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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 onsome
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
inevitableconfrontation or conflict and of constant state of change. The
emphasis worthy of note in this theory, is the competing needs, values, goals or
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.
TOPIC: POLYGAMY AND FAMILY SIZE AS DETERMINANTS OF STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE
Format: MS Word
Chapters: 1 - 5
Delivery: Email
Delivery: Email
Number of Pages: 65
Price: 3000 NGN
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