ASSESSMENT OF THE IMPACT OF BOY-GIRL RELATIONSHIPS ON ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE AMONG PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN IMENTI NORTH SUB-COUNTY, MERU KENYA
Abstract
Boy-girl relationships are expressions of adolescents’ deep and strong emotional desires towards the opposite gender. They have been suggested as one of the factors influencing students’ academic performance negatively. Poor academic performance has been associated with the emotional and cognitive impact of boy-girl relationships among secondary school students in Imenti North Sub-County Meru. The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of boy-girl relationships among public secondary school students of Imenti North Sub-County, Meru, Kenya. The study was guided by the emotional effect of boy-girl relationships on academic performance among secondary school students. The study anchored on the need to belong theory which unveils the motivation behind boy-girl relationships and how maintaining frequent and consistency in the relationship can result to emotional and cognitive issues among secondary school students; which in turn affect their academic performance negatively. The study adopted a descriptive survey design. The target population for this study consisted of 72 public secondary schools; 144 teachers and 1,440 Form three students in North Imenti Sub-County. The findings of the study revealed that the emotional and cognitive effect of boy-girl relationships had adverse effect on the students’ performance. Thus, guidance and counseling departments in secondary schools should take the high prevalence of students’ past and current engagement into account when designing programs. The policy makers in the health and education sector should design policy of providing students with information about skills and attitudes on interpersonal relationships. Secondary school teachers should occasionally examine and give attention to students’ level of concentrations in their respective classes. Parents, counselors, church leaders and teachers should maintain an approachable attitude for students to discuss their personal issues as it relates to boy-girl relationships. All these can aid to mitigate the negative impact of boy-girl relationships on academic performance among secondary school students.
Downloads
References
Aiello, E. & Joanpere, M. (2014). Social creation. A new concept for social sciences and humanities. International and Multidisciplinary Journal of Social Sciences, 3(3), 297-313. doi: 10.4471/rimcis.2014.41.
Baumeister, R. F. & Leary, M. R. (2005). The need to belong: desire for interpersonal attachments as a fundamental human motivation. Psychological Bulletin, 117(3), 497-529. Retrieved from www.sciepub.com/reference/181623.
Campbell, W. K. & Oliver, M. B. (2014). Perceived benefits and cost of romantic relationships for women and men: Implications for exchange theory. Journal of the International Association for Relationship Research. 1(1), 5-21. doi: 10.1111/j.1475-6811.1994.tb00052.x
.Chen, Z (2010), Emotional and behavioral effect of romantic relationships in Chinese adolescents. Journal of Youth Adolescent. 38(10) 1285-93. doi: 10.1007/s10964-009-9405-0.
Chung, P., Tracy, K., & Bing, H. (2013). Evaluating impact of early adolescent romance in high school on academic outcomes. Journal of Applied Economics and Business Research. 3(1), 14-33. Retrieved from https://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/smith/.
Cobb, M. A. (2015). Idiopathic diluted cardiomyopathy: Advances in aetiology, pathogenesis and management. Journal of Small Animal Practice. 33(3), 113-118. doi: 10.1111/j.1748-5827.1992.tb01092.x
Conolly, J., Craig, W., Goldberg, A. & Pepler, D. (2014). Mixed-Gender groups, dating and
romantic relationship in early adolescence. Journal on Research Adolescence,14(2), 185-207. doi: 10.1111/j.1532-7795.2004.01402003.x
Crissey, S. R. (2016). Gender Differences in the academic consequences of adolescent
heterosexual romantic relationships. Doctoral Dissertation. Austin: University of Texas.
Feldman, S., Gowen, L. K & Fischer, L. (2008). Family relationship and gender as predictors of romantic intimacy in young adults: A longitudinal study. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 8(2), 263-286. doi: 10.1207/5/15327795jra0802_5.
Furman, W. (2010).The emerging field of adolescent romantic relationships.Current Directions in Psychological Science, 11(5), 177-180. doi: 10.1080/00377317.2010.486364.
Furman, W., & Amanda, J. (2015). Friendships, romantic relationships and peer relationships. Wiley Online Library. 9(3), 322-352. doi: 10.1002/9781118963418.
Furman, W. & Burhrmester, D. (2014). Age and sex differences in perceptions of networks of personal relationships. Child Development, 63(4), 103-115. doi: 10.1177/1359104513489978.
Furman, W. & Shaffer, L. (2010). Patterns of interaction in adolescent romantic relationships: Distinct features and associations with other close relationships. Journal of Adolescence. 26(5). Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nim.nih.gov/pubmed/20174459
Helen L. (2013). Research design: descriptive research. SAGE Journals. 10(4), 154-157. doi: 10.1177/104345429301000406.
Kapinga, D. S. (2014). Educational Development in Tanzania since Colonial Era. Unpublished Book, Sokoine University: Morogoro.
Lowden, A. (2012). Assessment of a new dynamic light regimen in a nuclear power control room without windows on quickly rotating shift workers – effect on health, wakefulness and circadian alignment: a pilot study. 29(5), 641-9. doi: 10.3109/07420528.2012.775850.
Lucas, M. R., & Corpuz, B. (2016). Facilitating learning: A metacognitive process. Philippines: Lorimar Publishing, Inc.
Luqman, M. (2015). Effect of romantic relationships on self-esteem, identity and academic performance. National Undergraduate Research Clearinghouse, 12. Retrieved from http://ww.webcllearinghouse.net.
Monroe, S, M., Rohde, P., Seeley, J. R. & Lewinson, P. M. (2013). Life events and depression in adolescence: Relationship loss as a prospective risk factor for first onset of major depressive disorder. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 108(4), 606-14. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10609425
Mugenda, O. & Mugenda, A. (2015). Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches. Nairobi: Africa Center of Technology Studies (ACTS) Press.
Myers, D. (2010). Social psychology. London: McGraw-Hill Companies.
Okumu, M., Nakajjo, A., & Isoke, D. (2012). Socio-Economic Determinants of Primary School Dropout: The Logistic Model Analysis. Retrieved from
http://www.researchgate.net/publication/44838620/
Quatman, T., Sampson, K., Sampson, K., Robinson, C., Watson, C.M. (2013).Academic, motivational and economic correlates of adolescent dating. Genetic, Social and General Psychology Monographs.127(2), 211-34.Retrieved from
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11471979.
Rector (2014). The Hormonal Effect of Early Sexual Activity and Multiple Sexual Partners among Women: a Book of Charts. The Heritage Foundation.
Republic of Kenya (2015). School Management Guide. Nairobi: Jomo Kenyatta Foundation.
Santrock, J. (2015). Educational Psychology. New York, USA: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Silverman, J., Raj, A., Mucci, L. & Hathaway, J. (2001). Dating violence and associated sexual risk and pregnancy among adolescent girls in the United States. 114(2), 220-5.
Suza-Lori, P. (2015). Betting on the Dust Commander: The America Play and other Works, New York: Theatre Communications Group.
Valsiner, J. (2012). A Guided Science: History of Psychology in the Mirror of its Making. Aalborg University: Transaction Publishers.
Wahistrom, K., Dretzke, B., Gordon, M., Peterson, K., Edwards, K., & Gdula, J. (2014). Examining The Impact Of Later Schools Start Times On The Health And Academic Performance Of High School Students: A Multi-Site Study. Minnesota: University of Minnesota.
Copyright (c) 2018 IJRDO - Journal Of Educational Research (ISSN: 2456-2947)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Author(s) and co-author(s) jointly and severally represent and warrant that the Article is original with the author(s) and does not infringe any copyright or violate any other right of any third parties, and that the Article has not been published elsewhere. Author(s) agree to the terms that the IJRDO Journal will have the full right to remove the published article on any misconduct found in the published article.
