Jamie Shalini Jadoonanan

Caribbean Studies IA

INTRODUCTION AND PURPOSE OF STUDY

Problem Statement: Understanding the relationship between divorced household and its impact

on the academic performance of students in Princes Town West Secondary.

Statement of Problem: Recent Studies have shown that over 3.2 million students are

underperforming worldwide each year and approximately 90% of teens come from divorced

households. According to Afifi, Divorce rates have increased dramatically on a global scale

since the 1960s, particularly in industrialized countries. Divorce may occur for several reasons

such as death, domestic abuse or separation. Divorce as well as these other reasons have a severe

impact on children. As such, this study serves to examine the living in a divorced household does

have an impact on the academic performance on students in Princes Town West Secondary.

Research Questions:

1 What is the level of the divorce rate of families in Princes Town West Secondary?

2 What are the factors that contribute toward a students low level of academic

performance?

3 How does living in a divorced household affect a students academic performance in

Princes Town West Secondary?

4 What strategies can be implemented to improve and maintain a high academic

performance in Princes Town West Secondary?

Purpose of the Study: Coming from a divorced household gravely affects students not only on an

academically but mentally and emotionally. In the school, Princes Town West Secondary, I

observed that there has been an escalation in the number of students complaining about focusing

on their school work, completing assignments and maintaining at least an average percentage.

The lower school are complaining to the upper students and to the teachers about their problems.

Teachers are complaining as they see a drastic drop in their academics and socialization.

Witnessing these impacts caused the researcher to investigate this topic more in depth. As such,

this research aims to investigate the impact that living in a divorced household has on students in

Princes Town West Secondary, so that the reader will have a better idea of the situation by these

unfortunate students.

Educational Value- This study will be beneficial to the students, parents and to the Ministry of

Education as it would provide data on the issue and to provide positive implementation strategies

to help these students living in divorced households. This studys data will be beneficial to

seminars in an effect to educate the public about this issue and for parents to have a better

understanding of the likeliness of their child in underperforming. They may educate other parents

to create a better environment for the students at home and in the school compound.

Technical Terms:

1 Divorce- is the termination of marital union, the cancelling or reorganizing of legal duties

and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the bonds of matrimony between a

married couple under the rules of law of the country or state.

2 Divorced Households- this is the single- parent families with children under age of

eighteen years headed by one parent who is not remarried which all live under the same

roof.
LITERATURE REVIEW

Marriage is viewed as a life-long contract that is not easily broken. When the contract is

broken, the resulting divorce influences the entire family. When the contract is broken, the

resulting divorce influences the entire family. Children may be torn between parents, forced to

live in one house and visit the other. The importance of this issue stems from the effect it may

have on children. They may struggle in school due to the stress of experiencing a divorce. This

may also be important when considering the academic achievement of the child or children.

The Express clearly shows statistics in 2007 that Trinidad and Tobago. Divorce

has risen by at least five percent (5%) in 2011 to 2015 alone; there have been 7123 applications

for divorce. These statistics clearly shows that the divorce rate in Trinidad and Tobago is

increasing. Recent Studies have been conducted in Princes Town Secondary to understand the

type of homes that the children come from and it is proven that out of every five children only

one childs parents married. This information indicates that the level of divorce rates in Princes

Town West Secondary are high which could be a main factor that impacts the students.

In Princes Town West Secondary, many of the students at the

school have low academic performance. This low level in academic performance has been going

on for years and in 2010, this institution was selected for the single gender initiative proposed by

Ministry of Education. However, in 2013 it failed as the students did not improve their academic

performance. There are many factors that explain their low level of academic performance in

Princes Town West Secondary such as; a lack of motivation as this plays an important role in

poor performance as it interferes fully with the student earning high grades but not motivatived

enough to achieve a desired goal. Secondly, Teachers may label a child with a title, this may

discourage the child or cause discomfort in the environment and will cause students to deter from
applying themselves to their best of abilities. Lastly, family related factors can play a critical role

in a students academic performance. Living in a divorced household may cause them to lose

focus on their academic focus. In Princes Town West Secondary, many of their students perform

poorly in academics and one of the main reasons for this is because they come from divorced or

broken households.

Living in a divorced household does have an impact on a student. The U.S.

Census of 2004 reported that 1.1 million adolescents experienced effects relating to divorce

(Kreider, 2007). These adolescents are subject to many adverse effects from experiencing a

divorce. Several studies reported that children of divorce have poorer outcomes than their

counterparts from intact families, including more stress (McIntyre, Heron, McIntyre, Burton, &

Engler, 2003), more problems with parents (Ruschena, Prior, Sanson, & Smart, 2005), dismal

views on an effective marriage (Kirk, 2002), and low academic standing (Mulholland, Watt,

Philpott, & Sarlin, 1991). Research has found that while handling their own personal experience

with a parental divorce, children may also worry about the parent coping with the new change

(Wallerstein & Lewis, 2004). From this study, common topics these children worried about

included whether the parent would re-marry, whether the child would get a new parent, and if the

relationship between the child and the recently divorced parents would be negatively affected.

Important to note, studies have shown that the percentage of individuals who have experienced

parental divorce and are attending college is relatively low, approximately 16%-20% (Grant,

Smith, Sinclair, & Salts, 1993). With the child being preoccupied with these thought they tend to

become distracted and not function properly in their academics. While being in the school

environment they may feel more comfortable to relax and be around company rather than to

focus on their school work. Coming from a divorced household may cause the child to be
occupied with extra chores and responsibilities which may take time away from studying and

performing with their best ability. Previous research has shown that most children experiencing

parental divorce describe the process as stressful and add that this experience may result in

anxiety and depression (Amato, 2001). According to Hetherington (1993), a divorce does not

refer to one event, but is more accurately described as one event of a complex transition process.

Similarly, the stresses taking place during and after a divorce are important to note and for some

this stress is persistent (Hetherington & Stanley-Hagan, 1999). Thus, the process of coping with

such a stress as divorce may take time and understanding. Ross and Wynne (2001) add that the

effects of divorce may impact later life functioning, rather than immediately.

Though living in a divorced household may affect the child there are some strategies that

the parents, teachers and Ministry of Education may implement to help the child through this

process. Recent studies show that an introduction of counsellors will help students to express

their feelings and problems about the situations which will cause them to have a clearer mind to

study and focus on their academics. Another strategy that was suggested that family support

systems in school will help their families financially, socially and emotionally. In the U.S the

teachers set up professional programmes to educate the parents and other welcomed members on

how to handle a divorce and how to create a better living environment for your child.

Upon examination of the literature this study will highlight the relationship that

living in a divorced house has on a students academic performance.

DATA COLLECTION SOURCE

This study was prepared by using both primary and secondary sources information. The

primary source used was a questionnaire while the secondary data was obtained from newspaper

articles, studies found on the internet, documents and books. Thirty (30) questionnaires were

distributed at random from forms one to six at Princes Town West Secondary. Simple random

sampling was used for this research project because it is bias free and the population equally

samples.

Questionnaires were used as the primary source of data collection because the

questionnaires represent and efficient amount of the large-scale population, the results can be

easily quantified and the data can be analysed and presented more appropriately. Furthermore,

questionnaires enabled the researcher to obtain personal opinions about the research topic.

Newspaper articles, books and websites were secondary sources that were used

because the Newspaper article (2007) gave insight into the divorce rates in Trinidad which the

researcher found interesting as it helped in understanding the increasing divorce rates.

Additionally, majority of this information was gathered from a book titled, Need to Know Family

Break-Up by Keeley Bishop and Penny Tripp were used because it gave an in-depth and broad

coverage of the impacts of divorce and living in a divorced household.

Recent journals such as, Parental Divorce and Student Academic

Achievement by Justin Grubb and Tre Long were also central to the collection of data for this

research because the information contained within this journal were researched over recent times

and conducted by professionals. Websites such as psychecentral.com also helped in the collection

of information for this research because the websites valid and reliable statistics from previous

studies.