THE INFLUENCE OF FAMILY BACKGROUND VARIABLES ON THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF STUDENTS
ABSTARCT
This study was aimed at investigating the influence of family background variables on the academic performance of students in Nsukka Education Zone in Enugu State. To guide the study, five research purpose, five research questions and five research hypotheses were formulated. The design adopted for this study was Ex-post Facto design. The population of the study consists of all senior Secondary students from the fifty three secondary schools in the three local government areas in Nsukka Education Zone. The fifty three secondary schools in the zone have a population of seven thousand, nine hundred and forty five senior secondary students. Out of the fifty three schools, twelve schools were sampled using proportionate random sampling technique. In the twelve schools, all SSII students numbering eight hundred and sixteen (816) were used as the subject of the study. The research instrument was questionnaire on family background influence (FBI), designed by the researcher and validated by experts. The reliability of the instrument was established using Crunbach alpha method. The data collected were analyzed using mean and standard deviation while t-test statistics was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The instrument was pilot tested in Obollo Afor Education Zone, using 30 students. The reliability coefficient was 0.69. The finding of the study revealed that: Students from educated parents achieve more than those from uneducated parents in academics; students from high-income status parents enjoy considerable advantage in academic achievement than students of low income status parents because their parents were able to afford necessary materials and equipment needed for effective learning in the school; parental level of motivation also influenced students’ academic achievement because motivation and reward served as a form of reinforcement for children’s learning at school. Based on these findings, the study recommended among others that parents should diversify their sources of income to be able to provide fund for their children’s schooling. Parents should equally realize the importance of using rewards and other measures to motivate their children.