Psychological Influence of Parental Separations and Divorce on Student’s Academic Performance in Some Selected Secondary Schools in Ogun State

Abstract

Issue related to divorce and separations has become a global concern which deprives many school children the opportunity to attain academic excellence in their lives Many misconceptions are surrounding parental separations and divorce in every society which has assumed a worrisome dimension in the last two decades. Though many explanations have been advanced for the dramatic increase in the rate of divorce and separations from the ‘90s. While some individuals claimed this to be unconnected with the changes in the divorce laws in the ‘80s, others contested this submission. The study looks at the ‘psychological influence of parental separation and divorce and how it affects the student’s academic performances in some selected secondary schools in Ijebu North Local Government Area of Ogun State. Descriptive survey research was adopted in the study, whilst 100 students who were identified to be living under single parenting were randomly selected from five secondary schools within the local government areas. The instrument used for data collection was solely questionnaires. The findings of the study revealed that a larger percentage of the respondents are sometimes psychologically depressed with unstable emotions which makes them feel uncomfortable in their academic pursuit whilst the result from the findings revealed that separated parents do not have enough time to either monitor or regularly supervise the academic progress of their wards whilst these children are normally not provided with the necessary learning materials to aid their learning. It was concluded that separation/divorce is social cancer that leads to poor academic performance while recommendation was made based on the outcome of the result from the findings that parents should be more enlightened knowing that the aftermath of divorce and separation always bounce back on the children. Hence couples should adopt dialogue and mutual discussion in resolving family related issues.