PARENTAL SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS AS DETERMINANTS OF CHILD NEGLECT IN LAGOS STATE.

Abstract

The study examined the socioeconomic status of parents as determinants of child neglect in Lagos state. The research design is descriptive while a sample of 273 participants was selected using a multiple sampling technique. A self-constructed questionnaire was used to collect relevant data. Two research hypotheses were formulated while data were analyzed using Pearson Product Moment Correlation Regression analysis at 0.05 level of significance. The result revealed that child neglect is mostly correlated with parent’s occupation with correlation coefficient (r = 0.485), followed by parental income (r = 0.323) while level of education has the least coefficient (r= 0.02) and also insignificantly positively correlated with child neglect, furthermore, there was a joint significant relationship of independent variables parent’s (occupation, income and level of education) on dependent variable child neglect. Finally, regression model revealed the relative contributions of each of the parental socio-economic status (occupation, income and level of education) to the dependent variable (child neglect). Parental occupation is the most significant predictor of child neglect (β =0.432, t = 16.825, p < 0.05), followed by parental income (β =0.140, t = 5.439, p < 0.05) and parental level of education (β =0.051, t = 2.160, p < 0.05) respectively. Furthermore, all the predictors have a positive influence on child neglect. The study recommended that parents should be given some form of orientation about what constitute child abuse and neglect. Teachers should sensitize parents on the importance of proper childcare and education and the negative effects of child neglect on children’s education and development while offenders of child abuse should be sanctioned.

Keywords. Parental Socioeconomic Status, Child Neglect