An Evaluation of Parental Job Loss and Its Influence on the Educational Achievement of Their Wards

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

 Background of the study

There is solid evidence that job loss is often followed by significant and long-term decreases in individual incomes (Jacobson et al., 1993; Stevens, 1997). Oreopoulos et al. (2008) also discovered that parental job loss has an impact on their children’s wages and welfare benefits when they are young adults. 1 The authors viewed these results as inter generational income effects that might be causal. However, this study was unable to reveal the mechanisms through which parental job loss and subsequent income decreases may effect children’s wages. An income impact is one of the key ways in which parental job loss may influence the educational results of children. The significant and long-term loss of parental income as a result of job loss may limit parents’ capacity to support their children’s educational goals. University is expensive in terms of both direct expenditures (tuition fees, books) and lost income. Parental transfers may help kids pay for these direct fees as well as living expenses. If student loans are unavailable, loan limitations are insufficient to pay expenditures, or students are unable to take out student loans due to risk aversion or debt aversion, transfers are critical. If parental employment loss has an impact on youth enrollment outcomes via a parental income effect, it means that youth may encounter financial or credit limitations while pursuing higher education. Job loss may also have an impact on children’s results through disrupting family functioning and hurting parents’ mental health. Individuals who have lost their jobs have worse mental (McKee-Ryan, Song et al. 2005) and physical (Sullivan and von Wachter 2009) health than those who have not. Longitudinal studies of families before and after a parent’s job loss have shown that job loss results in lower family functioning and worse parent-child relationships. Parental mental health issues and strained parent-child connections have both been connected to poor child adjustment and poor academic performance (Elder, Eccles et al. 1995; McLoyd 1998). While it is possible that job loss will cause parents to spend more time with their children, which may benefit their academic achievement, research has shown that unemployed parents do not spend more time with their children than employed parents, either in general (Edwards 2008) or specifically on education-related activities that may lead to greater academic achievement (Levine 2011).

 Statement of the problem

Children’s reactions to parental job loss are determined by how they perceive and interpret it. As a result, a child’s age at the time of their parents’ job loss may help to lessen the impacts. Parent unemployment is connected with weaker preschool skills for younger children who follow their parents’ views and actions without inquiry (Haveman et al. 1991). This is shown in poorer test scores and school disengagement among younger students, setting the scene for a negative cycle of educational success in the future ( Elder, 1999). Younger children are more likely to have physical health issues as a result of their parents’ unemployment, which may have a severe impact on their educational performance later in life. Likewise, research on older age cohorts demonstrate a lesser influence on children’s educational success (Haveman et al. 1991). Some think that once children reach adolescence, they either imitate their parents’ attitudes and behaviors or oppose and disassociate from them as they mature (Bandura 1986). Because of two possible offsetting behavioral effects, the direction of the impact among older children in the context of parent unemployment will be equivocal. For starters, older children may learn from their parents’ unemployment and the hardships that come with it in order to prevent future periods of unemployment. In this regard, obtaining a higher education is seen as a method for avoiding future unemployed periods. Older children, on the other hand, may be able to adjust to a life without employment and bear the stigma that comes with not having a career in the future. As a result, their educational ambitions and school involvement will be lowered, resulting in reduced educational achievement. As a result, it is necessary to investigate parental employment loss and its impact on their children’s educational attainment.

Objective of the study

The primary objective of the study is as follows

1.        To evaluate the causes of parental job loss.

2.        To examine the effect of parental job loss on the educational achievement of their wards.

3.        To find out the importance of economic resources with regards to children’s development.

4.        To find out how to improve educational achievement of children whose parent suffer from job loss.

 Research Questions

The following questions have been prepared for this study

1)        What are the causes of parental job loss?

2)        What are the effect of parental job loss on the educational achievement of their wards?

3)        What are the importance of economic resources with regards to children’s development?

4)        What are the ways to improve educational achievement of children whose parent suffer from job loss?

Significance of the study

This study exposes parental  job loss and its influence on the  educational achievement of their wards. Hence the study will be significant to the ministry of education as it will devise ways to help students whose parent have lost their jobs.

The study will also be significant to the Nigerian government as it will be recommended that it should not just lay off workers as it will affect the economic growth of the family

The study will be of benefit to the academic community as it will contribute to the existing literature.

Scope of the study

This study will evaluate the causes of parental job loss. The study will also examine the effect of parental job loss on the educational achievement of their wards. The study will further find out the importance of economic resources with regards to children’s development. Lastly, the study will find out how to improve educational achievement of children whose parent suffer from job loss. Hence the study will be delimited to secondary schools in Ogun  state.

 Limitation of the study

This study is limited in terms of gathering information as regards the human activities. Due to the peculiarity of this topic, there was constraint in terms of finding the relevant materials.

Financial constraint , was faced by  the researcher ,in getting relevant materials  and  in printing and collation of questionnaires

Time factor: time factor pose another constraint since having to shuttle between writing of the research and also engaging in other academic work making it uneasy.