Dictionary of contemporary English (2013), Single parenting is defined as a situation when a mother or father who looks after his or her children on their own, without the input of the other partner. Single parenting have been on the increase, although the actual percentage is unknown, but practical experience and newspaper reports revealed that there is an increase of single parenthood in the country. Recently the issue of Mrs Augustina Chigozie was reported in vanguard newspaper on 4th of March 2016, on how she had been coupling as single parent. For instance, in most ethnic groups in Nigeria, parental  and maternal roles are clearly defined among the Yoruba’s, maternal roles include children rearing, home training and playing complimentary roles, while that of paternal roles are that of providing for the family basic necessities and discipline of the children, when any of the parents are not available to fulfilled their responsibilities it may affects their children upbringing and may turn the children into wayward and academics failures. Family is the first primary social group that the child first belongs to; thus, this group has a greater influence on the child’s physical, emotional and mental development. Simply because the family lays the foundation of education before the child goes to school and the kind of personality the child will exhibit in the school, to a greater extent the education attainment of the child is determined by the family. Both parents have their own roles to play in children education and moral development, father provides the necessary tools for educational advancement, while the mother is expected to supplement and compliment the effort of the father. In Nigeria, it is generally believed and clearly seen that the absence of the father or mother have a particular negative socialization process on a child which may be detrimental or dangerous for the child in particular and society at large. It is believed that when both parents are present, it implies that the child would derive most care, a child from homes where the father and the mother are present will be well taken care of and socialized in the best way possible (Ortese, 1998). This is due to the fact that the process of socialization depends on both parents playing complimentary roles in bringing up the child. Such a child is likely to achieve self-actualization later in life and a balanced academic performance.