CHAPTER ONE
1.1       Background of Study
The home is an essential place in the upbringing of a child as the first environment within a family. The home, which is the traditional nuclear family, is the smallest unit and microcosm of the larger society (Anderson cited in Ekeke and Dorgu, 2014). Therefore, the family is a universal organization and it is hard to imagine how society can function without the family.
The family lays the foundation for the child before the child goes to school, and the personality that the child takes to school is determined by the home. The family has great influence on child’s physical, academic and moral development. Agulana (2000) pointed out that the family lays the psychological, moral, and spiritual foundation in the overall development of the child. Thus the home is faced with great responsibility that requires the full cooperation of both parents who must ensure the total development of their children.
Domestic violence has been part of the fabric of many societies and cultures worldwide. It is so commonplace, that it has often gone unnoticed and failed to receive the level of concern it deserves in light of the devastating effects on children and families (Wolfe and Jaffe, 1999).
Violence against women and girls continues unabated in every continent, country and culture. It takes a devastating toll on women‘s lives, on their families, and on society as a whole. Most societies prohibit such violence- yet the reality is that too often; it is covered up or tacitly condoned (UN, 2007). Domestic violence has been identified as an issue of global concern (Adekeye, 2008). While the level of violence against Nigerian women remains poorly mapped, in a report, more than two-fifths of women (43%) and almost one third of men (30%) agree that a husband is justified in beating his wife for certain reasons (National Demographic and Health Survey-NDHS, 2008).
Violence against women occurs in all social and economic classes, but women with low socio-economic status are more likely to experience violence (Adekeye, 2008). As noted by Abama & Kwaja (2009), more research is needed to fully understand the connections between poverty and violence against women. It is clear that poverty and its associated stressors are important contributors. A number of theories about why this is so have been explored. Men in difficult economic circumstances (e.g. unemployment, little job autonomy, low socioeconomic status or blocked advancement due to lack of education) may resort to violence out of frustration, and a sense of hopelessness, a condition akin to displacement in psychoanalysis. According to Birdsall, et al (2004), poor women who experience violence may have fewer resources to escape violence in the home.
Structurally, family/homes are either broken or intact. A broken home in this context is one that is not structurally intact, as a result of divorce, separation, death of one of parent and illegitimacy. Frazer (2004) posits that psychological home conditions arise mainly from illegitimacy of children, the label of adopted child, broken homes, divorce and parental deprivation. Such abnormal conditions of the home are likely to have a detrimental effect on school performance of the child.
Life in a broken home or single parent family can be stressful for both the child and the parent. Such families are faced with challenges of inadequate financial resources (children defense find 2004). Schults (2006) noted that if adolescents from unstable homes are to be compared with those from stable homes, it would be seen that the former have more social, academic and emotional problems. Thus, the family and its structure play a great role in children’s academic performance. Moreover, parents are probably the actor with the clearest undimentional interest in a high level of their children’s academic performance.
In Nigeria, the existence of single-parenthood was unknown and where they existed they were ignored as exceptional cases. However, nowadays, they are fast growing family patterns both inside and outside Nigeria. In Nigeria, among Yoruba’s, the parental roles are culturally determined and distributed. The maternal roles are that of child-rearing, home training and playing of complimentary roles, while the paternal roles are that of economic responsibilities and disciplines of children. The child is morally, mentally upright and emotionally balanced when the caring responsibilities are carried out by both parents. Therefore this study will investigate the influence of domestic violence and broken homes on adolescents’ academic performance.