Effects of Broken Home to Child's Academic Performance

Broken relationships are a source of heavy heartbreak that seem to

affect every family according to Jerry Jenkins. Nobody in any family wants a
broken home. While it is easy to say that a family can handle anything for as
long as there is love between the parents and from the parents, there are
more things to consider and more loads to carry. No matter how ideal a
family is in terms of their relationship, there are still hardships and
misunderstandings that will come along the way. Often, it is the children who
get affected the most and particularly, their performance at school.
Children who come from broken families suffer damaging mental
difficulties as a result of marital woes going on between their parents.
Studies show that the childrens family backgrounds affect them more than
their financial standing, their health condition or their educational
attainment. The home of a child is his first foundation from where he gets
first-hand education and moral values. Agulana (1999) pointed out that the
family lays the psychological, moral, and spiritual foundation in the overall
development of the child. This is consistent with the propositions of
Psychologist John Bowlby in his Attachment theory. Bowlby studied childhood
development and proposed that a childs strong attachment to a caregiver
provides a sense of security and foundation. The child with a strong
attachment to a parent feels more secure and fearless. But without parents
or caregivers to be attached to, the child spends so much of his
developmental energy searching for stability and security. Consequently, he
performs poorly in school, his secondary environment. Now, with these
theories to consider in the process of understanding the behavior and
performance of students in school, it is important to take a look at what a
broken family looks like.
The national charity all about children and families in UK, the 4Children,
conducted through YouGov a survey of parents with children under the age of
18. The survey reveals that about 4 million families with children in UK go
through grave or frequent conflict. According to the report, children are the
main victims where specifically, 950,000 children are not only affected by
such conflicts but also by direct or indirect domestic violence. Note that most
of these conflicts resulting to violence within families are primarily caused by
financial problems and marital woes. A recent SWS survey showed that over
52% of Filipino families, which are estimated to be around 11.4 million
families, considered themselves poor in the 4th quarter of 2014. CBCP News
Service reports the increasing number of marriage annulment cases in the

Philippines has increased by 40 percent in the last ten years with at least 22
cases filed daily. With the data from the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG),
CBCPNews said the number of annulment cases had risen from 4,520 in 2001
to 8,282 in 2010. According to the report, 82 percent of those who filed these
cases had children and 59 percent of them had at least one or two kids, 22
percent had three to four and 1 percent had five to six kids (Philip Tubeza,
PDI/Asia News Network, 2011).
Who would ever want of not having a father or a mother by their side
to guide them and be with them during family days? This is not rocket
science. It is not too hard to recognize that the most broken kids, the most
troubled ones at school, often come from broken families. You try asking a
grade school student who just punched his seat mate, or a highschool
student who cannot focus in class. Try asking them what is pre-occupying
their minds and oftentimes, they will talk about their families. And while it is
not a surprising result of the shortcomings of the relationships within a
home, the increase in the number of marriage annulment cases in the
Philippines, as well as in other countries, is very disturbing. There is a
significant relationship between academic achievement and broken homes.
Scales and Roehlkepartain (2003) found that the family and the structure of
the family play a huge role in students' academic performance. A broken
home could hinder a student in his ability to succeed academically. Ayodele
(2006) also asserted that the environment of a child determines his learning
ability and ultimately, his academic performance in school.
Now, why can't both parents save their marriage and save their family
for the sake of their children? The two-parent family is still seen as ideal by
many kids these days. Single parenting can be tough not only for the single
parent, but also for the children. Single-parent families are faced with
challenges of insufficient financial resources (children defense find 2004).
Schults (2006) noted that if we compare young people from unstable homes
to those from stable homes, we would see that the former have more social,
academic and emotional issues. Dr John Tripp and Monica Cockett at Exeter
University matched a sample of 152 children with ages nine to ten and
thirteen to fourteen years old. Half of their families had broken up one or
more times. Through their study, they found out that students from broken
families, compared to those who come from stable and intact ones, were
twice as likely to have problems with behaviour and attainment at school.
They also suffer more with low confidence and have difficulties in making
and keeping friends. They also suffer from stress related diseases such as
headaches and stomachaches. Others just feel miserable to go to school.

However, some children, regardless of their home background or structure,

may work hard to become successful in life.
I have interviewed someone whose parents separated six years ago
when he was 10 years old because his father was a drunkard and his mother
got full of it. When his parents separated, they got left behind with his
fathers debt from the bankruptcy of their Agrivet business. According to my
interviewee, during that time he was still a young so he doesn't care nor he
doesn't feel anything and he doesn't have any reaction at all. His exact
words were, "Okay lang, " but now that he is mature already, he said, "Sad.
Kay lahi ra ang complete family." (Interview to anonymous, November 29,
2015) When I asked him if his studies were affected, he said, "Yes. I would
have done better in my studies if we were complete. But now, it also made
me think to do better on my studies." A broken home that is not structurally
intact is often a result of divorce, separation, death of one of the parents or
illegitimacy. According to Frazer (2004), home conditions which arise
primarily from illegitimacy of children, or separation and parental deprivation
lead to abnormal conditions of the home. These can have harmful effects on
the school performance of the child undergoing such circumstances. While
others may insist that poverty or conflict cause the mental troubles of
children, Dr. Tripp believes that it was the loss of a parent that affects a child
more terribly. "What parents don't realize is that while they may have
problems with each other, the children often have good relationships with
both parents - and they lose that when the family breaks up. In addition the
separation often did not end the conflict." The conflict just gets even worse
as the children get more involved. Research in the field of cognitive
psychology and education indicates that patterns of communication within
the family may influence cognitive development of the child. Instigating a
child to learn includes language development as well as encouragement for
him to learn relevant skills.
My interviewee is performing well in school. However, he is just one of
the millions of children all over the world who have broken families. Most of
these children have reacted negatively to their unfortunate situation and
have performed poorly in school or worse, have dropped out. Family
background may not be the only determiner of a successfully life, it is
definitely an essential factor. Filipinos, in particular, hold family values
seriously. We live better when we are together. We do not want to expose our
children, as much as possible, to the risks of family separation. It is
disturbing enough to know from a study by study by Maria Theresa Redaniel,
David Gunndell and May Antonnette Lebanan-Dalida, the most common

causes of the steady increase in suicide rates in the Philippines are family
and relationship problems. The young people, the students, are still
incapable of handling a broken home. Except for the very few who have
made positive outcomes from their circumstances, Filipino kids are largely
vulnerable to becoming out of school youth.
I would love to think that I have been exceptionally blessed for having
a complete family, with a mother and a father to rely on any time of the day.
We do not have a very convenient life but we are complete. I commend my
parents for trying so hard all these years to keep our family intact. It is never
easy for all parents but then, the key words here is just to try so hard, hard
enough to keep children in school, not anywhere else. After all, the kids do
not deserve a broken home. Actually, no one does.

WORKS CITED
European Centre for Research Training and Development UK, (2014)
http://www.eajournals.org/wp-content/uploads/Influence-of-Broken-Homes-onAcademic-Performance-and-Personality-Development-of-the-Adolescents-in-LagosState-Metropolis..pdf
Patrick Dixon How Broken Relationships Impact Children: Free Book - Rising Price Of
Love - Ch 6
http://www.globalchange.com/rising-price-of-love-chapter-6.htm
Christienne Tolero (2014) EFFECTS OF HAVING BROKEN FAMILY TO THE STUDY
HABITS OF THE STUDENT
https://prezi.com/ybplit765i6c/effects-of-having-broken-family-to-the-study-habitsof-the-s/
Philip Tubeza, (2011) Filipino marriage annulments increase by 40 percent:
reporthttp://www.chinapost.com.tw/asia/philippines/2011/03/28/296330/Filipinomarriage.htm
Attila Kulcsar (2012) Family conflict and violence affecting 4 million families
http://www.4children.org.uk/News/Detail/Family-conflict-and-violence-affecting-4million-families
http://www.cbcpnews.com/cbcpnews/?page_id=367
Relationship between broken homes and academic achievement of secondary
school students in Oredo Local Government Area of Edo State, Nigeria.

Anna Green The Effect of a Broken Family on Development

http://everydaylife.globalpost.com/effect-broken-family-development-5183.html
STEVE DOUGHTY (2008) Broken home children are 'five times more likely to suffer
mental troubles'
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1079510/Children-broken-homes-timeslikely-suffer-mental-troubles-says-Government-study.html
CARMELA G. LAPEA (2015) SPECIAL REPORT: Suicide and the Pinoy youth
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/524070/lifestyle/healthandwellness/specialreport-suicide-and-the-pinoy-youth#sthash.Woh7FZzj.dpuf
Jacque L. King Research Review: Work-Family/Family-Work Conflict
https://www.regent.edu/acad/global/publications/ijls/new/vol1iss1/practitioner/king.h
tm