CHAPTER ONE

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1   BACKGROUND OF STUDY

The home has a great influence on the child’s psychological, emotional, social and economic state because it is the first training ground and the foundation for the child, whatever happens at home therefore, go a long way in affecting the behavioural and psychological upbringing of the child. (Meltzer, 2009). The home environment is considered a powerful influence on the child. It is viewed as consequential for child developmental outcomes such as cognitive ability, school readiness, academic achievement and emotional adjustment.

There are evidences from all parts of the world that some homes are witnessing severe domestic violence which are found to be impacting seriously on the children from such homes. Home violence is a pattern of abusive behaviours used by one partner to gain or maintain power and control over another intimate partner in any relationship such as marriage, dating, family or cohabitation. It can be physical, sexual, emotional, economic, or psychological actions or threats of actions that influence another person. This includes any behaviour that intimidates, manipulate, humiliate, isolate, frighten, terrorize, coerce, threaten, blame, hurt, injure, or wound someone. Home violence can happen to anyone regardless of race, age, sexual orientation, religion, or gender, (Siemienuk, Krentz, Gish and Gill, 2010).

Ganley (1989) states that Domestic violence includes: physical abuse, sexual abuse, psychological abuse and abuse to property and pets. According to him, exposure to these forms of violence has considerable potential to be perceived as life threatening by those victimized and can leave them with a sense of vulnerability, helplessness and in extreme cases horror.

The academic performance of any child cannot be separated from the home environment in which the child grows up (Fantuzzo, Tighe, and Childs, 2000). Academic performance is an important parameter in measuring success in students. A key goal of education is to ensure that every student has a chance to excel, both in school and in life. Student’s performances in school depend on the students’ mental and physical abilities which are influenced by other factors. Among the domineering factors that affect students learning is the home.

The home has a great influence on the child’s psychological, emotional, social and economic state. This is because the domestic violence in context to the child’s performance affects his reaction to life situations and his level of performance. The success at school is associated with domestic violence factors, as these factors can greatly affect young children’s cognitive skills.

Disadvantaged children (Children with poor social background and facing more number of domestic violence factors) start schooling with significantly lower cognitive skills than their more advantaged peers. The short-term and long-term emotional and physical aftermath of domestic violence may affect pupil’s school attendance, academic performance, and behavioural patterns both in school and class participation. This is because domestic violence in context to the child’s performance affects his/her reaction to life situations and level of performance (Rossman 2001; Wathen 2003; Osofsky 2003; Lundy and Grossman 2005; Bogat, Dejonghe,Levendosky, Davidson and Von, 2006).

1.2   STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Student’s performances in school depend on the students’ mental and physical abilities which are influenced by other factors. Among the domineering factors that affect students learning is the home. Home violence could be exhibited through lack of concentration, late attendances to school, truancy and violence in schools among others which might lead to overall poor performance in public high schools. This might be very possible in a situation whereby the teachers in the school do not know how to handle the students that encounter home violence from their different homes. It could also be that the government have not really taken the issue of home or domestic violence to be serious, thereby paying less attention to this kind of issues. Finally, several researches has been carried out on the domestic violence and academic performance of students but not even a single research has been carried out on the effect of home violence on students’ academic performance in civic education in senior secondary schools in Jos North of Plateau state.

1.3   AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF STUDY

        The main aim of the study is to determine the effect of home violence on students’ academic performance. Other specific objectives of the study include:

1. to determine the extent to which home violence affects student’ academic performance.
2. to determine the factors affecting home violence and students’ academic performance.
3. to determine the influence of home violence on students’ academic performance.
4. to proffer possible solutions to the problems.

1.4   RESEARCH QUESTIONS               

1. What is the extent to which home violence affects student’ academic performance?
2. What are the factors affecting home violence and students’ academic performance?
3. What is the influence of home violence on students’ academic performance?
4. What are the possible solutions to the problems?

1.5   STATEMENT OF RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS

H0:    Home violence has no significant effect on students’ academic performance.

H1:         Home violence has a significant effect on students’ academic performance.

1.6   SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY

        The study on the effect of home violence on students’ academic performance will be of immense benefit to the entire senior secondary schools in Jos north of Plateau state in the sense that it will help in publicizing domestic violence as a real problem which needs attention and which needs to be addressed. It will be beneficial to teachers who will better know how to identify students affected by domestic violence and get better ways of handling them. It will also be beneficial to parents who will know how to handle and treat their children. It will also enable the government to better address domestic violence as an issue affecting students’ performance in secondary schools and also make the defaulters to pay severely for the damages and their unacceptable behaviours in the society. Finally, the study will contribute to the body of existing literature and knowledge to this field of study and basis for further research.

1.7   SCOPE OF STUDY

        The study on the effect of home violence on students academic performance is limited to civic education in senior secondary schools in Jos north of Plateau state.

1.8   LIMITATION OF STUDY

Financial constraint- Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).

Time constraint- The researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. This consequently will cut down on the time devoted for the research work.

1.9   DEFINITION OF TERMS

Effect      A change which is a result or consequence of an action or other cause.

Violence  A fight between two people or groups

Home Violence       Is a fight between members of the same family

Student   Is primarily a person enrolled in a school or other educational institution who attends classes in a course to attain the appropriate level of mastery of a subject under the guidance of an instructor and who devotes time outside class to do whatever activities the instructor assigns that are necessary either for class preparation or to submit evidence of progress towards that mastery.

Academic Performance  Is the extent to which a student, teacher or institution has achieved their short or long-term educational goals. 

Civic Education       In self government. Democratic self government means that citizens are actively involved in their own governance; they do not just passively accept the dictums of others or acquiesce to the demands of others.