ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION:
1.1 Background to the study
The family is a universal institution, that is, it is an institution which is recognized in every society, ad it is the most basic unit of a social organization. But even though family is a universal institution, the structure of the family differs from society to society. The family is a group of person united by the ties of marriage, blood or adoption, constituting a simple household, interacting and intercommunicating with each other in their respective social role of husband, wife, mother and father, brother, sister, creating a common culture for growth and development of a society. The family or home is an integral part of the society which is a sub-system of the social structure. It is an axiom that good homes breed a productive nation. This is the brain-child of why every society aspires for development. (Koller 2011)
The well-being of any society is the aggregate of the well-being of the individual families that make up the society. So, the home is a quintessential factor that makes up the psychological, social, and emotional growth and development. In a happy family, a child knows that his father and mother will care for him when he gets sick. He knows that he can go to his mother or father with the problem of his young life and get advice and support, no matter how trouble filled the outside world may be. The growth and development of every child is relatively determined by the pattern of family or home such child comes from. This research project was carried out in order to elicit information about the perception of the society on the effects of single parenting on the growth and development of a child in selected local government areas in Ibadan.
METHODOLOGY: The research design used was a non experimental and descriptive research design with 100 respondents chosen by convenient sampling method. The target population were parents in the selected local governments which includes; Ibadan North and Ibadan North West local government areas. Data collected were analyzed through the use of tables, pie charts, bar charts, frequency simple and mean percentage. Relevant literatures were sought and reviewed, questionnaires was used to gather relevant information for the study.
RESULT: From the study, it was deduced that 85% of the respondents have poor perception about the effects of single parenting on a child’s growth and development. It is clear that single parenting is not an easy task as this study has shown.
CONCLUSION/RECOMMENDATION: In conclusion, majority of the respondents have poor perception about the effects of single parenting on the growth and development of a child. Based on the analysis, it was recommended that midwives should provide good family life education for her clients, good sex education for teenagers; also midwives should serve as advocate against early marriage.
KEY WORDS: Single parenting, growth, development, effect, child, society, early marriage, teenagers, perception.
SUB-HEADINGS: Introduction, methodology, result, conclusion and recommendation.
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