POLYGAMY AND FAMILY SIZE AS A DETERMINANTS OF STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN SELECTED SECONDARY SCHOOLS
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POLYGAMY AND
FAMILY SIZE AS A DETERMINANTS OF STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN SELECTED
SECONDARY SCHOOLS
ABSTRACT
The study
examines the effect of polygamy and large family size on students’ academic
performance in selected secondary schools in Ikorodu Local Government Area of
Lagos State. The descriptive research
survey was employed in the assessment of the respondents’ opinions with the aid
of a questionnaire. A total of 350 (three hundred and fifty) respondents made
up (175 males and 175 females) were selected to represent the entire population
of the study. Four (4) hypotheses were tested in this study, with the aid of
the independent t-test statistical tool for hypotheses one, three and four,
while hypothesis two was tested with the use of the Pearson Product Moment
Correlational Coefficient statistical instrument. All the hypotheses were
tested at 0.05 level of significance. At the end of the data analyses, the
following results were obtained; that there is a significant effect of polygamy
on students’ social adjustment, there is a significant relationship between
polygamous/large family size and students’ academic performance, there is no
significant difference between the performance of students who live in
polygamous/large family size and those in monogamous/small family size, and
there is a significant impact of lack of fatherly attention on students’
academic performance in school.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background
to the Study
The human
family has long been besieged by many problems. The problems in question,
existed side by side with the human without threatening it with extinction.
History relates with the effects of child abuse and neglect, abject poverty,
wife battery, absentee husbands, child trafficking, adolescent problems,
economic austerity, famine, insecurity, violence, divorce and separation.
According to Annie (2000), the recent problem facing the family structure in
the contemporary society, is the problem of polygamy and large family size.
Anthropological
literature often report that African cultures are greatly polygamous, the term
used when one man has more than one wife. Traditionally, it is the woman who
chooses a co-wife – someone with who she can cope well, like a younger sister
or cousin, and in cases where the husband needs a subsequent wife, the
preceding wives get to pick their co-wife or wives (Whyte, 1990).
According to
Ekiran (2003), the polygamous family is any type of plural marriage. This could
be polygamy, in which a man is married to two or more women at the same time.
Care of the major characteristics of polygamous family is large family size.
For instance, in a polygamous family, a man has many wives and many children.
In most cases, the husband of the house may not be wealthy to take care of all
the members of the family. In this case, the educational career of the children
suffers a lot of set backs (Uzomah, 2006).
According to
Nkemdirim (2005), most children who come from the polygamous homes hardly
perform well in their academic work. He opined that children from the
monogamous homes perform better than their counterparts who come from the
polygamous families.
Adeogun
(2000) is of the opinion that children do well in school when they are supported
by their parents, and on the other hand, do not perform well if their parents
fail to support their educational career. In a polygamous family where the size
of the family is quite large, the man who is the bread-winner, may not be able
to pay the school fees of the children, purchase their educational materials
such as books, school uniforms, pocket money and other items necessary for the
children’s success in school. When a student lacks the opportunity of being
provided for and supported to succeed in his or her education, the child may
not have high educational achievement (Ayo, 2002). Parents who have many
children as a result of polygamy, oftentimes, fail to cater for all the
children by giving them equal and unbiased treatment. According to Uzodike
(2000), parents who are polygamists, are noted for giving unequal treatment to
their children/wards. In many polygamous homes, parents are selective in the
education of their children/wards. For instance, they do not allow all children
to go to school, due to the fact that they (parents), do not have the to
sponsor all their children’s education. Rather, they send some of their
children to school, while some of them are forced to learn one trade or the
other because, the meagre resources of the family will not be able to support
all the children through school.
In most
cases, Adekoya (1990) stated that parents who belong to the polygamous homes
are not educated and so, do not know the importance of education to the
children. For the fact that they are not educated, coupled with their positions
as poor individuals, find it difficult to train their children to school. Some
of them learnt one trade or the other, prefer their children to toe their lines
of trades or businesses, instead of wasting time going through the rigours of
education and learning.
In a study
carried out by Onyeji (2001) most polygamous homes do not support the education
of their children, because the children are too many to be educated. In another
development, children from monogamous homes tend to be more educated than their
counterparts in the polygamous homes. Reason is that children are few in the
monogamous homes, and this helps parents to sponsor them through school because
they can afford to pay their school fees and other payments in the school. This
situation has caused children who are in monogamous homes to have more academic
achievement than those in polygamous homes who are greater in number.
The effect
of a large family on academic achievement of a child cannot be overemphasised.
According to Munonye (1999) the size of a family may affect the academic
performance of the child directly or indirectly. In a study conducted by
Musgrave (1996) the researcher asserted that intelligent parents show their
intelligence by limiting the size of their families. He opined that in a small
family, the child is in close touch with his or her parents, and uses more
grown up language and ideas than he or she would have done if it were in a
cloud of siblings, especially in a polygamous home.
Oloko (1999)
revealed that some pupils from large families, have little or no time to read
or even to do their home works. They work till late in the might and the
following day, they sleep in the classroom while the lessons are going on.
Often, this has negative effect on academic performance. Ola (1990) discovered
the same effect of hawking on some Lagos State primary school children who hawk
during traffic hold ups. She concluded that the large family size due to
polygamous structure, has forced them to look elsewhere to find other means of
getting money to feed the family. They neither have time to take siesta nor
have time to study in the evening. Thus, they perform poorly academically.
As Gallapher
(1999) puts, in a family that is relatively large, especially in the polygamous
ones, no one child is focused up and so, the parents especially the father
cannot afford to offer them all, adequate and equal amount of assistance both
in their studies and parental cares needed by the child.
Muntreal
(1991), agreed that children from small size family, perform better than those
from large size family. Fraser (1993), also supported the argument that
children of large families, have limited opportunities, verbal symbols, hence,
they are at disadvantage not only in terms of verbal fluency and vocabulary,
but also in the process which depend so largely on the acquisition of these
verbal symbols.
In a related
study, Nimkoff (2000) stated that large families or polygamous marriages tend
to lower the educational achievement of “more capital members of the family”
and thereby lowering their economic incentive than children from small families
in some cases, monogamous marriages. Large families, according to Adamson
(2004) restricts choice of opportunity because decisions are supposed to be
made on the basis of what is best for the family, and not for the individual.
It is
against this background that this study, an examination of polygamous and
family size as determinants of students’ academic performance was carried out.
Statement of
the Problem
The problems
that are inherent in polygamous as a type of family system cannot be
over-emphasised. This is because, the polygamous family structure is usually
characterised with large family size comprising mostly of children and wives.
Also, the resultant effect of large family size is as a result of polygamy,
especially on the academic performance of students which cannot be
overemphasised. What this means is that, in most cases, large family size does
not augur well with high academic achievement of children. According to
Musgrave (1994), the size of the family may affect the academic performance of
the child either positively or negatively. In a polygamous family where the
size of the family is quite large, the man who is the bread-winner, may not be
able to pay the school fees of the children, purchase their educational
materials such as books, school uniforms, pocket money and other items
necessary for the children’s success in school. When a student lacks the
opportunity of being provided for and supported to succeed in his or her
education, the child may not have high educational achievement (Ayo, 2002).
Parents who have many children as a result of polygamy, oftentimes, fail to
cater for all the children by giving them equal and unbiased treatment
The above
problems, give rise to the examination of the effect of polygamous and family
size on student’s academic performance.
Purpose of
the Study
The purpose
of this study is to:
1. Find out the effects of polygamy on
the family.
2. To find out whether polygamous and
large family size have influences on students’ academic performance in schools.
3. To find out if students from
polygamous and large size families perform poorly than students from monogamous
or small size families.
4. To find out if lack of fatherly
attention in a polygamous home has negative impact on students’ academic
performance.
5. To find out if school management
including disciplinary committee handles problems arising from polygamous and
large size families.
Research
Questions
The
following research questions were raised in this study:
(1) What are the possible effects of
polygamy on the family?
(2) Do polygamous and large family size
have influence on students’ academic performance?
(3) Do students from polygamous and large
family size perform poorly than those from monogamous or small size families?
(4) Does lack of fatherly attention in a
polygamous family have impact on students’ academic achievement?
(5) To what extent do school management
and disciplinary committee handle problems arising from polygamous and large
family size?
(6) Will there be a possible solution to
the problem of polygamy and large family size on students’ academic
achievement?
Hypotheses
The
following hypotheses were tested in this study:
(1) There will be no significant effects
of polygamy on social adjustment of students in the school.
(2) There will be no significant
relationship between polygamy and large family size and students’ academic
performance.
(3) There will be no significant
difference between the performance of students from polygamous and large family
size and those from monogamous or small size families.
(4) There will be no significant impact of
lack of fatherly attention on students’ academic performance.
Significance
of the Study
The findings
will be of immense worth to parents and adults to know the impact of polygamy
in their children’s academic performance at school and to know the hazards of
keeping large family sizes.
The study
will also help the students greatly because it will enlighten them on some of
the variables that will contribute to their academic failure and to consult the
school counsellor who will assist them to find solutions to their home
problems.
This
research will further equip the school counsellors, psychologists,
sociologists, educators and the general public with a thorough understanding of
different family backgrounds, the associated problems and the extent to which
these variables influence students in the school.
At the end
of the research work, the government and the policy makers will see the need
for providing all secondary schools with guidance counsellors, psychologists
and sociologists whose duty is to relate students academic problem to such
factors as the family size and parental background, and the parental variables
so as to help foster and better their academic performance.
Theoretical
Framework
The
Conflict-Marxian Theory of Family
Marx Weber
(1864 – 1920)
This theory
see the process of marriage and the family as sympathetic in which members of
the family encounter unending problem of conflicting interests. The
Conflict-Marxian theorists perceive marriage and the family as a continuous
competitive social system. Arnolds (1990) stated that competitive, due to its
nature of being a state of negative interdependence between the elements of
social system. Due to this conflict, there is gain/loose situation, because
what is gained to one party, becomes loose to the other party in the great
divide. The most important ingredients or elements in the conflict – Marxian
theory is that conflict is unavoidable part of humanity and associations which
involves family life and marriage. Adamson (2000) observed that the Marxian
theories see the family as an institution surrounded with inevitable
confrontation or conflict and of constant state of change. The emphasis worthy
of note in this theory, is the competing needs, values, goalsor objectives of
partners who are involved in marital unions. For the fact that people’s
wants/needs are scarce and in little quantity, therefore, this desires to
attain or get one’s needs or wants, brings about competition and conflicts
among people in the society, more especially the family.
Edith (1998)
stated that the Conflict – Marxian theorists do not see the constant
confrontation in the family as necessarily destructive, rather they consider
conflict in the family as essential element and catalyst of interest that are
out to be treated in a constructive manner through negotiation and compromise.
The Conflict-Marxian theorists therefore, perceive conflicts in the family
potentials for the promotion and enhancement of interpersonal growth and
development in the family.
The above
theory is apt to the topic polygamy and family size and the students’ academic
performance. This is because in polygamous and large sized families, there tend
to be rivalries between wives and among children of the wives. Most times, this
rivalry bring about hatred among the children and among the wives of the
polygamous man. The after effect could be the man loving some children and
hating some of them. In other words, he could be selective of who to sponsor to
school and whom he should not.
Scope of the
Study
The study
will be limited to Ikorodu Education Zone of Lagos State.
Definition
of Terms
Family Size:
This is a number of people in a family which includes father, wife/wives, the
children, relatives and other dependents.
Small Size
Family: A family comprising parents with one to four children.
Large Size
Family: This is a family comprising of parents with five and above number of
children with relatives and other dependents.
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