Effects of Broken Homes on Academic Resilience and Social Adjustment Among Adolescents in Public Secondary Schools in Anambra State

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of broken homes on academic resilience and social adjustment among adolescents in public secondary schools in Anambra State. Two research questions and two null hypotheses guided the study. The study adopted an ex-post facto (causal-comparative) research design. The population comprised all 38,214 senior secondary school two (SS2) students in public secondary schools in Anambra State. Multi-stage random sampling was used to draw a sample of 380 SS2 students from 10 public secondary schools across five Local Government Areas. The instrument for data collection was the Academic Resilience and Social Adjustment Scale (ARSAS), developed and validated by the researchers, with an overall reliability coefficient of 0.83 determined using Cronbach’s alpha. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions, while the independent samples t-test was used to test the hypotheses at the 0.05 level of significance. Findings revealed that adolescents from broken homes had significantly lower academic resilience and social adjustment scores than those from intact homes. It was recommended that school counsellors implement targeted resilience-building programmes and social skills training for adolescents from broken homes in Anambra State secondary schools.