Male child educational investment as social security against old age in the Offinso-North District

Abstract

This study examined male child educational investment as a form of social security against old age in the Offinso-North District of Ghana. Grounded in Social Exchange Theory and supported by Social Role Theory, the study explored how parents invest in their male children’s education from basic to tertiary level, the motivations and expectations underpinning such investments, and the extent to which these investments are reciprocated during parents’ old age. Adopting a qualitative research approach, the study employed in-depth interviews as the primary data collection instrument. A total of thirty respondents were selected through purposive, convenience, and simple random sampling techniques, comprising fifteen parents and fifteen of their male children. Data were transcribed and analysed thematically. The findings revealed that although parents invest substantially in their male children’s education with the expectation of old-age support, only a few parents received adequate returns on their investment. Most parents experienced little or no reciprocation due to factors such as unemployment and low income levels of male children, competing nuclear family responsibilities, divorce, religious beliefs, and witchcraft accusations against elderly parents. The study concludes that investment in male children’s education alone is no longer a reliable or sufficient form of social security for parents in old age. It therefore recommends that the Government of Ghana strengthen formal social protection systems for the elderly, expand employment opportunities with improved wages, and intensify public sensitisation on the moral and social responsibility of adult children towards ageing parents. The study contributes to social studies scholarship by highlighting the limitations of traditional family-based old-age security mechanisms amid changing social dynamics.