PARENTAL MARITAL STATUS AND ITS EFFECTS ON UNDERGRADUATES SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR

PARENTAL MARITAL STATUS AND ITS EFFECTS ON UNDERGRADUATES SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1                Background of the study

In our society, there is growing concern about incidents of youth social behavior. Part of this concern stems from the impact of parents’ marital status on their children’s social behavior, which has a broader impact on society as a whole. The family unit is the foundation of society. It is at the heart of the socialization process, where children are well integrated into the adult world. It is widely held that a child is not born human or social. Only through interaction with others in the environment does he develop his true human nature and personality. This statement implies that the environment (including the family) and culture provide content and direction for the development of individuals in society (Allport 1949,

(1949, Kluckhohn and Marray).

Parents, as the primary socializers of their children, must understand their children’s developmental patterns. This will improve the appropriate methods of child rearing used with each child, as well as devise methods of dealing with their numerous social problems. As a result, children born from the same parents differ significantly, and one method of raising them may not work well for all of them. Parents, as the child’s first teachers, are responsible for socializing and teaching the child the accepted values, norms, and traditions of society. Their failure to use the best method for each child has an impact on the individual’s social life. According to Onyejiaku (1991), human socialization is a complex process. No adolescent is born into the world knowing everything.

of right and wrong, as well as an understanding of society’s accepted patterns of behavior. Individual socialization necessitates long-term training of the child in order for the child to acquire accepted attitudes, beliefs, values, customs, roles, and expectations of the adult generation.

Previously, anti-social behavior in children could be linked to parental marital status. Absenteeism from school and class, school dropout, smoking, drug addiction, drunkenness, prostitution, cultism, robbery, and other antisocial behaviors are common among youths. Most teenagers engage in these deviant behaviors to distract themselves from life’s problems. Child rearing is a joint responsibility of both parents who live together as husband and wife. Most homes where there is a lack of

When one or both parents divorce, die, or are killed in a natural disaster, there is often less control and supervision of the adolescents’ behavior. On that note, social behavior is the foundation for young people’s effective and successful participation in society. The socialization process teaches a person his place in the social matrix as well as the ways and values of the larger community in which he will eventually assume adult responsibilities.

Most people believe that the family has little or nothing to offer during adolescence. However, researchers believe that the family continues to influence the individual’s personality during adolescence. Pringle (1962) claims that the capacity for integration and creativity has roots in a happy, good family.

A united home provides a supportive and encouraging environment for social behavior patterns and academic success. According to Henscin (1980), studying the family situation is necessary to understand the behavior of youths. He believes that the more unstable the family and its living arrangements, the more likely the child’s emotional and behavioral problems will be exacerbated. It implies that, if the home and society are to achieve a better and greater tomorrow, there is a need for re-orientation on the rising incidence of divorce and separation in families, as well as its negative impact on the social behavior of youths.

Similarly, a child’s emotional disposition and behavioral pattern are influenced by the type of home he or she comes from. Separated children are frequently more maladjusted than those from intact families. As a result, they have a low self-esteem, withdrawal syndrome, inferiority complex, truancy, lawlessness, criminal tendencies, and tell many lies in defense. Okwubunka (1988) asserts that youths from separated homes lack confidence in their social skills, which is a symptom of a -inner social anxiety; these children grow up to be anxious, neurotic bullies, cheats, and liars. The adult’s carefree, disorganized, disordered, and indisciplined lifestyle has bled over and infested the young person. Part of this carefree attitude often leads to separation or divorce, which has a negative impact on youths’ social behavioral patterns. As a result, it is the adult’s significant order.

life to positively or negatively influence the process of identity formation of adolescents during this period in their lifestyle, sex, mode of dressing, drug use, and so on.

1.2 Research problem statement

The parental marital status could be linked to anti-social behavior in children. Absenteeism from school and class, school dropout, smoking, drug addiction, drunkenness, prostitution, cultism, robbery, and other antisocial behaviors are common among adolescents. Most adolescents engage in these deviant behaviors to distract themselves from life’s problems. Child rearing is a joint responsibility of both parents who live together as husband and wife. In most homes where one or both parents are absent due to divorce, death, or natural disaster,

Adolescent behavior is frequently subject to less control and supervision. This study will go over all of this and more.

1.3 The study’s objectives

The following are the primary goals of this study:

To investigate the impact of parental marital status on youth behavior.

To determine whether there is a link between parents’ marital status and youth behavior.

To propose solutions to some of the societal vices committed by young people.

1.4 Hypothesis of research

HO: Parental marital status has no effect on youth behavior.

HO: There is no link between parental marital status and adolescent behavior.

1.5 The study’s significance

The focus of this study will be on parental status and its impact on undergraduate social behavior.

The

The findings of this research will undoubtedly provide much needed information to government organizations, non-governmental organizations, individuals, and academia.

1.6 The Study’s Scope

The purpose of this study is to investigate parental status and its impact on undergraduate social behavior. As a result, this study is limited to students and lecturers at the University of Lagos (UNILAG) in Lagos state, and will serve as our case study.

1.7 Research limitations

A number of factors hampered this study, which are as follows:

Given the current economic conditions, financial constraints are unavoidable. Due to a lack of funds at the researchers’ disposal to obtain materials and print questionnaires. it was not possible to visit some of the police stations and some of the victims of

In developing countries such as Nigeria, there is a data shortage.

Time constraint: Another constraint is time, which makes it difficult for the researcher to shuttle between writing the research and engaging in other academic work.

1.8 Term operational definition

Parental: pertaining to a person’s parent(s).

Marital status: a person’s situation in terms of being single, married, separated, divorced, or widowed.

Undergraduate: a university student who has not yet completed his or her first degree.

Social behavior is defined as behavior between two or more organisms of the same species, and it includes any behavior in which one member affects the other.