Divorce and Parental Separation as Determinants of Scholastic Malfunctioning in the Academic Achievement of Undergraduates of Tai Solarin University of Education

Abstract

This study examined the divorce and parental separation as determinants of scholastic malfunctioning in the academic achievement of undergraduates of Tai Solarin University of Education, Ijagun, Ogun State. Samples of 300 undergraduates were randomly selected from six colleges in Tai Solarin University of Education irrespective of their academic levels and gender. The instruments used include Divorce and Scholastic Malfunctioning Scale (DSMS), Scholastic Malfunctioning Scale (SMS) and Parental Separation and Scholastic Malfunctioning Scale (PSSMS). The instruments were validated and the reliability coefficient of 0.73, 0.83 and 0.75 were respectively obtained. Mean and Standard Deviation were used to answer research questions while Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation (PPMC) was used to test hypotheses one, two while Kruskal-Walis test was used to test hypothesis three at 0.05 alpha level of significance. The research findings show that significant relationship exist between divorce (r = .432; p < 0.05) and scholastic malfunctioning in the academic achievement. Relationship between parental separation (r = .334; p < 0.05) and scholastic malfunctioning in the academic achievement of undergraduates is established to be significant. The joint influence of divorce and parental separation and scholastic malfunctioning in the academic achievement has no significance difference with the p-value of 0.72 with p > 0.05) among undergraduates. It was concluded that divorce and parental separation determines scholastic malfunctioning in the academic achievement of undergraduates. It was recommended that higher institutions management, lecturers and school counsellors should identify students from divorced parents and give special attention to their problems.