Parental Separation and its Relation to Children's Underachievement in Primary School Education

Abstract

This study aims at investigating the relationship between parental separation (parental divorce)
and the underachievement of children in the primary stage. The study sample consists of (100)
children from two public schools (Mutah School for Girls and Al-Qurtubi School for Boys), the
Institution of Legal Aid and the Family Protection Center. The average includes (50) children
suffering from the problem of separation, and (50) live in stable families in Zarqa City in Jordan. The
data is collected from several sources: First, the pupils’ marks during the preceding two years for all
the sample members except the second-grade pupils whose marks of only one year are considered.
Second, the data is collected in collaboration with home-room teachers, school records, and special
records of the pupils who suffer from separation problems. Third, parents of the target sample group
particularly the incubating father or mother after separation to know about their children's educationl
records. To answer the study questions, arithmetic means and standard deviations are used. The
study results reveal that there are differences with statistical significance in achievement between
boys and girls in favor of the girls. The study results also show that there are differences with
statistical indications between stable family children and separated families in favor of the children
of stable families, Furthermore, the results show that there is some linking relation between the
pupils’ achievement and the secure and safe situation of the families where they live.