CHAPTER ONE

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

Introduction

According to Salami (2015), single-parenthood can be defined as when one out of two people who is responsible for the nurturing and child-rearing is not available, and the work meant for two people is now been carried out by only one person.

The author further added that single parenthood is when the mother or father looks after children on their own, without the other partner. Single parenting is a situation in which one of the two individuals involved in the conception of the child is responsible for the upbringing of the child (Whitting, 2013).

Single-parenthood may arise when either the male or the female decides to produce and rear a child or children outside wedlock This chapter is made up of the background of the study, statement of the problem, the objective of the study, research question (general and specific), research hypothesis (general and specific), significance of the study, justification of the study, the scope of the study, operational definition of terms, and closing it finally with the chapter summary.

Background of the study

Historical Background

Historically due to parental mortality rate (due to diseases, wars, and maternal mortality). Historically estimates indicate that in French, English, and Spanish villages in the 17th and 18th centuries third of children lost one of their parents during childhood (Whitting, 2013).

In the 19th century, MILAN about half of all children lost one parent at least parent by the age of 15years. Divorce was generally rare historically (although this depends on culture and era), divorce especially became very difficult to obtain after the fall of the Roman Empire, in medieval Europe due to the strong involvement of ecclesiastical courts in family life (though annulment and other forms of separation were more common).

In the year 1980 United States census reported that 19.5% of children were in single-parent households. About 16% of children worldwide lived in single-parent households. In 2006, a single parents, 80% of which were headed by a female, headed 12.9million families in the United States. Areas, where there is an extremely high number of children living in single-parent homes, include Africa, Europe, and Latin America. North America and Oceania (sander, 2001).

Nyarko (2007), with experience of separation, divorce or death do not perform well or achieve academically. When both parents are present, it implies that the child would obtain the most care. However, when one of the parents is absent in a child’s life, a gap is created as the parent is absent in a child’s life, a gap is created as the child would lose the support that would lose the support that would emanate from that parent.

Salami and alawode (2000) have asserted that single parenting results from the separation of various kinds, divorce, having children from wedlock or death of one spouse which leaves the roles in the hands of a single parent.

Researchers in the United States have consistently found the effects of single-parent families on the child’s educational achievement. For example, reviewing research results from large longitudinal data (zill, 1996) found that students from nuclear intact families had the best academic performance, while students from alternative family types such as stepparent families and single-parent families performed not so well.

Children who are raised in a single-parent family home risk of not reaching their full potential. However, the performance of students from stepparent families became that of single-parent families (sander, 2001)

Similarly, Han and Haung (2000) in their study on college attendance and education expenditure in Taiwan also found that in Taiwan children in single-parent families had a lower rate of attending college than that from intact families.

The research was done by Amoakohene (2013) in Ghana on the relationship between single parenting and academic performance of adolescents in senior high school, found that there are some problems that are exceptional, which create difficulties to raise children.

These problems include: bitterness towards the absent spouse, loneliness, poverty and insecurity about raising children alone without a help. The research concluded that academic performance and single parenting and negatively related, hence the more cases of single parenting the poorer the academic performance.

Conceptual background

Donkor (2010) examines that single parenting refers to the situation whereby one parent cares for the responsibilities of the child/children instead of both parents. He further states that single parenting has contributed immensely to the destruction of lives of many children because of the inability to provide for their needs.

Thomas (2018) states that single parenting is a person who lives with a child or children and who does not have a wife or husband with life as a partner.  He further states that single parenting may have either sole custody of the child or joint physical custody, where the child lives part-time with each parent. Reasons for becoming single parent include divorce. Coontz (2017) explains that Single-parent families can be defined as families where a parent lives with dependent children, either alone or in a larger household, without a spouse or partner.

There was a rapid and drastic increase in the number of single-parent families in the latter half of the twentieth century with many cases of Break-up, abandonment, death of the other parent, childbirth by a single woman or single-person adoption. A single-parent family is a family with children that are headed by a single parent.

Adebola  (2013)  defines Single parenthood 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 are now being carried out by one person.

Azuka-Obieke, (2016). Explains that Single parenting is a situation when a mother or father looks after his or her children on their own, without the input of the other partner. He further states that  Single parenting has been on the increase, although the actual percentage is unknown, practical experience and newspaper reports revealed that there is an increase in single parenthood in the country.

Contextual background 

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Statement of the Problem

In human development, it is physiologically expected that both parents participate in the life and growth of the child. This is because each parent has a key role to play in the physical, cognitive, psychosocial and emotional development of the child. In this case, each parent compliments the other (financially, emotionally and socially) for the proper development of the child under their care.

But from empirical observation in our society particularly in Buea municipality, there has been a growing trend of sing parenthood, probably caused by divorces, separation or death of a spouse. This leaves a single parent to bring up the child (children) without the other.

The child is left without the warm support and affection of the other parent, this leaves the child in a deficit as compared to other children who are having both parents’ presents. Such deficits can be financial, psychosocial, emotional and even academic.

It is for this reason that the study of this nature to find out the effect of single parenting on the academic performance of secondary school students in the Buea municipality becomes necessary. It is on this backdrop that this study aims to investigate more the effect of single parenting and the academic performance of students in the Buea municipality.

Objectives of the Study

General objective

To investigate the effect of single parenting on the academic performance of secondary school students in the Buea municipality.

Specific objective

1. To examine the impact of parental death on the academic performance of secondary school students in the Buea municipality.
2. To investigate the effect of divorce on the academic performance of secondary school students in the Buea municipality.
3. To find out the effect of parental separation on the academic performance of secondary school students in the Buea municipality.

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