CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background to the Study
The parental experience of a child is seen to be the result of the quality of interpersonal relationships, individual growth and system maintenance among family members, and characterized by factors such as cohesion, harmony and the ability to deal with conflicting problems, (Vianna, Silva, & Souza-Formigoni, 2014). These characteristics may impact a child’s experiences, life trajectories and emotional development and have been previously associated with mental disorders, (Rutter, Cox, Tupling, Berger, & Yule, 2016). The parental experience is seen as an important early contribution to the risk of psychopathology; however, it isn’t known if certain characteristics of the parents may diversely contribute to different types of emotional trauma in a child, such as internalizing and externalizing disorders and comorbid disorders, (Vianna, Silva, & Souza-Formigoni, 2014).
Therefore, according to Devito (2013), interpersonal relationship is defined as the communication that takes place between two individuals or more who have established a relationship, the people are in one way or the other connected. Thus, relationship can take place between romantic partners, business associates, doctors and patients, counselors and counselees, and so on, it permeates our lives. Berschield (2011) argued that, interpersonal relationship as a strong, deep or close association and acquaintance between two or more individuals that may range from duration to enduring. This association may be based on love, inference or solidarity. The context can vary from family or kinship, friendship, work, clubs, neighborhood and places of worship. According to Adegoke (2011), it means a process of understanding human relationships with emphasis on social skills, self analysis techniques of effective communication and resolving interpersonal conflicts.
In the context of interpersonal relationship, it is natural to desire a close and permanent bond in a relationship. However, a partner in the relationship may want to be alone. Therefore, too much staying together may result in the loss of an individual’s identity, which might lead to emotional trauma. According to Bolt (2004), there are three factors determining the attachment styles, which are; care, or safety; commitment and physical closeness. The type of attachment an individual has developed as a child will have a predictive effect on the type of interpersonal relationship he/she develops with others. As a result, a child interpersonal relationship experience during infancy will have both positive and negative effects which can influence a person’s life in a lot of ways both in the short and long term. A child experiences may include an instance or instances of maltreatment as well as physical abuse, emotional abuse, or neglect, (Drapeau & Perry, 2014). Victimized children growing up in a dysfunctional family are innocent and have absolutely no control over their toxic life upbringing; these children grew up with various emotional scarring caused by repeated trauma and pain from their parents’ actions, words, and behavious, (Becvar & Becvar, 2012).
From a structural point of view, a dysfunctional family system exists when problems in one or more of the hierarchical, boundary or alignment elements of its structure have impaired its resources for coping with and adapting effectively to contextual stressors, (Goldenberg & Goldenberg, 2014). With its adaptive resources overloaded, a family system can no longer deal successfully with everyday stressors or adequately nurture the growth of its individual members, (Colapinto, 2011). Such impairment is particularly harmful to children who must depend upon their family’s support and guidance for survival and healthy development. For school counselors, knowledge about family dysfunction can provide a roadmap for effective prevention and intervention programs, (Levi & Orlans, 2016).
Dysfunctional family relationships are perpetuated through fear of rejection, fear of punishment, fear of abandonment, and ongoing generalized anxiety, (Shubby, 2011). Dysfunctional family comes in various forms which includes relationships that take place as a result of chemical dependency, authoritarianism, mental illness, or any type of abuses (emotional, physical, and sexual) in the family system, (Drapeau & Perry, 2014). If relationships in the family of birth are dysfunctional, then there is a higher chance that individual members are at risk for developing interpersonal and intrapersonal difficulties. There are a lot of ways through which dysfunctional family can traumatize a person. One among the ways is through, alcoholism, which affects over 100 million Americans, (Whitfield, 2017). Children of alcoholic families are faced with a lot of challenges and they develop survival skills of negotiating, hiding, and adapting so as to survive, (Gravitz & Bowden, 2010). It is estimated that there are between 30 and 75 million children of alcoholics, half of whom are adults, (Black, 2015).
Wegscheider (2014) opined that, a child that experienced emotional abuse in a dysfunctional family may take on specific roles fulfilling various functions in the family system: the hero, who provides responsibility; the mascot, who provides distraction; and the scapegoat, who provides focus. For instance, in adulthood the overly responsible child becomes an overly responsible adult: overly serious, overly self reliant, unable to trust, unable to relax, and a need to be in control (Gravitz & Bowden, 2010). According to Thomsen, Lessing, and Greve (2017), dysfunctional parenting (negative climate in the family, disturbed marital relations) affects the formation of non-constructive strategies of a child emotional regulation, and can cause emotional disorders. Thus, both acute trauma and chronic traumatic exposure in the family, which carry high risks predisposing children to non-adaptive reactions, have significant impact on the formation of a child emotional trauma, (Pellerone, Iacolino, Mannino, Formica, & Zabbara, 2017).
According to Wegscheider (2014) a child who experienced emotional abuse will have the tendency to be inconsistent, intimacy problem, lacked communication and trust, will have ambivalent expectations and are socially and emotionally unstable. Further, Black (2015) affirmed that, children who experienced emotional abuse during infancy would likely have the challenge of unresolved emotional bonds, role confusion, poor affect expression, poor communication, mistrust, and problems in intimacy.
Therefore, family dysfunction can be seen as any condition that interferes with healthy family functioning. Majority of families have some periods of time where functioning is impaired by stressful circumstances (death in the family, a parent's serious illness, etc.). Healthy families have the tendency to go back to normal functioning after the crisis passes. In dysfunctional families, however, problems tend to be chronic and children do not consistently get their needs met. Negative patterns of parental behavior tend to be dominant in their children's lives.
1.2. Statement of the Problems
Family dysfunctional has been identified as the cause of child’s emotional trauma, at the same time certain family problems are seen among the causes of a child’s emotional trauma. The generally accepted classification of emotional trauma doesn’t exist yet in scientific literature as there are diverse perspectives on the matter. A child emotional trauma have a strong negative influence on the mental development of the child because of his/her inability to give a response to a traumatic event (such as ‘abandonment’, ‘rejection’, ‘deprivation’, ‘betrayal’, ‘sexual abuse’, ‘humiliation’). A number of factors that affect a child’s interpersonal relationship include the harsh treatment to children in the list of such traumatizing factors and highlights its main forms that have practical implications, and as well as violent relationship between parents and children.
Many recent works emphasize that the early relationship between mother and child determines his/her further interpersonal relationship with other people. In other words, the events of early childhood have long-lasting consequences, including impact on parenting. It is evident that, in dysfunctional families, the children suffer more mainly because they do not receive adequate help and support from family members. Similarly, it was observed that, dysfunctional parenting (negative climate in the family, disturbed marital relations) affects the formation of non-constructive strategies of children’s emotional regulation, and can cause emotional disorders. Thus, both acute trauma and chronic traumatic exposure in the family, which carry high risks predisposing children to non-adaptive reactions, have significant impact on the formation of a child’s emotional trauma and eventually affect a child’s interpersonal relationship with others.
Despite the various studies conducted above in relationship to this study, however, many of these studies were carried out in developed countries leaving the developing or underdeveloped countries like Nigeria in doubt, while very little attention is paid to the analysis of children’s emotional trauma and interpersonal relationship in schools, which is a gap to be filled by this study by examining family dysfunctional and emotional trauma as predictors of interpersonal relationship in public secondary schools.
1.3. Research Objectives
The primary objective of this study is to investigate family dysfunction and emotional trauma as predictors of interpersonal relationship in public secondary schools. However, the specific objectives of the study will be to:
- examine the influence of family dysfunction on a child interpersonal relationship among peers in secondary schools
- find out the influence of emotional trauma on a child academic performance in secondary schools
- investigate the combined influence of family dysfunction and emotional trauma on a child interpersonal relationship among classmates in secondary schools
1.4. Research Questions
To achieve the objectives of the study, the research sought to answer the following questions:
- To what extent is the influence of family dysfunction on a child interpersonal relationship among peers in secondary schools?
- What is the influence of emotional trauma on a child academic performance in secondary schools?
- Will the combined efforts of family dysfunction and emotional trauma influence a child interpersonal relationship among classmates in secondary schools?
1.5. Research Hypotheses
Based on the above research questions, the following research hypotheses will be formulated in their null form.
Ho1: Family dysfunction has no significant influence on a child interpersonal relationship among peers in secondary schools
Ho2: Emotional trauma has no significance influence on a child academic performance in secondary school
Ho3: There is no significant influence of family dysfunction and emotional trauma on a child interpersonal relationship among classmates in secondary schools
1.6. Significance of the Study
It is strongly believed that by evaluating some of the factors that contribute to dysfunctional family and emotional trauma among humans in the society, the government, practitioners, private and public sectors, individuals and general public will deploy good policies and strategies through the provision of counseling, education, good health care, and many more that will help cater for the needs of the victimized or children experiencing emotional trauma in order to make the society a more and better conducive place to live in.
The results of this study would hopefully be significant in the sense that it would enable teachers and school administrators to put in place necessary measures such as guidance and counseling, which will help check and offer solution to children experiencing emotional disorder
Finally, this study will be a supplement to the existing literature in the field and an additional scholarly work on family dysfunctional and emotional trauma as correlate of interpersonal relationship in public secondary schools.
1.7. Scope of the Study
This research will evaluate dysfunctional family and emotional trauma as predictors of interpersonal relationship in public secondary schools. Furthermore, the research intends to study the causes of family dsyfunctionality and emotional trauma on children and how it affects their interpersonal relationship. The scope of this study will be confined to students in selected secondary schools in Ikenne local government area, which are; Ikenne Community High School, Illisan High School, and Remo Methodist High School area of Ogun State. This is due to constraints like degree of precision, cost and time involve.
1.8. Operational Definition of Terms
Dysfunctional family: are characterized by hyper-protection and hypo-protection, indulging, and ignoring the child needs, excessiveness and deficit of requirements-responsibilities of the child, excessiveness and deficit of requirements-prohibition for the child, inadequate or excessive sanctions and punishments imposed on children, the instability and inconsistency of parenting
Emotional trauma: is the damage to the mind that occurs as a result of a distressing event.
Emotional reliance: refers to the position of the self in relation to others, and the degree and intensity of the relationship to a single other person
Interpersonal behavior: is the process of exchange between two or more individuals where "two or more individuals in interaction are simultaneously the causes and the effects of each other's behavior
Interpersonal dependency: refers to a process of complex thoughts, feelings, and behavior which surrounds the need to associate, interact, and rely upon valued others
