Perceptions of secondary school students and teachers on parental alcohol abuse and social behaviour of students in elgeyo-marakwet County, Kenya

Abstract

Alcohol abuse is one of the social issues in today’s society. Parents and social institutions like schools have the responsibility of socializing the young people but they have also fallen victims of alcohol abuse. The need to carry out this research arose from the fact that alcohol consumption, especially illicit alcohol, had affected the society as a whole, the family included. The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions of secondary school students and teachers on parental alcohol abuse and its impact on the social behavior of the students in Keiyo North, Elgeyo-Marakwet County. The objectives were to investigate the perceptions of teachers and students on the extent of parental alcohol abuse, to establish the perceptions of teachers and students on parental alcohol abuse and the social behavior of the secondary school students whose parents abused alcohol, to examine the challenges that schools faced due to the social behavior of the students and to examine the measures taken by schools to assist students improve their social behaviour. The study was based on the theory of Social Cognitive Learning by Albert Bandura. The theory argues that through observation and the use of cognitive processes people have the potential to learn certain behaviours from their environments. Concurrent triangulation mixed method research design involving qualitative and quantitative approaches was used. The target population of this study comprised of all the public secondary schools in Keiyo North sub-County. The sample comprised of 49 participants sampled from seven public schools. Stratified random sampling and purposive sampling were used to select the schools and participants respectively. The study utilized questionnaires and interviews to collect data. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics while qualitative data was analyzed thematically. The findings showed that most fathers (63.6%) abused alcohol compared to the mothers. The challenges faced by schools were mostly the breaking of school rules which led to many indiscipline cases but schools had put up several measures to correct these social behaviors. The study recommends stricter penalties and measures to be put in place and enforced to the latter so as to curb alcohol abuse. There is also need to actively involve and integrate social workers and the children’s department to assist schools in protecting students, teachers with high morals should offer parental love to students having issues due to parental alcohol abuse and lastly training of guidance and counseling teachers should be intensified.