GENDER DIFFERENCES IN THE PSYCHO-SOCIAL ADJUSTMENT OF NIGERIAN SINGLE PARENTS

Thesis Abstract

The study investigated the impact of marital conflicts on the psycho-social adjustment of adolescents in Lagos metropolis. The sample comprises 150 senior secondary two students randomly selected with the use of stratified random sampling technique from five secondary schools in five selected Local Government Areas of Lagos metropolis. It is envisaged that this study would benefit couples and those contemplating marriage as it will expose them to other experiences thereby giving them insight into marital problem solving mechanisms. Society at large will also benefit from this study because their awareness level on marital conflicts and the consequences on adolescents would have been raised since a better family makes a better society. Researchers constructed questionnaire was administered on the respondents to test the three hypotheses formulated for the study. Independent t -test, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), and two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) statistical techniques were used for data analysis. The findings showed that there is a significant impact of marital conflicts on the psycho-social adjustment of adolescents. Psycho social adjustments did not significantly differ due to gender but on the other hand Psycho social adjustments significantly differ due to marital conflict. Marital conflicts Significantly affect adolescents’ perception of marriage as an institution.