Influence of Parental Violence and Coping Strategies on Academic Achievement Among Public Secondary School Students In Kisumu Central Sub-County, Kenya

Abstract

An estimated 275 million children worldwide are exposed to domestic violence annually. In Kisumu County, out of the 1044 cases of parental violence recorded by Kisumu Central Police Division (Family Section Records) in 2013, 754 (or 72.2%) constituted failure by parents to cater for educational upkeep of their school going children. Academic achievement among secondary school students in Kisumu Central Sub County has been poor, with the area ranking 7Th out of seven sub counties with a mean score of 4.360 in the 2017 KCSE examinations. Although psychologists state that children exposed to dmestic violence have poor academic achievement, there is little information on the influence of parental violence on academic achievement of secondary school learners in Kisumu Central. The purpose of the study was to establish the influence of parental violence and coping strategies on academic achievement of secondary school students in Kisumu Central Sub County. Objectives were to: identify forms of parental violence; establish the influence of forms of parental violence on academic achievement, and to explore how coping strategies for parental violence forms influence academic achievement. A conceptual framework showing the relationships between parental violence, academic achievement and learners’ coping strategies was adopted of. This research was conducted using descriptive design involving mixed method approach of qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis approach. The target population comprised 1034 form 4 students, teachers responsible for counseling and guidance, and principals from all the 11 public secondary schools in the Sub County. Sample size was obtained through Yamane’s formula, where 288 students were selected through proportionate stratified sampling. Ten teachers and another 10 principals were selected through saturated sampling procedure. Questionnaire and interview schedule was used to collect data from students and teachers respectively. Reliability was ensured through test retest method using 28(10%) students from one school, whereby an overall coefficient of 0.78 was obtained. Content and construct validity were achieved through ratings of experts and operationalization of variable items respectively. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics. Qualitative data was analyzed through thematic analysis. Findings revealed that the form of parental violence with the highest influence on academic achievement was emotional violence (M=2; SD=1.32; r=-.035**) followed by physical violence (M=1.45; SD=.81; r=-.023**); neglect (M=1.40; SD= .89; r=-.026**) and sexual violence (M=1.28; SD=.75; r=-.021**). Influence of parental violence include health/physical injury (M=3.61; SD=1.31); school disengagement (M=3.55; SD=1.4) and disruptive behaviour (M=3.48; SD=1.39). Coping strategies revealed that problem-focused coping (M=3.46; SD=2.28) is the most influential parental violent coping strategy. This is followed by social/legal support (M=3.13; SD=1.3) and avoidance coping strategy (M=3.04; SD=1.42). The study concluded that parental violence had a negative and significant influence on academic achievement of students and it was recommended that parents should undergo parental trainings on how to help their children by supporting them to achieve successful education. Findings from this study are significant to teachers who undertake counseling and guidance in secondary schools in understanding the depth of violations that learners experience in their homes.