Parental absence and its impact on attention seeking behaviours among school going 13-18 year-old in middle class urban environment the case of Westlands district, Nairobi county

Abstract

The process of child-rearing has been changing over time. Present-day dynamics have necessitated parental absence due to the strain they place on parents thus reducing the quantity and quality of time parents spend with their children. This study examines the impact of parental absence on attention seeking behaviours among school going 13-18 year-olds in middle class urban environment, the case of Westlands District, Nairobi County. Attention seeking behaviours means all those repeated actions which, through their very annoying nature, bring a child to the attention of a number of adults and other members of society. Six aspects of attention seeking behaviours are examined in detail including teen cutting classes, engaging in physical fights in and out of school, engaging in drug and substance abuse, teen predisposition to depression and withdrawal, early initiation into sexual activities and having problems with the law and getting arrested. Specifically, the study examines how today parents conceptualizes parenting, the social and physical distance between parents and teenagers, attention seeking behaviours that teenagers engage in as a result of parental absence and the relationship between parental absence and attention seeking behaviours. The study employed descriptive correlation research design. Both quantitative and qualitative data was collected. It targeted 90 teenagers in class eight (8), forms two (2) and three (3) and 10 purposively selected parents. In addition, head teachers and guidance and counseling teachers from the target schools took part in the study. Borgadus Social Distance scale was used in analyzing the social distance between parents and teenagers. Likert Scale was used to measure the teenagers‘ and parents‘ attitudes on what constitutes optimum interaction. Hypothesis was tested using Chi Square statistic test. Study findings reveal that today‘s parents are largely aware of what parenting entails. However, there are increasing aspects of delegated parenting, privatization of the family institution, increasing levels of parental absence and reducing levels of teen behaviour monitoring by parents. The social and physical distance between parents and their teen children seem to be increasing and house helps are more and more filling this gap. Chi Square test was calculated at the degree of freedom of (2-1) (2-1) =1 at 5% level of significance. Findings on the relationship between parental absence and the assessed attention seeking behaviours reveal that there is an association between parental absence and teen cutting classes; teenagers‘ involvement in physical fights in and out of school; teen predisposition to engage in drug and substance abuse; teen predisposition to depression and withdrawal and early initiation of teenagers into sexual activities. On the other hand, there is no association between parental absence and teenagers having problems with the law or getting arrested. The study concludes that although the attention seeking behaviours are associated with flaws in the parenting process, they are a consequent of societal changes and their effects are also societal. Society must find alternative mechanisms to supplement the rather flagging parenting process. Due to continued unavailability of natural mentors, the study recommends among others, that there is need to institute supplementary programs, particularly planned mentorship programs, which will augment parenting process. There is also need to put in place training programs for parents on effective teen parenting. This should focus on topics important to parents today including effective teen-parent communication. The study was conducted under the supervision of Prof. Edward Mburugu and Dr. Robinson Ocharo.