ABSTRACT

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of polygamy on the behaviour patterns of in-school adolescent as expressed by secondary school teachers in Ilorin metropolis.

The study also investigated whether or not there would be significant difference on the perception of respondent on the basis of gender, religion, marital status and educational qualification.
Descriptive survey research procedure was adopted for the study.

The purposive sampling and stratified random sampling techniques were used to draw a sample of 100 secondary school teachers in Ilorin metropolis Kwara state.

The purposive sampling was used to select ten secondary schools in Ilorin metropolis.

The main research instrument employed for data collection was “Influence of Polygamy on Behaviour Patterns of Adolescent Questionnaire” (IPBPAQ).

Five research questions were raised and four research hypotheses formulated and tested.

Data collected were computed using frequency counts, percentages, t-test and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA).

The hypotheses were tested at 0.05 alpha level.
The findings of the study indicated that there is no significant difference in the influence of polygamy on the behaviour patterns of in-school adolescent as expressed by the respondents on the basis of gender, religion, marital status and educational qualification.
It was recommended that there is the need for stake holders, especially the school counsellors and teachers to give adequate attention to students’ developmental challenges and adolescents in secondary school should be exposed to counselling that will help them resolve family issues that could cause emotional problems.

More so, students from polygamous homes should be helped to develop positive self image and handle overzealous attitude that could lead to unnecessary competition among siblings.

CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background to the Study
Polygamy is a marriage which includes more than two partners (Zeitzen, 2008). When a man is married to more than one wife at a time, the relationship is called polygyny, and there is no marriage bond between the wives. When a woman is married to more than one husband at a time, it is called polyandry, and there is no marriage bond between the husbands.

If a marriage includes multiple husbands and wives, it can be called group marriage (Zeitzen, 2008).
The term is used in related ways in social anthropology, socio-biology, sociology, as well as in popular speech. In social anthropology, polygamy is the practice of a person’s making him available for two or more spouses to mate with. In contrast, monogamy is a marriage consisting of only two parties. Like monogamy, the term is often used in a de facto sense, applying regardless of whether the relationships are recognized by the state. In socio-biology and zoology, polygamy is used in a broad sense to mean any form of multiple mating.
In the last two decades, polygamy has been considered as an important issue public, political, and academic arenas (Elbedour, 2004). Polygamy in particular constitutes one of the distinctive features of the marriage in many countries and while its frequency may be declining, it is still widely practiced (Kincaid, 2003).
The Sub-Saharan Africa is the major global region where the practice remains widespread, accounting for about 20-50 percent of all marriages (Caldwell & Caldwell, 1990).

Although polygamy has been practised all over the world for many centuries, there is an argument whether polygamy is appropriate or inappropriate to our society.

Some believe that polygamy is very helpful to career women who might have to work late, then go home, and take care of their children or husband. Conversely, majority believe that polygamy is inappropriate as it has a huge negative effect to the family.

The common effect of polygamy is making a conflict among wives. In polygamy, conflict among wives usually arises in the management of family.

It is difficult for family management especially to arrange and sharing the task. On the other hand, it is difficult for husband to be fair to his wives. (Altman & Gmat, 1996).
Kincaid (2003) observed that in polygamous family, children also might lose their respect to their parents.

The paper attempts to examine the overall effect of polygamy on family and society.

Too many, polygamy is seen as an inappropriate relationship because they believe that polygamy oppresses women and children, but there are also those who believe that polygamy is appropriate and beneficial to society.

Polygamy is always associated with problems and bad effects like jealousy, strife, murder and disparities.
Behaviour pattern can be described as a psychological construct that helps in defining an individual’s likely disposition towards an event such as examinations (Parker, Spears & Jones, 2002). Behaviour pattern refers to the unique and distinctive characteristics which sets a person apart from another (Sanni, 1999).

Aspect of Behaviour pattern include one’s qualities or attributes, the way one really is, one’s general habitual behaviour, politeness, submissiveness and so on (Olowonirejuaro, 2008).
One way of classifying personality characteristics is through the use of the Type A and Type B behaviour patterns. According to Sanni (1999), the concept of Types A and B behaviour pattern dated back to the 19th century. Meyer Friedman, an American Cardiologist, noticed in the 1940’s that the chairs in his waiting room got worn out from the edges.

He hypothesized that his patients were hard driving, impatient people, who sat on the edge of their seats when waiting. They were labelled “Type A” personalities.

Type A Behaviour Pattern personalities are workaholics, always busy, driven, somewhat impatient and so on.
The Type A behaviour pattern is a set of behavioural responses to life or challenges of the environmental variables more often aggravated by situations which constitute significant changes in our lives (Rosenman & Chesney, 1982).
Friedman and Rosenman (1974) defined Type A individual as a person who is aggressively involved in a chronic, incessant struggle to achieve more and more in less and less time, and if required to do so, against the opposing efforts of other things or other persons.

They went further to explain Type A behaviour traits to include the following: extreme ambition and competitiveness, impatience, time pressure and a high degree of propensity to anger and hostility.
The behaviour pattern B individual denotes a person who is more ‘relaxed’ in his or her approach to life, somewhat opposite to Type A (Rosenman & Friedman, 1974). With regards to time, the Type B individual is not in a hurry.

He tends to be friendly and often competes with himself, believing that he can always do better than before.

He is intuitive, spontaneous and patient.

When it comes to change, he sees it as a rhythm of the universe and believes that all change is inevitable. He is open to criticism and tries to make others feel accepted and at ease.

When he is angry, he uses humour subtly to make his point and his anger is in most cases directed against issues and not at persons. He is supportive of others and more likely to express positive feelings, so he has a lesser chance of anxiety related disorders.
Behaviour patterns among the adolescents cannot be understood without considering some factors like gender and family background.

It has been contended that the gender factor is of paramount importance to cognitive, affective and behavioural actions of individuals.

Ossal (2004) reported that there are biological based differences in brain components of males and females which account for men’s higher spatial, numerical and independent cognitive styles.

In other words he was of the opinion that boys and girls behave differently because of variations in their psychological constitution along gender lines without much consideration to environmental influences.
The family is one of the primary groups of social organization where a child first receives the informal type of’ education.

Everyone starts life in a family, irrespective of the kind of family.

The family, as a major unit of socialization is very vital for the development of a child.

It is with this unit the child first identifies himself before the ethnic group, or the society at large (Moors 2003).
According to Moors (2003), family background could be of various types. Generally, there are the extended and nuclear family patterns.

The extended family includes a span of three generations within the total household.

The nuclear family comprises basically the father, the mother and the children.

In addition to the types of families mentioned above, some family are polygamous.

The pattern or type of training given to child within a family system affects his/her personality make up.

This has to do with the type of rearing techniques that a family adopts. It also has to do with the role played by the father and the mother i.e. child rearing procedure.
It has been observed by Sears, Maccoby and Levin (2003) that many variables like the family type, family child rearing practices, birth order and socioeconomic status of the parent affect the personality of the individual in the school.

Various families show different attitudes towards their children and both the favourable and unfavourable attitudes of parents have effects on the personality characteristics of their children in school.
The aim of this study is to find out the influence of polygamy on the behaviour patterns of in-school adolescents as expressed by secondary school teachers in Ilorin Metropolis, with a view to investigating the relationship that exist between polygamy and behaviour patterns of in-school adolescents.

Statement of the Problem
Polygamous family is characterised by unhealthy rivalry and competitions which in turn may have a lot influence on childrearing practices and behaviour patterns of young children.

In the view of Ipaye (1993), polygamy leads to marriage which tears families apart and in many cases children are worst hit.

It leads to change in hope of children, misbehaviour and delinquency, in assertiveness and lack of confidence.

It appears that this unfortunate conflict situation in polygamous homes poses great influence on the behaviour of young children which in turn affect every aspect of their life pursuit.
Researches have been carried out on factors responsible for polygamous marriage among men as expressed by adults in Ilorin metropolis by Afolabi (2012), the findings of the study revealed that the most common factor responsible for polygamous marriage includes health factors, religious factors, social factors and economic factors.
Also Ajiboye (2004), carried out findings on the influence of polygamy on the academic performance of student in Oke-Ero Local Government Area of Kwara State.

The findings of the study revealed that polygamous family has adverse influence on the student performance.
A fairly more encompassing study is however needed to be carried out on the influence of polygamy on the behaviour patterns of in-school adolescent.

This is to know the influence of polygamy on the behaviour dispositions of in school adolescents and consequences on their later life.

Research Questions
The following research questions were formulated in order to guide the direction of the study:
1. What is the influence of polygamy on the behaviour patterns of in-school adolescents?
2. Is there significant difference in the influence of polygamy on the behaviour patterns of in-school adolescents has expressed by secondary school teachers on the basis of gender?
3. Is there significant difference in the influence of polygamy on the behaviour patterns of in-school adolescents has expressed by secondary school teachers on the basis of religion?
4. Is there significant difference in the influence of polygamy on the behaviour patterns of in-school adolescents has expressed by secondary school teachers on the basis of education qualification?
5. Is there significant difference in the influence of polygamy on the behaviour patterns of in-school adolescents has expressed by secondary school teachers on the basis of marital status?