Psychosocial Effect of Single Parenthood on Adolescent Self Concept
Chapter One
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The main objective of the study is to ascertain the effect of single parenthood on adolescent self-concept; but to aid the completion of the study, the researcher intends to achieve the following specific objective;
- To ascertain the psychosocial effect of single parenthood on adolescent self-concept
- To examine the relationship between single parenthood and adolescent self-concept
- To examine the role of parent in molding adolescent behavior
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Introduction
Adolescence is the stage of human development known as puberty period. It is a phase between a child beginning to develop above ordinary childhood stage and becoming an adult. It could be anywhere between 11 and 19 years of age, based on the gender of the individual concerned.The adolescent period of a female gender is about one year below that of the male gender. An adolescent is a young man or woman between the ages of 13-18 years (Kanku, 2010). This is the age bracket within which the various forms of human development begin in the lives of children. Children of this age group are highly energetic and active as well as being very inquisitive. All these characterise the attitudinal formation, social cohesion of different types and levels which shape the educational attainment and perception of the adolescents for the future. Adolescents are usually full of the desire to copy and imitate whatever that happens around them. Morse and Wingo (1971) noted that the adolescent stage is a very important level of life development showing how teenagers try to learn by participation, imitation to acquire skills in observation, interest and responsiveness to new activities. They demonstrated this by a mere form of response that shows essential human nature of the learning process that involves not only sensory motor and perception learning, but also the assimilation of the parental actions and accommodations to them. This implies that the adolescent learner is faced with so many attitudinal, social and environmental issues that could influence his or her perception about his or her likes and dislikes and ability for foundational achievement in cognitive and educational development. 2 There are three social theories that try to explain how the society works according to theory of socialisation, (Huebsch, 2013). They are Macro, Mezzo and the Micro theories and they all work in accordance with the natural characters of man and the social environment. Macro level or functionalism theory believes that whatever is found the society is a functional component of the system (Kreppner and Lerner, 1989). In other words, it contributes in some ways to the functioning of the system. The mezzo level of socialization theory shows how someone reacts to other members of the society and is related to the dominant theory of social reaction, or labelling theory (Niambi, 2014). On the other hand, Social Reaction Theory explains that whatever individuals tend to become depends on dictates of members of the society. Micro level socialization theory discusses that societal taming with reflection form the basis of knowledge acquisition by individuals. Growing up in a single parent home brings a situation where the children are not being given full guidance and attention and it brings about lack of trust between the parents (father and mother). A situation where both of parents are not living together tends to break the link between the parents of networks of friends and associates. A situation where the child moves with mother to a place or new neighbourhood breaks the child’s connections not just with the father but the teachers, friends and neighbours. This condition may hinder the academic achievement of the child; precisely parents may not like to keep their former friends after divorce or separation either because of the pains in the heart or because of the new associations that are more encouraging. This may make the child to feel cut off from friends and neighbours even from his or her school of his or her choice. The understanding of educational achievement of a child should start very early in order to catch him young so that the child will be able to cope with problems and 3 challenges of life as he/she grows up. Education of a child comes in so many ways through parents, family, neighbours, friends and relatives which are primary groups so that the child will be responsible in adulthood. It comes also through clubs, associations, church and peer groups which are the secondary groups. Education of the child also comes through tertiary influences such as towns, films, television, literature, nation, public opinions, radio, state, and the press.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research design
The researcher used descriptive research survey design in building up this project work the choice of this research design was considered appropriate because of its advantages of identifying attributes of a large population from a group of individuals. The design was suitable for the study as the study sought to examine the psychosocial effect of single parenthood on adolescent self-concept
Sources of data collection
Data were collected from two main sources namely:
(i)Primary source and
(ii)Secondary source
Primary source:
These are materials of statistical investigation which were collected by the research for a particular purpose. They can be obtained through a survey, observation questionnaire or as experiment; the researcher has adopted the questionnaire method for this study.
Secondary source:
These are data from textbook Journal handset etc. they arise as byproducts of the same other purposes. Example administration, various other unpublished works and write ups were also used.
Population of the study
Population of a study is a group of persons or aggregate items, things the researcher is interested in getting information for the study psychosocial effect of single parenthood on adolescent self-concept. 200 single parents was selected randomly by the researcher as the population of the study.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION ANALYSIS INTERPRETATION OF DATA
Introduction
Efforts will be made at this stage to present, analyze and interpret the data collected during the field survey. This presentation will be based on the responses from the completed questionnaires. The result of this exercise will be summarized in tabular forms for easy references and analysis. It will also show answers to questions relating to the research questions for this research study. The researcher employed simple percentage in the analysis.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
It is important to ascertain that the objective of this study was to psychosocial effect of single parenthood on adolescent self-concept
In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in addressing the challenges of single parenthood and adolescent self-concept
Summary
The findings of this study showed that a strong positive relationship exists between adolescent educational achievement and single parenthood. This is agreement with Barajas (2012) who found out that with some exceptions, children from single parent homes are more associated with lower high school graduation rates among others. Furthermore, the study result showed that a strong positive relationship also exists between environmental influence and academic achievement of adolescents.
Conclusion
Our research aims to examine whether adolescents from single parent families have a level of self-esteem lower than those in two parent families and whether these adolescents show significant differences in the development of personality traits. Adolescent self-esteem forms the background of the formation of personality traits, of a complete and consistent self-representations, with values and criteria from the part of the school and family, with specific rules to the social environment, the historical context, etc. In view of the above observations, we started from the assumption that adolescents reared in single-parent families will present self-esteem deficit and a difference in the development of personality traits, this being due primarily to lack of rigorous parental control of meeting some fundamental emotional needs from the parents part who themselves go through a period of crisis. Overall, our study did not confirm the hypothesis set and the assumption that adolescents from single parent families will present a level of self-esteem lower or a level of emotional maturity, of expansivity and integration lower, proved to be false. But the premise of the study was both the social perception that these children from single parent families have to suffer in their psychological development, and the literature reporting delinquent behavior and negative personality traits in adolescents raised by single parents.
Recommendation
- The school and social systems partner together to see that all adolescents are treated in the same manner that would encourage the learners as if they all come from double family structures. This can be done by the school creating an atmosphere of equality and love among the learners irrespective of their parental backgrounds. The teachers need to deemphasize the use of any language that would remind learners from single parent homes about the nature of their family compositions. This approach will enable the learners who by chance have come from single parent homes to see themselves just like other learners and will be more confident to pursue their academic careers alongside others. 2. All parents should also be encouraged through the parents/teachers association meetings to create time for their children at home for home work activities. This is to 89 ensure that the learners do their school assignments under the supervision of their parents, whether they are single or double parent families. 3. The government should have some forum with single parents particularly at the Township levels for interactions and counseling sessions that would make single parents see themselves as having the same level of responsibilities towards their children just like the double parents. This kind of support will go a long way to help to closer to their children. 4. Adolescent age is usually a more delicate age in human development. Adolescent learners should be more properly supervised about the friends they keep since the influence peer group on others as have been found in this study, can be negative. Negative peer group influence will always make the influence adolescent not to be serious with his or her academics and eventually leads to dropping out of school
Reference
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