The effects of broken homes and absentee fathers on the adjustment of the adolescent girl in Clarion hostel, Cape Coast

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to investigate the effects of broken homes and absentee fathers on the social adjustment of the adolescent girl in Clarion hostels. The study sought to find out if this girl had adjustment problems, what problems counsellors and educators may encounter when dealing with her and how best to help her to have a peaceful time in school as well as a smooth interaction with colleagues and teachers. To achieve this, the researcher conducted a non-experimental design using the descriptive survey with a sample size of 139. The questionnaire was the main instrument used for the study and respondents were fairly distributed throughout the Regions of Ghana. Furthermore, the researcher used descriptive statistics to analyze the demographic data. The findings were that out of every nine students selected at Clarion hostel, five of them will come from homes where the father is present, and four from homes where the father is absent. In terms of strength in numbers, the two groups of students may impact each other to the same degree. However, the absence of a statistically significant finding of the relationship between the attitude of girls with fathers present and those with fathers absent in the study could be attributed to a number of reasons, prevalent among them being the regimented nature of the hostel environment. It was recommended that future studies clearly delineate the length of time students have stayed in such an environment like Clarion Hostel. A student who has stayed in such an environment for a year is likely to manifest less positive attitudes from one who has stayed in the same environment for more than two years. Another reason could be the presence of strong female role models. Future studies could also be concentrated on larger sample sizes, as well as for students who did not live in a regimented environment.