Behavioural Effects of Parental Violence on Learners’ Academic Performance in Secondary Schools in Tigania East Sub-County of Meru County in Kenya

Abstract

Parental violence is a pattern of abusive behaviour by one or both parents in a family setting. When families experience parental violence, the parents and children suffer. The effects of parental violence are many but this paper is restricted to behavioural effects. Parental violence is recognized as one of the most entrenched and pervasive forms of violence in Kenya today though its influence on school going children has yet to receive the same degree of attention. Children who are victims of parental violence may develop emotional, cognitive, social and behavioural problems as a result of parental violence. The short-term and long-term emotional and physical aftermath of parental violence may affect pupil’s behavioural patterns in school and affect academic performance.  The purpose of this paper is to bring out the behavioral effects of parental violence on learners academic performance in secondary schools in Tigania East Sub-County. There are no clear investigations done on the effects of parental violence on learners’ academic performance in Tigania East Sub-County. This study adopted a descriptive survey design. Target population consisted of the principals, teachers and learners from the 44 secondary schools in Tigania East Sub- County. Specifically, the study targeted 44 principals, 44 deputy principals, 9825 learners and 400 teachers. Stratified random sampling techniques were used to select the sample size comprising of 9 Principals, 9 Deputy Principals, 22 teachers, 9 counseling teachers, 100 learners and 14 peer counselors. The total sample size was 163.. Questionnaires and interview guide were used to collect data from the respondents. The results indicated that behavioural effects of parental violence like personality problems affect learner’s academic performance negatively.. The study established that the emotional effects of parental violence affected learner’s academic performance. Respondents who witnessed parental violence had emotional effects like feeling guilty, fearful, insecure, emotional confusion towards parents, withdrawal, anxiety and post traumatic stress disorder; cognitive effects were like diminished concentration, poor attention during lessons and failure to complete academic tasks. The researcher recommended that parents should avoid parental violence and solve their issues without letting their children know or witness violent behaviour because behaviour of children is affected by parental violence, which in turn affects their academic performance.