The Impact of Absentee Parenthood on Child Development
CHAPTER ONE
Objectives of the Study
The objectives of the study were:
- To establish if there are children with absent parents in primary schools of Lagos State.
- To find out the challenges faced by children in primary schools with absent parents.
- To find out the impact of parental absence on the child’s development in primary schools in Lagos.
- To establish what can be done to encourage emotional presence of parents to their children.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
The Theoretical Framework
The theoretical framework of this study was informed by the Attachment Theory as mooted by John Bowlby.
The Attachment Theory by John Bowlby
This theory was formulated by a British psychiatrist John Bowlby (1903-1990), and advanced by Mary Ainsworth, (1989).This theory is based primarily on ethological theory, which is basically the science of the races and evolution of mankind; the way people relate to one another and the dynamics of the long term relationship between humans. Its most important tenet is that children need to develop a relationship with at least one primary care giver for social and emotional development to occur normally, (Sigelman & Rider, 2009).
This theory was chosen to inform this study due to its consistent analytical emphasis on the innate desire of every offspring to develop a long term relationship with at least one primary caregiver for social and emotional development to occur. The attachment theory explains how much the parent relationship with the child influences the child’s development. The formation of an emotional attachment to a permanent caregiver attributes to the positive formation of later emotional and personality development. Events that interfere with attachment such as abrupt separation from familiar people or the significant inability of careers to be sensitive, responsive or consistent in their interactions have short term and possible long term negative impact ofn the child’s emotional and cognitive life. Bowlby’s main emphasis is that, children should experience a warm intimate and continuous relationship with their parents, where both parties find satisfaction and enjoyment, and that, not to do so, many people grow to have significant mental and psychological health consequences, (Engler, 2010).
According to Bowlby, the attachment in children is primarily a process of proximity seeking to an identified attachment figure in situations of perceived distress or alarm for the purpose of survival, Engler (2010). Children become attached to parents who are sensitive and responsive in social interactions with them, and who remain consistent caregivers (Dowdney, 2011). Informed by the attachment theory, parental emotional presence should go beyond the spontaneous presence of parents to children to the conscious desire to fulfill a psychological and emotional requirement of their children. This provides both psychological and social security that facilitates development of a well behaved child.
In relation to this study, children who enjoy sufficient parental presence as they grow learn to love others and remain sensitive to authority. They are trusting and more likely to obey rules since they trust that the rules within the society are meant for their own good. On the contrary, children who grow up without parental presence are distrusting and may feel dejected and are likely to be rebellious to the society. The school rules represent the social standards that they do not ascribe due to insensitive parenting. This may make them not obey the school rules or engage in other anti-social behaviors, (Dowdney, 2011).
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The Research Design
For this study, the researcher employed the correlational research design, where a causal relationship between the emotional-parental absences was correlated with the susceptibility to the children’ psychological wellbeing and character in primary schools. This means the researcher began with the independent variables; mainly the perceived absentee parenthood in the home.
Research Variables
The dependent variables in this study were the child’s cases of indiscipline at school. Such cases which were considered in this study included sneaking, truancy, fighting, stealing, vandalism, co-dependency disorders, abuse of drugs, sex offences, depression, and arson as self-reported by the children themselves. The independent variables in this study were the emotional-parental absence or presence to their children. The gender, age and location of both the parents and children were the intervening variables.
Target Population
This study was conducted on children attending primary schools in the State of Lagos who are estimated at 15,000 in total. It was expected that they were in their child years (14-21 years). Children in this age bracket are normally very outgoing, prone to risk taking and very daring. They are also adventurous and curious, and so getting information from them may not be difficult. These participants came from the high, middle and low socio-economic backgrounds.
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA ANALYSIS, INTERPRETATION AND PRESENTATION
Demographic Characteristics of the Respondents
The study was interested in establishing the demographic characteristics of the respondents. These characteristics included gender, age, class and parental status distribution of the respondents. This was to establish whether the impact off parental absence to children had any relationship with demographic characteristic of the children.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Summary of the Findings
The purpose of this study was to establish the influence that absentee parenthood has on the child’s development. It was guided by four objectives:
- To find out whether child in primary schools of Lagos State consider to have absentee parenthood
- To assess the challenges faced by children in primary schools with absent parent
- To establish the influence of absentee parenthood on the challenges faced by child in primary schools in Lagos State
- To seek out the strategies for encouraging emotional presence of parents to their children
As regards the first objective, the study found out that Form 1 and 2 children agreed that they had absentee parenthood while Form 3 and Form 4 disagreed that they had absentee parenthood. The study further found out the female children agreed to have had absent while the males were undecided whether their parents were absent. The study also found out those aged between 15-17 years felt that they had absentee parenthood while those aged 18-20 years were undecided whether they had absentee parenthood. In addition, the study also found out that the respondents with both parents dis-agreed they had absentee parenthood while the orphans and those from single parenthood agreed that they had absentee parenthood.
Conclusions
Reflecting on the purpose of the study, the study concludes that there is a strong relationship between absentee parenthood and indiscipline of children in school. Most children are negatively affected by the absence of their parents and they face a number of challenges. Some of the challenges facing the child as a result of absentee parenthood include the hate of school rules, hate for authority, feeling of not been able to love their parents, lack of people to share their problems with, feeling lonely most of the times and leading very uncomfortable school lives. These partly contribute to indiscipline in school.
Recommendations
From the conclusions of the study, policy recommendations were made to a number of key stakeholders. These stakeholders include parents, employers, teachers and the government. The recommendations were made as follows:
- Parents should create time and bonding activities so as to interact with their children
- Employers should give parents annual leave of 10 days or more particularly to bond with their children.
- Schools should create parents-children bonding
- The government should institute more serious punitive measures to parents who neglect their children’s emotional needs.
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- ISBN
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