Aspects relating to school life of Maltese nine-year-olds coming from separated families

Abstract

The main aim of this dissertation was to examine some of the impacts that parental separation has on the school life of nine-year-old children. The variables investigated include school achievement, behaviour, feelings and self-esteem, taking into consideration principally, gender and the time of the parents' separation. A quantitative method was employed for this study, where the research tool was a questionnaire. This was carried out with Maltese nine-year-olds attending state, church and independent schools. Subsequently, the questionnaires of those children coming from separated families were selected and analysed. When the data was analysed, it was revealed that the school performance of children coming from separated families was worse than that of their classmates from intact families. Gender differences were recorded in this respect, where on the whole, boys fared better than girls. It is to be noted that boys were being helped more than girls in their homework. Further differences regarding boys' and girls' self-esteem were found. The study showed that boys' perception of their behaviour, was more positive when compared to that of girls. The majority of children coming from separated families were found to be living with their mothers. Moreover, the more recent parental separation had occurred, the more were the children's feelings affected negatively and the greater were their reunification fantasies.