ABSTRACT
The rising number of family breakdown worldwide is a great concern which has prompted the researcher to conduct this study. When tragedy strikes; most parents are not able to attend to their children’s needs immediately after divorce or separation. Divorce and separation destroy the relationship between parents and children. Due to family conflicts and breakdown the child may be pre-occupied with worries at home, withdrawn and not able to fully get involved in school activities hence resulting in low learning outcomes. The purpose of this study was to establish the influence of family breakdown on children’s learning outcomes in Limuru Zone, Kiambu County. The objectives of the study were to find out the prevalence of children from broken families in Limuru Zone, Limuru Sub County, to establish the factors responsible for family breakdown in Limuru Zone, to find out the relationship between family breakdown and pre-primary school children’s learning outcomes, to examine the extent of family breakdown on the learning outcomes of boys and girls and to establish the role of pre-primary teachers in assisting children affected by family breakdown. The Humanistic Theory by Abraham Maslow (1970) guided the study. The study employed descriptive survey design. The sample included 10 (63%) public primary schools, 20 (49%) preschool teachers, 134 (10%) parents who had divorced/ separated in the last 6 months to 5 years or so during the study period and 134 (10%) children from broken families. Questionnaires for parents and interviews for the teachers were used to collect data. Pilot study involved two primary schools and from them six teachers were selected which is 3 per school as well as 10 parents and 10 children meaning 5 per school who are from divorced or separated families, though they did not take part in the final study. Content validity was used to measure the instruments through investigating their content with consideration to the study’s objective. Reliability of the instruments was ensured through split half method. Spearman correlation (rho) was employed to correlate the scores from the instruments using correlation coefficient of 0.73 as acceptable or reliable. Data collected was analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively. Qualitative data obtained through interview schedules was written down by sampled parents; the notes were compared, categorized and organized by using different themes guided by the research objectives. On the other hand, quantitative data obtained through questionnaires was organized and analyzed using frequencies and percentages. Tables, pie charts and bar graphs were utilized in presentation of the findings. With regard to inferential data, hypothesis was tested at a level of significance of 0.05. After the study, relevant suggestions were obtained to help alleviate the general wellbeing of families and children under focus.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
Introduction
This chapter discusses the background to the study related to family breakdown and its influence on pre-primary school children’s learning outcomes, the Statement of the problem, purpose of the study, limitations and delimitations, assumptions of the study, theoretical frame work, conceptual frame work and operational definition of terms.
Background to the Study
Family breakdown due to divorce or separation has become a major problem worldwide and its effects negatively influence children’s holistic growth and development, including learning outcomes. The family is the foundation of a child’s knowledge, providing its physical as well as intellectual needs and acting as the teaching foundation for its moral development. When that foundation becomes destabilized, children deteriorate intellectually, physical and morally. Family has no viable substitute (George, 2012). It remains an institution where a child finds love, warmth, care, acceptance, support, and personal development. A family may breakdown when children may be separated from one or both parents through conflicts, war, disaster, accident or ill health of a parent. In the case of family breakdown due to civil war and conflict, tracing parents of children and vice versa is vital. Other causes of children being brought up by only one parent are family breakdown resulting from separation or divorce, desertion, domestic violence or unwed motherhood as George (2012) further explains.
A study on children’s adjustment in a broken family done by Fagan (1991) showed that most parents are not able to attend to the children’s needs immediately after divorce and separation as it destroys the relationship between parents and children. Sadly there is a distance created between parents and their children and the emotional distance could go into adulthood. According to Pong, Dronkers & Hampden-Thompson (2003), children in such circumstance are not likely to achieve educational attainment and are likely to show behavioral problems as well. However, children from intact families usually have greater educational attainment and are not likely to show behavioral problems in their school. Their parents are mostly concerned with their children’s school tasks and have greater expectations for them. Barona (2013) further explains that single or divorced parents however committed they may be, are not able to help their children realize their full potential in life more so in their learning. Flenderson (2009) reports that due to family conflicts and breakdown the child may be pre-occupied with worries at home and may not be able to fully get involved in school activities which negatively affect their learning outcomes.
A study done by Mooney, Oliver & Smith (2009) found that children with secure attachment to both parents have high chances of becoming happy, achieve higher educational attainment and become well-adjusted children and adults. In addition, much is attained when parents are together and share quality time with their babies. In a study with fathers, it was noted that children benefit a lot when they receive the love and care from the male parent. The attachment between them helps the father to be able to recognize what each of their children’s gestures mean. This guides fathers to attend well
to their babies. Studies on children with responsive fathers revealed that they scored higher in their socio-emotional behavior in terms of empathizing with others than those who did not have responsive fathers. Responsive fathers in intact families usually play with their children and provide a safe but challenging environment for their children, teaching them how to relate with the others and what is expected of them in the society. They are also more actively engaged in their children’s education as they help their children in doing homework. Children with fathers who offer financial assistance have a chance of getting better instructive resources and advanced opportunities to learn. This has positive impact on children’s cognitive development and thinking skills.
