The Impact of Divorce on Student’s Academic Performance: The Case of Secondary School Students in Arba Minch Town

Abstract

Divorce has psychological, economical and social impacts on the divorcees and their children. Children who experience their parents going through a divorce are often left susceptible to depression, acting out, and suffering problems of stress. When parents decide to divorce, their actions can affect their children’s psychological well-beings. Hence, the main objective of the present study was to assess the impact of divorce on student’s academic performance in Arba Minch town secondary schools and to explore the conditions or situation that promote the academic performance of the students. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were employed to achieve the research objectives. The study participants were: 204 students from divorced parents, 4 school counselors and 10 divorced parents (student’s parents). The students from divorced parents were taken using available sampling technique while divorced parents were conveniently taken and school counselor were purposively taken as a sample. The students were given questionnaire and face to face interviews were held with the divorced parents and the school counselors. Data from the quantitative survey were analyzed using percent, mean, standard deviation and t-test. The qualitative data were analyzed using direct quotation. The paired t-test comparison of group showed statistically significant mean difference in academic performance in students before and after their parental divorce. Students had higher academic performance before their parental divorce. However, there was no statistically significant mean difference in across gender. It was recommended that appropriate care and support to enhance the psychological wellbeing of the children, prioritization children during and after divorce, and co-parenting after divorce were forwarded to enhance academic performance of these students.

Key terms: Academic performance, Divorce, Impact, secondary school students

DOI: 10.7176/JEP/12-28-04

Publication date:October 31^st 2021