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THE EFFECT OF SINGLE PARENTING ON THE BEHAVIORAL PATTERN OF CHILDREN

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

In Nigeria today, most children are from a family of lone parent; this might be as a result of untimely death of one’s husband or one’s wife; it could be as a result of birth out of wedlock. Bring up a child under the guidance of their parents become a problem especially the child that is with just his or her mother. Because mothers are not as authoritative as the fathers. Children with lone parents tends to be of a bad behavior compared to those with both parents.

Financially, morally and psychologically the children with lone parents are affected. Now on the financial aspect of it, the lone parent might be just the mother; she might not be doing very well in business and can not provide all the needs of their children, this might lead the children to look for financial assistance by all means and they might end up stealling, meeting with bad friends as this will affect their behaviour. Mother will be struggling to meet up with the demand of her children and will not have the time to always advice them on what to do and what not to do.

On the area of children with just the father as a parent, will not have the guidiance from the mother; father will be out always to provide food for the family, no emotional attention will be given to their children. The father can only provide money for their feeding, but will not prepare the food for the children. The worst of it all is when a child falls in the hand of a drunk father who is always out of the house, the children will suffer the absence of their father.

Some might take up to the father’s drinking habit and this have a very bad influence on the children. Most children with a single parent find a way to survive because of lack of proper parental support, some become hard just to fit in the society. On the area of academic performance, most children with lone parent tends to become drop out of school, some peform badly at school because of financial challenges, either to pay their school fees or to buy their textbooks and other learning materials.

So many research work has been done concerning the effect of single parenting on the behavioural pattern of children. Consider some cases in Nigeria, we found out that single-parent families to those raised in families with two biological parents consistently find that those raised in two-parent families with biological parents do better on educational achievement and adjustment in school (Carlson and Corcoran 2001; Hetherington and Clingempeel 1992; McLanahan and Sandefur 1994; Pryor and Rodgers 2001). A part of this difference may be due to single mothers’ lower educational attainment, less social support, fewer economic resources, and more stressful environments (Carlson and Corcoran 2001; Dunn et al. 1998; McLoyd 1990; O’Connor et al.2001). However, children in mostly white, middle-class stepfamilies also do less well on a range of outcomes than their counterparts in two-parent families with biological parents (Amato and Gilbreth 1999; McLanahan and Sandefur 1994). This suggests that biological fathers are important for children’s well-being and development.

Despite the foregoing, however, some have concluded that absent biological fathers may not be all that important in black single-mother families, given the presence of father figures (or “social fathers”) who may be viable substitutes or replacements for absent and uninvolved biological fathers (Furstenberg 1995; King and Cherlin 2002). Since many black children have never lived with their biological father in the conventional sense, others have assumed that the implications of never having had a father present in the home are probably different from the implications of having had a biological father present who left, as in most white stepfamilies (Mott 1990). Stated differently, there is some suggestion in the literature that the salutary effects of being raised by two biological parents that seem to apply to children in middle-class white families may not apply to children in mostly poor and near-poor single-parent black families.

The present study tested this notion. In doing so, we expected that more frequent contact between nonresident fathers and their 3-year-old children at time 1 in poor and near-poor single-mother black families would moderate the potentially negative effects of mothers’ parenting stress and frequent spanking (or negative parenting) on child behavior problems in kindergarten a year to a year and a half later (at time 2). This is important because research demonstrates that children who perform well as they begin their school careers tend to continue to do so, while children who have poor starts tend to continue to do poorly in school (Alexander and Entwisle 1988; Ladd and Price 1987).

There are several ways in which nonresident fathers can have an influence on children’s well-being. They can maintain contact with their children and pay child support. Studies have shown that many nonresident fathers have infrequent contact with their children and fail to pay child support (Furstenberg and Harris 1992; Hawkins and Eggebeen 1991).

1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

The issue of single parenting has risen to about 60% in Nigeria;the society today no longer advice the children especially the female counterpart on the risk and set backs in being a single parent. The federal government of Nigeria has set aside funds for the ophanage homes but no funds have being set aside for lone parents, there are no such funds for single parenting.

1.3 RESEARCH QUESTION

1. What are the roles of parents on the behavioural pattern of children?

2. What are the major causes of single parenting?

3. What is the difference in the acdemic performance of a child from complete parent and the child with single parent?

4. What care can the federal government of Nigeria give to the children with a single parent?

5. Does single parenting really have significant effect on the academic performance of children?

1.4 RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS

H0: There is no mean differnce in gender responses of the respondents that single parenting have significant effect on the behavioural pattern of children.

H1: There is  mean differnce in gender responses of the respondents that single parenting have significant effect on the behavioural pattern of children.

1.5 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF STUDY

The aim of the research work is to determine:

1. The roles of parents on the behavioural pattern of children.

2. The major causes of single parenting.

3. The difference in the acdemic performance of a child from complete parent and the child with single parent.

4. The federal government of Nigeria give to the children with a single parent.

5. To determine the effect of single parenting on the behavioural pattern of children.

1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY

The research work is a very interesting one since it reveals the roles of parent on the behaioural pattern of children, the study also explain the major causes of single parenting. It shows the differnce in acdemic performance of children with a single parent. Finally, the study will show the role of the federal government of Nigeria in the reduction of the rate of single parenting in Nigeria.

1.7 SCOPE OF STUDY

The research work covers the effct of single parenting on the behavioural pattern of a child, the study also covers the various causes of single parenting in Nigeria. it made use of the responses from a population of about 200 respondents. The method of chi-square and t-test will be used for the purpose of the analysis.

1.8 LIMITATION OF STUDY

FINANCIAL CONSTRAINTS:

The researcher was not with sufficient funds, so he or she could not reach out to all the communities in Nigeria to find out more on the effect of single parenting on the behavioural pattern of children but he  or she was able to get the information required for the completiion of the research work.

TIME CONSTRINTS:

Due to insufficient time for the research work to be competed, the researcher could not visit more place and make other finding but was able to gather meaningful information that will see the research work to completion, and he or she was able to meet up with the time for the presentation of the research work.

1.9 ORGANISATION OF THE RESEARCH WORK

The research work is divided into chapters, the chapter one, chapter two, chapter three, chapter four and chapter five; the chapter one of the research work contain, the introductory and the background aspect of the topic, the chapter two consist of the conceptual frame work, the theoretical frame work and the empirical review, the chapter three contain the derivation of the methodology, chapter four contain the presentation of data and interpretation while chapter five contain the summary, the conclusion and the recommendations.

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