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Chapter I

THE PROBLEM AND ITS SETTING

Background of the Study

The family is the first and most important foundation of the development of a

person. The family is basically a unit in which the parents and their children live together.

It is where the children develop their overall well-being from their parents which is their

first teachers. Therefore, it will not only build the social and physical well-being of an

individual, but the psychological and mental well-being as well. Reviewed researches

claimed that there is a great importance inside the environment of a home to a students

academic performance. The home has a great influence on a students psychological,

emotional, social and economic state (Chawla, 2012).

Students worldwide have different family backgrounds, grew up with different

kinds of experiences, and raised with different sets of parental status. Some have both their

parents, some only have one, and some grew up without both. These create different

impacts to the academic performance of a student. It has been a common issue in other

countries because divorce is becoming a trend to the couples, and breaking up in a marriage

is as easy as breathing. As a result, it creates a direct impact to their sons and daughters,

affecting their lifestyle, and their psychological growth.

In the Philippines, divorce is still not accepted because of its culture and the

religion. Yet, this does not make the children safe from growing up with a broken family.

Annulment can be a done, and married couples still manage to separate without a legal

procedure, and, early or unwanted pregnancy has been a widespread in the teenagers that
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makes a child grow up with parents that are still irresponsible, or with a family that does

not teach or influence good morals. Poverty is also one factor. Some children are forced to

live with relatives because their parents cannot give them a better life. But still, Filipinos

are known to be loving and caring, especially when it comes to family. It is very important

that a family lives together in place that is called home.

Locally, these issues have been living with us all along. Some families get broken,

children are forced to live either one of their parents, and poverty cannot be escaped.

But, are all these issues connected to a students academic growth and

performance? Every student has a family background and a marital status of their parents.

This study was created to know the relationship between the parents marital status and the

students academic performance.

Review of Related Literature

According to Echica (2010), the family is an essential factor for a humans whole-

being. Nowadays, a family could be two things, either complete or broken. A broken family

is believed to be the cause of a childs mislead in life. Others consider it as the main reason

of the rebellious and unclear acts of children. School in the other hand, is another factor

which melds the sutdents in becoming successful, but how will this happen if the student

cannot focus because of the problems that they encounter in their homes. Many support the

issue that a broken family affects much of the students performance, attitude and self-

esteem. Broken families earn less and experience lower levels of educational achievements.

As a result, this instability is being passed to their children, making a chain reaction.

Obviously, a stable family income still cannot guarantee a students development, but
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living a poor environment affects their decisions, derailing their progress and making them

unsuccessful in the future.

According Ganderton (2012), in the year 2012, there were approximately 10 to 12

million women in the Philippines that are bringing up a child/children with no financial

support from their fathers. This is where the solo parents welfare act comes into place.

The Republic Act 8972 or the Solo Parents Welfare Act provides for benefits and

privileges to solo parents and their children. It aims to develop a comprehensive package

of social development and welfare services for solo parents and their children to be carried

out by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), as the lead agency,

various government agencies including NSO and other related NGOs. It is where the

government gives programs and services to the solo parents which includes livelihood,

self-employment and skills development, employment-related benefits, psychological,

educational, health and housing services.

Despite the help from the government, many studies have documented the

challenges faced by single parents and the disadvantages of their children relative to

children raised by two-parent households. A large majority of these studies reviewed that

children from single-parent homes score lower on tests of cognitive functioning and

standardized tests, receive lower GPAs, and complete fewer years of school when

compared to children from two-parent homes (Murphy, 2012).

Although, the home environment or family has been recognized as having a lot of

influence on the academic performance of students (Ajila, 2010), previous studies have

been studying on the area of socio-economic status of parents and other aspects of parental
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environment and backgrounds. Ichado (2011), stated that constant disagreement and

quarrel between parents could lead to poor academic performance of students in school.

In addition, Adejumo (2011), states that parents involvement and full support in

school contributes to a positive outcome in a students self-esteem and confidence in

participation and performance in school. Constant checking and discussing school

activities at home creates a powerful influence on the students academic performance. The

efforts put forth by parents has a bigger impact on their childrens educational achievement

than effort expended by their teachers and professors or the students themselves.

Moreover, Paul (2012), pointed out that parents do matter. Decades of research

showing that a major part of the academic advantage held by students from affluent

families comes from concerted cultivation of children as compared to the more laissez-

faire style of parenting common in working-class families. This also reveals something

else; that parents, of all backgrounds, dont need to buy expensive educational devices for

their children in order to give them an edge. What they need to do with their children is

much simpler: talk.

Statement of the Problem

This study was conducted to determine the impact of the parents marital status to

the students academic performance. Specifically, the researchers sought answers to the

following questions:

1. What is the profile of the parents marital status in terms of:

1.1 Married;

1.2 Annulled;
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1.3 Separated; and

1.4 Widowed?

2. What is the impact of the parents marital status to the students academic

performance in terms of:

2.1 Participation;

2.2 Attendance; and

2.3 Final Grade?

3. Is there a significant relationship between parents marital statuses to the students

academic performance?

4. Does the influence of parents marital status to the students academic performance

significant?

Theoretical and Conceptual Framework

Parental Involvement Theory

This study is anchored in the theory about parental involvement which stated that

in a students education, it is important for the parents to be consistently involved because

it was found out that there is a positive impact associated to a students academic

performance (Topor et. al., 2010).

Family Development Theory

This theory proposes that development and education starts inside a unit called

family. A family consists of a mother and a father which influences their childrens

psychological, social and overall performance in school (Powell & Cassidy, 2010).
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These two theories server as the foundation of this study. The researchers seek

answers whether the marital status of the parents affect the students academic

performance. Furthermore, the researchers believe that the result of this study would be

very helpful in the understanding in the relationship between family, parental status and

academic performances of the students.

Figure 1 shows the variables of the study. It only consists the main variable which

is the impact of the parents marital status to the students academic performance which

includes the following factors like, participation, attendance and final grade. Below the

main variable is the moderator variable which includes the profile of the parents marital

status which has the factors including married, annulled, separated, and widowed.
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Main Variable

Impact of the Parents Marital Status to the

Students Academic Performance

Participation

Attendance

Final Grade

Moderator Variable

Profile of the Parents marital Status

Married

Annulled

Separated

Widowed

Figure 1. The Conceptual Framework showing the variables of the study.

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Significance of the Study

This study is significant to the following persons and entities:

Students. As the primary subjects of the study, this is significant to the students

because it can intensify their awareness concerning their performance in school especially

to those who have family issues.

Parents. The results of the study will help the parents to be aware on what are the

impacts to their sons and daughters regarding their marital status and parental involvement.

Universities, Colleges and Schools. The results of this study will help these

institutions understand what their students are facing and experiencing whenever the

academic performance of their students are inconsistent.

Future Researchers. The findings will be useful to the future researchers of the study

because this will broaden their knowledge and also help them in their future research.

Scope and Limitations of the Study

It would be very demanding to undertake a complete study of the impact of parents

marital status to students academic performance in all the universities in Davao City. Due

to logistics constraint on the researchers, only Holy Cross of Davao College will be

sampled.

The study will gather a random sampling inside the campus with 50 respondents.

This is because the researchers believe that the number of sample is enough for the data

gathering and interpretation.

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Chapter II

METHOD

In this chapter, the discussions of the method of the study are presented

under the following headings: (1) Research Design (2) Research Subjects (3) Research

Instrument (4) Data Gathering (5) Statistical Treatment.

Research Design

The researchers utilized the descriptive design in this study. Descriptive design is

the most adequate and accurate method in the interpretation of the findings, where it

discussed and interpreted the conditions and relationship that exist or do not exist in the

study.

Furthermore, descriptive method of research is also a fact-finding study with

adequate and accurate interpretation of the findings. It describes and interprets what is, and

reveals conditions and relationship that exists or do not exist, practices that prevail or do

not prevail, beliefs or points of view or attitudes that are held or not held, procedures that

are continuing or otherwise, affect that are being felt or trends that are developing.

A survey investigation was conducted prior to writing descriptive research design

to collect enough data and information without changing the environment. The description

is used for frequencies, averages and other statistical calculations. This method is often the

best approach in descriptive research.

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Research Subjects

The researchers distributed the questionnaires to the students in Holy Cross College

of Davao who are the respondents of this study because they are the one who can indicate

if the impact of parents marital status to the students academic performance.

Research Instrument

The researchers used a questionnaire as their means of collecting data, because it is

simple and easy to construct. Moreover, a questionnaire can be easily distributed and less

time is consumed during data gathering. Additionally can be kept confidential and the data

from closed ended items are easy to tabulate. The terms are comprehensive and in direct

manner to avoid confusion. The respondents were asked to answer the said questionnaire

by checking the box that would correspond to their most appropriate answer. The

questionnaire is composed of 20 items and it is divided into three parts.

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In determining the verbal description, the following was used:

Numerical Scale Mean Descriptive Scale Interpretation

5 4.5 5 Very Helpful This indicates that the

impact is very positive.

4 3.5 4.4 Helpful This indicates that the

impact is positive.

3 2.5 3.4 Neutral This indicates that there is

no impact

2 1.5 2.4 Unhelpful This indicates that the

impact is negative

1 0 1.4 Very Unhelpful This indicates that the

impact is very negative.

Data Gathering Procedure

The researchers underwent the following steps in order to accomplish the study as

follows:

1. Before the data was collected the researchers obtained approval from the Dean of

College of Maritime Transportation of the Holy Cross of Davao College. This study

employed 50 respondents who answered the survey questionnaires to help the

researchers determine the impact of parents marital status to students academic

performance.

2. The researchers sought professional help from the panel of validators to validate

the content of checklist, to assure the validity of the instrument used.

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3. The respondents were asked to participate in the study and were informed about the

nature of the study. Assurance of confidentiality was included in the questionnaire.

4. The researchers then retrieved the questionnaires after the respondents answered

the questions and a tabulation of their answers was forwarded to the statistician.

5. Interpretation and analysis was followed as well as the writing of the last chapter

that includes the writing of summary, conclusions and recommendations.

Statistical Treatment of the Data

The following statistical tools, were used in the computation of the data.

Mean. This was used in determining the respondents average level of impact of

parents marital status to students academic performance.

Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). This was used to determine the significant

difference of impact of parents marital status to students academic performance in terms

of the profile of the parents marital status.

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THE IMPACT OF PARENTS MARITAL STATUS

TO THE STUDENTS ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE

RENAN D. RODRIGUEZ

GENER A. BARAYUGA

JOMAR A. JESTO

KEVIN A. MANLOZA