Child Custody Disputes and Socio Psychological Effect on Children in Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria

Abstract

It is an open secret that parents often forget or neglect the interest of their children when considering divorce. Children constitute the dependent part of the society and they need constant and continued care. As far as their divorce is successful, parents consider it a “clean break-up.” But this leads to the disruption of the lives of the products of the marriage. Based on this observation this study sought to assess the effect of child custody disputes on the children. A survey design adopted for the study admitted a total of 300 respondents, consisting of 150 males and 150 females aged 21 to 46 years .A multi-stage sampling technique was used to select participants. Out of 14 electoral Wards, we randomly selected 8; and three Polling Units from each Ward. At each of the Polling area, convenience sampling technique was used to administer structured questionnaires on respondents. Four research questions guided the study. Frequencies, percentage, means and standard deviations were employed to answer the research questions. It was found that 84.8 per cent of changes in child’s behaviour can be traced to frequency in parental child custody disputes, while 95 (31.6%) of the respondents agreed that children suffered from unsatisfied needs and lack self-reliance from parental child custody disputes. It was recommended, among others, that family therapy and alte