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SOCIO-PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS OF HOME CONFLICT AS PREDICATORS OF ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1    BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

A number of factors determine how far a child can go in life. In most cases his association with friends and family may not necessarily be in the majority but may be needed factors of enhancing his academic performance. This study is to find out the cause of conflicts in the home and some basic socio-­psychological effects of conflicts in the home on a child's academic performance. Conflict is a militating factor on a child's academic performance. It affects the child both socially and psychologically. It is a deterrent to the child in his social environment and intellectual progress. According to Staple R. (1999), a disharmonious home promotes aggressive, neurotic, jealous, delinquent unco-operative children, while harmonious home promotes co-operative, good adjustments, superior academic performance and independent children.

The home is an institution where people needing care live in. It is a dwelling place of a family which originated from marriage. Marriage is a union between a man and a woman such that the children born are recognized as the offsprings of both parents. Demo D. H. (1998) defines marriage as an established practice in all human societies in one form or another, that is the reason why marriage is called an institution. The home is a reflection of the society and so, if the home is defective, the child being the product of the home will be affected. Most of the social­ problems we encounter in Nigeria today, is traced or connected with the social errors that evolved in the conflicts in the homes. It is very important to note that the stages of marriage, if not well met, can establish conflicts in the home. The conflicts in the home leads to development of lack of conscience and excessive prohibition which produces unrealistic, severe moral constraints and above all these lead to uncompromising social behaviours that cause poor performance.

Factors that influence academic performance of the child are numerous. They could be negative or positive factors. For example, bad habits like sleeping always, laziness, non challant attitude of the child towards his studies, can affect the child's academically. It is the duty of the parents from the onset to help the child by teaching him the right thing to do and encourage him through reinforcement. Arditte J. A. (1999), stated that "The ideal family life when created will motivate the child and help  in his  academic  performance". The  child needs  care, socially, emotionally, physically, mentally and psychologically. Couples often disagree when  it  comes to  roles  and  responsibilities, due  to  the  fact  that  both   parties want to win the argument. Constant disagreement in the home leads to marital conflict which affects the child's academic performance.

As opined by Olayinka (2005) "a peaceful home tends to be a pleasant environment for raising healthy children who will become good citizens in future". But a conflicting home is a fertile ground for breeding delinquent children. The socio-psychological effects of conflicts such as denial or indifference hostility fear and confusion affects the child's academic performance. Research reports suggest that a child from conflict home experience more problems in adjustment than children who grow up in intact families. Most of the research effort suggests that children from conflict homes are more likely to have difficulties in school and to be more aggressive, less pro-social, more depressed, and more likely to abuse substances and participate in delinquent acts than their peers from intact families.

1.2    STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Students do not perform alike; this can be attributed to many factors. The major one is individual differences among them. Many psychologists, educators and sociologist have been trying to unravel the reason for these differences amongst students. Through researches and studies, it was found out that factor such as family background with characteristics like parental education, socio economic status, parental attitude, family size etc. affect children negatively. Family tone, that is how stable or unstable a family is (conflict, divorce, broken home, separation etc), also contribute to individual differences. Other factors include peer group influences, school related factors such as teacher-student relationship, class-size, curriculum, teaching method, the students' personality etc. But for the purpose of this research, the study will focus on only one of the factors, that is, the conflict in the home. Studies have shown that when there is a conflict in the home between parents, it has not only negative but powerful effect on the children. Sometimes, this effect can be social, psychological, emotional etc. This will in turn affect their personality development and academic performance etc.

Market (1984) stated it is unfortunate if a child comes from a disorganized home or full of conflicts. When such a thing happens it may lead to one of the parents separating from the spouse, as a result the child will not have appropriate role models. Conflict, disagreement or family separation is not healthy for any child especially those in school. This study will therefore examine the effect of socio-psychological factor  of home conflict as predictor of academic performance of students.

1.3   PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The study is mainly to identify some socio-psychological effects of conflicts in the home on the students’ academic performance. Also, it is to find out the extent to which the socio-psychological effect of conflict in the home has effectively contributed to the academic performance of the child. The study also analyzes the relationship between the student, his peers and family. The study addresses how the family stands to influence the positive or negative academic performance of the child and make some recommendations on how to manage conflict in the home.

1.4   SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY

The study will have the following implications; It will be of benefit to parents and guardians, as it will make them realize the effect of conflict in the home on the academic and psychological development of their child. It will give an insight to the teachers. It will enable them understand that there is individual differences among students and tailor their instruction in such a way as to cater for each individual child. The study will have implication for policy makers, educators and other stakeholders as it will reveal some of the reasons for poor academic performances among students. Finally, the study will be a springboard for other researchers in the field.

1.5   RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The following research questions were formulated to guide the study:

1.  Is there any significant relationship between family influence and academic performance?

2.  Is there significant relationship between academic performance of a student and socio-psychological effects of conflicts in the home?

3.  Is there significant relationship between a child's academic performance and family background?

4.  Is there is no significant difference in the academic performance of students from home with conflict and those without conflict.

1.6      RESEARCH HYPOTHESES

1.  Ho:  There is no significant relationship between academic performance and family/conflict homes.

2.  Ho:   There is significant relationship between academic performance and socio-psychological effect of conflict in homes.

3.  Ho:   There is no significant relationship between student academic performance and family background.

4.  Ho:   There is no significant relationship between students academic performance and the home environment.

1.7      SCOPE OF THE STUDY

In view of the diverse spread of socio-psychological welfare in the country, this study will be restricted to Secondary Schools in Alimosho Local Government Area of Lagos. In other words, data and facts will be restricted to what have been collected from five schools in Alimosho Local Government Area of Lagos.

1.8      LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

The study is faced with certain constraints such as inadequacy of finance, the time available was too short and as a result of information needed to expand the scope of this work is limited. Inaccessibility of some vital information necessary for the study, the school library does not contain adequate textbooks, which would have helped in making the research work extensive.

1.9    DEFINITION OF TERMS

ACADEMIC: This is connected with education, especially studying in schools and universities. This involves a lot of reading and studying rather than practical or technical skills.

PERFORMANCE: This is how well or bad something is been done. It is an act of achieving a task or an action.

CONFLICT: A violent situation or period of fighting between two parties. A situation in which there are opposing ideas, opinion feelings or wishes.

HOME: (Used especially about a couple) the house or flat or apartment that one lives in, with his family.

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT: The overall performance of learner. It is the outcome after been exposed to basic instructions.

PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECTS: The environmental factor. It has to do with low or high intellectual potentials endowed in the background of the learner.

ATTITUDE:  This is a tendency towards or against something in the environment which has either a positive or a negative effect.

GOOD ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE: This is an achievement that is creditably adjudged to be of above average which is positive.

POOR ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE: This is negative achievement of a student and it is adjudged by examined testes and some significant others as fallen below an expected desired standard.

ACADEMIC FAILURE: This is an achievement/performance that falls below a specific standard, which is determined by a teacher or an instructor. The determination of the pass mark is subjective because pass mark varies.

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