ABSTRACT
This study examines the influence of different family backgrounds on the academic performance of secondary school students in Ifo Local Government Area, Ogun State. Specifically, it investigates how nuclear families, extended families, single-parent families, childless-parent families, and stepfamilies impact students’ academic achievements. The study was motivated by the need to understand how family structure contributes to the educational outcomes of students. Data were collected through surveys administered to 74 respondents, including teachers, who provided insights into the relationship between family backgrounds and student performance. The study employed a Pearson chi-square test to analyse the data and determine the statistical significance of these relationships.
The findings revealed that nuclear family background had a significant positive impact on student performance, with students from such families performing better academically due to better parental support. Similarly, single-parent and childless-parent family backgrounds also showed positive effects, particularly in terms of academic care and involvement in extracurricular activities. However, extended family backgrounds had a mixed influence, with some respondents indicating that a lack of support and cooperation within extended families negatively affected student performance. The results also highlighted the challenges faced by students from stepfamilies, who experienced academic difficulties and emotional stress due to complex family dynamics.
The study concluded that family structure plays a crucial role in shaping students’ academic outcomes. Based on these findings, recommendations were made for parents, schools, and policymakers to develop strategies that support students from diverse family backgrounds, particularly those from stepfamilies and single-parent families. This research contributes to the body of knowledge by emphasizing the importance of family background in educational performance and offers valuable insights for future research, curriculum planning, and educational policy.
Keyword: Family Background, Performance, Step Families, Extended Family, Childless Parent.
Word count: 427
TABLE
OF CONTENTS
Cover Page i
Fly leaf ii
Title Page iii
Certification and Approval page iv
Declaration v
Dedication vi
Acknowledgement vii
Table of Content xiii
List of Tables ix
List of Figures x
List of glossaries
xi
List of Appendices xii
Abstract xiii
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1
Background to the Study 1
1.2 Statement of the Problem 5
1.3 Research
Questions 7
1.4 Hypotheses 7
1.5 Purpose
of the Study 8
1.6 Significance
of the Study 9
1.7 Scope
and Delimitation of the Study 9
1.8 Operational
Definition of Terms 9
CHAPTER
TWO
REVIEW
OF RELATED LITERATURE
2.1 Family Background 11
2.2 Relationship between Nuclear Family and
Student Performances 12
2.3 Relationship
between Extended family and Student performances 13
2.4 Relationship
between Single Parent family and Student performances 17
2.5 Relationship
between Grand Parent family and Student performances 28
2.6 Relationship
between Childless Parent family and Student performances 31
2.7 Relationship
between Joint Parent family and Student performances 36
2.8 Relationship between Egalitarian Parent family
and Student performances 38
2.9 Relationship between Patrifocal (male-led)
Parent family and Student
Performances 45
2.10 Relationship between Matrifocal (Female-led)
Parent family and Student
Performances 52
2.11 Student Performance 54
2.12
Theoretical framework 60
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 Research Design 75
3.2 Variables of the Study 76
3.3 Population of the Study 77
3.4 Sample and Sampling Techniques 77
3.5 Research Instrument 77
3.6 Validity of Instrument 78
3.7 Reliability of the Study 78
3.8 Administration of Research Instrument
3.9 Method of Data Analysis 79
CHAPTER
FOUR
RESULTS
AND DISCUSSIONS
4.0 Data Presentation and Analysis 81
4.1 Analysis
of Participants’ Demographic Data 81
4.2 Analysis of Answers to the Research Questions 83
4.3 Research Hypothesis 90
4.4
Answering Research
Question/Hypothesis 93
4.5 Discussion
of Findings 95
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY,
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1 Summary
of the Study 96
5.2 Summary of the Findings 96
5.3 Conclusion 97
5.4 Recommendations 97
5.5 Contributions to Knowledge 97
5.6 Limitation of the Study 98
5.7 Suggestions for Further Studies 98
REFERENCES
APPENDIX 1: Questionnaire Introduction Letter 99
APPENDIX 2: Questionnaire 100
LIST OF TABLES
Table 4.1: Socio-demographic Characteristics of
Respondent (n =74) 81
Table 4.2: Showing the response of the respondents on the
impact of nuclear family background on student academic performance in
Secondary school in Ifo local government. 83
Table 4.3: Showing the response of the respondents on the
impact of extended family background on student academic performance in
Secondary school in Ifo local government. 84
Table 4.4: Showing the response of the respondents on the
impact of single parent family background on student academic performance in
Secondary school in Ifo local government. 85
Table 4.5: Showing the response of the respondents on
the impact of childless parent family background on student academic
performance in Secondary school in Ifo local government. 86
Table 4.6: Showing the response of the respondents on the
impact of step family background (blended) on student academic performance in
Secondary school in Ifo local government. 87
Table 4.7: Showing the response of the respondents on the
impact of patrifocal family background on student academic performance in
Secondary school in Ifo local government. 88
Table 4.8: Showing the response of the respondents on the
impact of matrifocal family background on student academic performance in
Secondary school in Ifo local government. 89
Table 4.9: Showing the response of the respondents on the
impact of joint parent family background on student academic performance in
Secondary school in Ifo local government. 90
Table 4.10: Chi-Square Tests conducted to investigate the impact nuclear family background and
student performance. 91
Table 4.11: Chi-Square Tests conducted to examine the relationship between Extended family background and
student performance. 91
Table 4.12: Chi-Square Tests conducted for the relationship between single family background and
student performance. 92
Table 4.13: Chi-Square Tests conducted for the relationship between childless family background and
student performance. 92
Table 4.14: Chi-Square Tests conducted for the relationship between Step family background and
student performance. 93
LIST
OF FIGURES
Figure 4.1
Roles of Joint Families……………………………………42
Figure 4.2
Impact of Family on Schools……………………………………………….43
Figure 4.3 Types of family
Background………………………………………..45
LIST
OF GLOSSARIES
WLS Wisconsin
Longitudinal Study 15
NLSY National
Longitudinal Survey 5
CYA Children And Young Adult 5
NTI National Teachers’ Institute 7
PCOS POLYCYSTIC
OVARY SYNDROME 33
COVID Corona Virus Diseases 39
LIST
OF APPENDICES
Appendix 1:
Letter of Introduction……………………………………………………...102
Appendix 2:
Instrument (Questionnaires)…………………………………………….....103
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
An education
system in any society both reflects and adopts itself to the political and
economic circumstances of that society. Nigeria as a developing country is not
left out in the race to educate her citizens to build her manpower in order to
meet the need of our ever changing world. In accordance with this, various
administrations have adopted various policy measures in making sure that the
education policy is properly implemented. There had been a change from the old
system of education which was inherited from our colonial masters to the
6-3-3-4 system. All these are in attempt to establish a good educational system
that is geared towards obtaining good performance in educational attainment of
students. However, it is rather paradoxical or true that while some students
have good performance, others do not have but do poorly in terms of educations.
When there are lapses or deficient in the performance of students,
it calls for
observation and it’s highly researchable.
Much blame has
usually been leveled on the school authority as well as teachers attitude
towards teaching. In this regard, very few people care to think of other
factors which might be responsible for student’s poor academic performance at
school. One of the major factors which must be critically taken into
consideration is the Family Background. Burt (1937) said that is convey of
backwardness asserted that background of a child affects his educational
achievement. Family is generally acknowledged as the smallest unit in the
society. In Nigeria, it consists of a Man, his wife and children and other
immediate relations. The extended are different from the nuclear family. Family
is the first unit in the social order where the child’s upbringing began after
birth. According to Adewumi (2012), childhood could be likened to letters
impressed in the shout of a young tree, which grows, and later enlarge into
integral part of a whole. The family as an agent of socialization saddled with
the responsibility of determining the students attitude towards intellectual,
religious character and moral upbringing. According to Aliyu (2016), the family
lays the fundamentals of moral and
religious upbringing of the child, and in a way dictate how he/she relate with
others regarding the idea of the right and wrong, good and bad.
Family background
refers to all the conditions and circumstances in the family which affect the
child physically, intellectually and emotionally (Muola, 2010). Children coming
from different family backgrounds are affected differently by such family
condition that is why some children have good family background while some have
poor family background. Families are of various sizes. Family size has to do
with the total number of people in a single family which may include the
father, mother, children and even the extended members all living in one
hamlet. In the word of Glenn (1976) background may be due to individual courses
such as poor health, emotional disturbances and mental retardation. Family
background of students determines how the child views himself and the way he
views others. According to (Alio, 2010), family size has implication for
education The author emphasized that the size of the family determines to a
great extent the relative amount of physical attention and time which each
child gets from his parents. Large families are more common among the lower
class of the society. Children in large families may suffer poverty and lack
parental encouragement and stimulus which motivate their academic achievement
(Eamon, 2015).
Academic
performance has been defined as excellence in all academic discipline, in class
as well as extracurricular activities. It includes excellence in sporting
behaviour, confidence, communication skill, punctuality, assertiveness, Art,
Culture and the like (Teecee, 2010).Academic performance encompasses student
ability and performance, it is intricately related to human growth and
cognitive, emotional, social, and physical development; it reflects the whole
child, it is not related to as single instance, but occurs across time and
levels, through a student's life in public secondary school and working life
(Steinberg, 2012).
Academic
performance is the outcome of evaluation through standardized test or
examination. Students' academic performance in Nigeria secondary school has
been a source of concern to all and sundry. There has been a general
apprehension about the fallen standard of education in Nigerian educational
system. This unfortunate trend has become a source of concern considering the
great importance of education to national development. Aremu (2010), remarked
that academic failure is not only frustrating to the students and the parent,
its effect is equally grave on the society in term of dearth of manpower in all
spheres of the economic and politics. Poor academic performance is adjudged by
examiner as fallen below expected standard. Research has attributed low
academic performance at secondary school level to many factors.Morakinyo (2013),
affirmed that many secondary school products in Nigeria performed below culturally
acceptable behavioral pattern among families differs from each other. While in
some there is a sound cordial understanding or relationship between parents and
children. While in some other, because of the cultural sanctions or taboos they
observe their seem to be autocratic atmosphere in the home. This therefore
influence students behavior at school as opined by F. Musgrave (2017) students
who have much affection from the parents and guardians tend to perform better
in school than those who have less or no
affection from their parents emotionally or may become depressed which could
affect their academic performance.
Since home is the
primary unit and agent of socialization from which the fundamental education of
the child begins, the success or failure of any students depends largely on the
encouragement by members of the family.
Nuclear
family: This
is a type of family where group of people (married) are united by ties of
parenthood and partnership which consist of a pair of adults and their socially
recognized children. Children in nuclear family may be the couple's biological
or adopted offspring.
Joint
Family: This
is a type of family where members of a unillineal descent (where male or female
is emphasized) lives together with their spouses and offspring in one homestead
under the authority of one it the members. Joint family is an extension of the
Nuclear family (parent and dependent children), and it typically grows when
children of one sex do not leave their parent home at marriage but bring their
spouses to lives with them.
Single
parent family type: This is a household in which one parent is responsible for the
raising and caring for the children. These can occur as a result of various
circumstances like divorce, widowed parents, separation or a conscious decision
to become a single parent.
Childless
parent family: This is a type of family that usually involves a couple that does
not have children. In many western countries, voluntary Childless marriages and
partnerships are still still relatively uncommon but they are increasing.
Step
family background: This is a type of family that forms when one or both adults in a
new couple bring children from a previous relationship. The previous marriage
may have ended as a result of divorce or death. In most cases, the stepfamilies
looks like first tmer out the outside, but are very different on the inside.
This type of family can also be referred to as Blended or Reconstructed family.
Egalitarian
family background: This
is a type of family background where both
parties have equal partnership. Here, the couples contribute the same and their
opinion have the same weight in a decision making process.
Patrifocal
(male-led) family background: This is a type of family background in
which the father takes the lead role in decision making and raising of the
children. The father takes full responsibility of the home and the children
upbringing.
Matrifocal
(female-led) family background: This is a type of family background in which
the woman is take the lead role in decision making and raising of the children.
This kind of family is common when women have the resources to rear their children
themselves or where men are more mobile than the women. In this case, the
father (s) of these children are intermittently present in the life of the
group or occupy a secondary place.
Grandparents’
family background: This s a type of family
background where Grandparents serves as the primary caregiver for the children,
raising other children or in conjunction with other family.
Extended
family: An extended
family is a family that extends beyond the nuclear family of parents and
their children to include aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins or other
relatives, all living nearby or in the same household. Particular forms include
the stem and joint families.
1.2
Statement
of the Problem
Secondary school
students face a lot of problems emanating from different family background.
Their performance is based on their family types which includes Nuclear family,
matrifocal (a mother and her children), patrifocal (a father and his children),
extended family, patriarchal (male-led), matriarchal (female-led), blended
(mixed parent), compound (three or more spouses and their children), stem and
joint families. All these aforementioned type of family have direct and indirect
effects on the student performance. Growing up without both parents is
associated with a host of poor child outcomes. Children from single-parent and
stepparent families have higher poverty rates and lower levels of educational
and occupational attainment than children who grow up with both their
biological or adoptive parents (Astone & McLanahan, 1991; Biblarz &
Raftery, 1993, 1999; DeLeire & Kalil, 2002; Kiernan, 1992; McLanahan &
Sandefur, 1994; Wojtkiewicz, 1993). They report greater substance use and
risk-taking behavior, such as smoking, drinking, and drug use (Carlson, 2006;
DeLeire & Kalil, 2002; Hoffmann & Johnson, 1998). Further, these
children are more likely to have sex at an early age (Davis & Friel, 2001;
Thornton & Camburn, 1989), to be young and unmarried when they form their
families (Cherlin, Kiernan, & Chase-Lansdale, 1995; Kiernan 1992; Kiernan
& Hobcraft, 1997; McLanahan & Sandefur, 1994; Thornton 1991; Wu 1996),
and to experience the dissolution of their own romantic unions (Amato &
DeBoer, 2001; Kiernan & Cherlin, 1999; McLanahan & Bumpass, 1988;
Wolfinger 1999). Most of this literature treats continuously married-parent
families as a single, homogenous group. Poor housing and over-crowded home
conditions may affect students’ cognitive ability their parents educational level where both
parent has no formal education and family size where in a family they have up
to 5-7 children and the likes. Some student’s lives with their detached parents
(matrifocal and patrifocal) and as a result, there is little or no care unlike
students living with their parents. A student who comes from a patriarchal
(male-led) family tends to exhibit some masculine behavior which cannot be
compared to a student from matriarchal (female led) family. A child from a female led family will be less
aggressive and calm but might lack some father role which can result in
positive or negative performance at school. Parents and guardians are
ill-feeling about the harming rate of poor academic performance of students in
school nowadays. What they do eventually is to call the teachers to question
the pupil’s poor academic performance. However they are ignorant that apart
from the teacher’s abilities such as home background do influence the student’s
academic performance. The home being a primary unit of socialization and where
most of children learning take place cannot be single or left out in
identifying the course of poor academic performance of a child.
As a result of
these, the study investigated the Impact of family background on student academic
performance in Secondary school in Ifo local government.
1.3
Research
Questions
i.
Does Nuclear family
background have any effect on the student performance in secondary school?
ii.
To what extent does
Extended family background influence student performance in secondary school?
iii.
Is there any significant
influence of Single parent background on the student performance in secondary
school?
iv.
How does Childless parent
background influence student performance in secondary school?
v.
What effect does Step family
background (blended) have on student performance in secondary school?
1.4 Hypotheses
i.
There is no significant
relationship between Egalitarian family background and student performance
ii.
There is no significant
relationship between Patrifocal (male-led) family background and student
performance
iii.
There is no significant
relationship between Matrifocal (female-led) family background and student
performance
iv.
There is no significant
between Joint family background and student performance
v.
There is no significant
between Grandparent family background and student performance
1.5
Purpose
of the Study
The major purpose
of this study is to examine the effect of family background on the student
performance in secondary school students in Ifo local government area of Ogun
state. The specific purpose are;
i.
Determine the significant
difference in the academic performance of students from Nuclear family background
ii.
Determine the significant
difference in the academic performance of students from Extended family
iii.
Determine the significant
difference in the academic performance of students from Single parent
background
iv.
Determine the significant
difference in the academic performance of students from Childless parent
background
v.
Determine the significant
difference in the academic performance of students from Step family (blended)
background
vi.
Determine the significant
difference in the academic performance of students from Egalitarian family
background
vii.
Determine the significant
difference in the academic performance of students from Patrifocal (male led)
family background
viii.
Determine the significant
difference in the academic performance of students from Matrilocal ( female
led) family background
ix.
Determine the significant
difference in the academic performance of students in the Joint family
background
x.
Determine the significant
difference in the academic performance of students from Grandparents family
background
1.6
Significance
of the Study
This study will be
of immense benefit to parent, school management, staff members, future
researchers, Non- governmental organizations, alumni association,
philanthropist and curriculum planners.
It would help parents to shape positively their child’s selfimage and to set a
good, loving and caring family environment for their children. The study will
also be of immense help to schools management because it will enlighten them on
the important factors in the students’ family background so as to create
parameter to deal with those factors for the enhancement of students’ positive
academic performance. To future researchers, this study would serve as a
literature to support their arguments and hence improved knowledge.
These will have
enriched available information on different types of family background and it's
effects on the academic performance of Secondary school students.
The findings of
this study would provide a sound basis for Curriculum Planners to understand
that students come from various family backgrounds so as to plan curriculum
that will help students reconstruct their misconception.
1.7
Scope
and Delimitation of
the Study
The geographical
scope of this study is Ifo local government, Ogun state, Nigeria, while the
content scope of the study is the effect of family background on the academic
performance of Secondary school student’s performance.
1.8 Operational
Definition of terms
Family:
Family is generally acknowledged as the smallest unit in the society. In
Nigeria, it consists of a Man, his wife and children and other immediate
relations
Family
background refers to all the conditions and
circumstances in the family which affect the child physically, intellectually
and emotionally
Academic
performance is the outcome of evaluation through
standardized test or examination.
Patrifocal
(male-led) family background: is a type of family
background in which the father takes the lead role in decision making and
raising of the children. The father takes full responsibility of the home and
the children upbringing.
Matrifocal
(female-led) family background: is a type of
family background in which the woman is take the lead role in decision making
and raising of the children.
Joint
Family: is a
type of family where members of a unillineal descent (where male or
female is emphasized) lives together with their spouses and offspring in one
homestead
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