Parental Conflicts And Behavioural Problems Among Adolescents

Parental Conflicts And Behavioural Problems Among Adolescents In Abak Local Government Area

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

• Background to the Study

Conflict is inevitable in all interpersonal relationships. Conflict connotes disagreement and quarrel. It can be defined as the escalation of a disagreement, which is a common prerequisite and it is characterized by the existence of destructive behaviour in which the people involved are actively trying to damage one another. It can also be defined as lack of peace in the environment, which implies clash of interest.

Conflict in a family therefore, refers to a situation whereby the smooth interaction and relationship among members of a family is disrupted. This can be between the parents, among the parents and the children. Conflict in a family is usually characterized with emotional upset, feelings of anxiety, anger and can be heightened by abusive languages and hostile actions. Conflict in a family could arise as a result of lack of trust, inadequate communication, history of infidelity, lack of respect, joblessness and idleness.

According to Kusekwa (2016), in a study in Dares Salaam and Coast Region of Tanzania, parental conflict can be defined as anger that is overtly expressed, hostility and disagreement between husband and wife. Nan, Hongjian, & Esther (2017) notes that a distressed couple is normally characterized by interactions that marked by mutual negativity, physical aggression and escalating anger. The causes of parental conflict are many and may differ depending on the circumstances of the couples involved. National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development (2017) gives several causes of parental conflicts such as incompatibility, role confusion, behavioural contingencies, dissatisfaction and communication are among the most common causes of parental conflicts.

One fifth of the world’s populations, a total of 1.2 billion people, are adolescents and 85% of them are in the developing world (WHO, 2012). This life stage is characterized by increased insight into the family environment, responsibilities inside and outside the home, burgeoning capabilities to influence the family environment, and legal/social consequences due to misbehavior (Fisher, 2012).

The family is the adolescent’s principal resource of meeting the needs for protection, emotional support, education, and socialization (Kliegman, 2006). Parents provide their adolescents with the values, beliefs, rituals, and behaviors learned and transmitted across family generations (Ball, 2012). Risky families are characterized by conflict and aggression and by relationships that are cold, unsupportive, and neglectful (Cummings, 2010). Parental conflict is a ubiquitous feature of family life (Baviskar, 2010). It involves multiple dimensions: frequency, intensity, content, and resolution (Moura, 2010, Chappel, 2011). Adolescent’s perceptions and interpretations of the conflict significantly influence their function (Albow, 2009), through both direct and indirect pathways (Faircloth, 2012). Adolescents are at risk for developing internalizing and externalizing behaviors because they are aware of the implications of the parental conflict (Fisher, 2012).

Conflict is inevitable in all interpersonal relationships. Parental conflict has a strong impact not only on family relationships but also on the attitudes and behaviour of adolescents. Parents have different ideas, opinions, values and priorities which cause disputes among them. Sarrazin and Cyr (2007) remarked that when parents are in conflict, adolescents are greatly affected. Parental conflicts usually lead to adolescent’s maladjustment and confusion which consequently results in negative effects on social, cognitive, educational and psychological functions (Cummings & Davies, 2002). Harold and Sellers (2018) reported that adolescents experiencing parental conflict are at the risk of mental health problems and future psychiatric disorder. Sturge-Apple, Skibo and Davies (2012) added that the impact of parental conflict on adolescents is usually traumatic and devastating. It is characterized with significant distress and psychological problems. Rivett, Howarth and Harold (2006) opined that adolescent brought up in households exposed to acute or chronic economic strain, parental conflict have been shown to experience a variety of negative psychological outcomes, including increased anxiety, depression, aggression, hostility and anti-social behaviour. Adolescents raised in families where parental conflict exist frequently report difficulties in forming and maintaining intimate relationships, maintaining positive self-esteem, and trusting others. They fear a loss of control, and deny their feelings and reality (Coohey, Renner, Hua, Zhang & Whitney, 2011).

Conflict connotes disagreement and quarrel. It can be defined as the escalation of a disagreement, which is a common prerequisite and it is characterized by the existence of destructive behaviour in which the people involved are actively trying to damage one another. It can also be defined as lack of peace in the environment, which implies clash of interest. Conflict in a family therefore, refers to a situation whereby the smooth interaction and relationship among members of a family is disrupted. This can be between the parents, among the parents and the children. Conflict in a family is usually characterized with emotional upset, feelings of anxiety, anger and can be heightened by abusive languages and hostile actions. Conflict in a family could arise as a result of lack of trust, inadequate communication, history of infidelity, lack of respect, joblessness and idleness.

Family is a very important agent of socialization. Parental disposition plays a vital role in determining who the adolescents are and how the adolescents would behave. Amir (2017) viewed that the behavioural, emotional and physical outcomes of adolescents largely depend on parents. Cohesive families are characterized by a smooth atmosphere of support and understanding. According to Barthassat (2014), parental conflict is regarded as a disagreement that results into lesser interaction of the parent; this can be frequent, explosive, intense, unresolved and harmful. Parental conflicts occur because of the presence of strong negative emotions, misperceptions or stereotypes, poor communication or miscommunication, or repetitive negative behaviours. Its negative impact is on members who witness such violence or abuse between parents.

According to Nielsen (2017), parental conflict is not uncommon. How often the parent fight, how intense, angry or hurtful they are and how long such conflicts last are all factors in the adolescent’s adjustment (Goeke-Morey, Cummings & Papp, 2007). Conflict may have different forms; verbal attacks, physical abuse, emotional abuse, nagging, argument, disagreement, physical abuse, damaging of properties. Conflict tends to escalate by one parent wanting to pursue the misunderstanding through yelling and nagging, trivial issues remain unresolved for lengthy days, creating tension and affecting adolescents’ mental health; such erodes good relationships. Adolescents are fully aware of their parental battles even behind closed doors. Adolescents highly tuned to their parent’s emotional state of mind during cries. They understand when there is conflict and recognized it if it has been resolved. Such conflict has a profound effect on the adolescents, causing many problems, such as behaviour and academic difficulties.

Parental conflicts predispose children to behaviour problems that are unhealthy and risky (Borst, 2015; Goldberg and Carlson, 2014). Behaviour problems are at-risk characters that hinder social relations, communications, learning of an adolescent and causing harm to them, their families, their peers and other adults. It manifests astruants and displays tendency to violence. Behaviour problems prevent the adolescents from using his current skills and also prevent the adolescent from acquiring new ones. Tendency to harm is also seen in adolescents with behaviour problems, they are prone to harm themselves or others close to them and this poses a serious danger. They also have the tendency to manifest moderate to severe mental health issues, including possible depression, worry, sadness, anxiety and suicidal thoughts (Brock and Kochanska, 2016; Harold and Sellers, 2018).

The results of the effect of parents’ gender on conflict were inconsistent. Some studies emphasized that adolescents had more conflicts with their mothers than with their fathers (Lausen, 1995); other researchers found no differences in parents’ gender (Van Doorn et al., 2009). Additionally, it is clear that different types of conflict issues are argued with mothers rather than with fathers (Laursen, 1995). These results may be attributable to the changes in the interaction with parents as a result of age. A study showed that while conflict engagement with mothers increased with age but there was no change with fathers (Van Doorn et al., 2009). Therefore, both adolescents’ and parents’ gender were investigated in the current study.

1.2     Statement of the Problem      

Parental personality determines significantly the way of life of adolescents. It influences the well-being as well as the crises faced by the adolescents. Parental conflicts make the adolescents vulnerable to truancy, violence, maladjustment, indiscipline, aggressiveness, academic problems and other behavioural problems. Parental conflicts prevent good intra and inter personal relationships. It develops poor parent, siblings and peer relationship. It causes disturbances and hostility in the future relationship.

In the society nowadays, adolescents exhibit habits of absconding from schools, bullying, lateness, learning disorder and shyness. Some adolescents also have higher levels of internalizing symptoms and externalizing problems, such as, emotional imbalance and poor social interaction. Some adolescents become addicted to smoking, alcohol, and/or drugs, especially if parents or friends have done the same. Some of these adolescents bully or harass others, or become victims of dangerous settings. A good number of these adolescents grow up in denial regarding the severity of the family’s situation and have mixed feelings of love and hate towards certain family members. Some end up becoming sex offenders, possibly including pedophilia.

Harkness and Lumley stated that most of these adolescents, as they grow up, have difficulties in forming healthy relationships within their peer group, usually due to shyness or a personality disorder. They tend to spend great amount of time alone watching television, playing video games, surfing the internet, listening to music, and other activities which lack interpersonal and social interactions. Most of them often feel angry, anxious, depressed, isolated from others, or unlovable and may have speech disorders related to emotional abuse (Harkness and Lumley, 2008). Amir also noted that they have a general mistrust of other people or even have psychotic disorder and become juvenile delinquents, easily turning to a life of crime; with or without dropping out of school, and possibly enlisting as gang members as well. They have low self-esteem or a poor self-image with difficulty expressing emotions (Amir, 2017) and struggle academically at school or their academic performance declines unexpectedly, among others.

Carlyn Daubs (2013) pay little or no attention to the gender of the respondents as considered in their research of parental conflict and behavioural problems of adolescents. Few research such as “Adolescent Behavior Problems and Interparental Conflict: The Moderating Role of Parent-Child Attachment” has been done to investigate the relationship between parental conflicts and adolescents’ behavioural problems. Therefore, on this note, this research investigates the behavioral problems of male and female respondents and the relationship of parental conflicts and adolescents’ behavioural problems.

1.3     Objectives of the Study

The study aimed at the following objectives:

1. Establish the demographic characteristics of respondents in Abak Local Government Area.
2. Identify the common areas of conflicts among parents of adolescents in Abak Local Government Area.

• Identify the behavioural problems exhibited by adolescents in the midst of parental conflicts.

1. Establish the association between parental conflicts and adolescents’ behaviour problems.

• Research Questions

1. What are the demographic characteristics of adolescents in the study?
2. What are the common areas of conflicts among parents of adolescents in the study?

• What are the behavioural problems exhibited by adolescents in the midst of parental conflicts?

1. What are association between parental conflicts and adolescents behavior problems?
   • Hypothesis of the study
2. There is no significant relationship between parental conflicts and adolescents’ behavioural problems.
3. There is no significant difference in the behaviour problems of male and female respondents in the study.

• Significance of the Study

The study if given wide publication will be beneficial to family members, parents and intending parents, adolescents, researchers and the government.

To parents and intended parents, it will enable them to understand better how to manage conflicts in order to reduce their negative effects on. It will also help them to be disciplined not letting the parental conflicts have a negative influence on their adolescents’ behaviour. It will also help them train their adolescents in a way that they will not fall a victim of parental conflicts.

To adolescents, it will sensitize them on the coping strategies to adopt in order to live optimally in a conflict-based environment.

Moreover, the research would be a worthy contribution to the contemporary state of knowledge in the interdisciplinary efforts to promote healthy development of children from negative consequences of parental conflict.

Finally, this study will serve to boast literature and research on the impact of parental conflicts on adolescents’ behavioural problems. It will also be of substantial significance to researchers who wish to embark on further research on the influence of parental conflicts on adolescents’ behavioural problems and fill the research gaps.

• Scope of the Study

The study will be conducted to obtain background information on parental conflicts, behavioural problems of adolescents in the study and the relationship between parental conflicts and behaviour problems of adolescents in Abak local government area, Akwa Ibom State.