Parenting Styles and Academic Performance of Secondary School Students

PARENTING STYLES AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN ORUK ANAM LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA

 

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1    Background to the Study

The relationship between a student and his or her parents has been noted to have an influential impact on not only the student performance in school but also in his/her life generally. Parenting styles have been analyzed and grouped by educationists.

Numerous studies such as that of Mandara (2016) and Micki (2018) have showed that the parenting style experienced by children contribute in no small measure to the molding of the behavioural pattern generally and specifically the performance of the children.                                                                                                                        

Micki (2018) noted that the relationship between parenting styles and their children’s performance has shown that parents can have a dramatic impact on their children’s performance, often resulting in a vast improvement. Also, though; not as prevented, it is also shown that parents can have a powerful impact on their children’s behaviour in the classroom and at other school based activities.

According to Weiss and Schwarz (2016), parenting styles are summarized and placed into four (4) general themes of discipline, positive parenting, monitoring and problem solving.

According them, discipline theme of parenting style involves the discouragement of behavioural excess or anti-social behaviour. They give the components to good disciplinary practices which are accurate definition and labeling of certain behaviours as excessive anti-social, consistent tracking of those behaviors over time across settings.

However, positive parenting, as explained by Weiss and Schwarz (2016) means the interactions between the parents and their children which foster interpersonal, academic achievement and work skills which encourage the development of normative values and standards of behaviour.

According to them, students of parents who use positive parenting skills are generally less likely to have low academic performance in schools. On the other hand, students of parents who are supportive and affectionate, or are rejecting and generally negative in their attitude are likely to perform law academically.

According to Weiss and Schwarz (2016), monitoring means parental awareness of children’s peer associates, free time activities, schools awareness and performance in school activities. Thus, students from good monitoring parental background and generally associated with good academic performance while ineffective monitoring has been associated with poor academic performance of the students. Generally, parenting styles are classified into authoritarian, democratic, permissive and laissez-faire (Baumrind, 2011)

Baumrind (2011) explained that in the authoritarian parenting styles, students are exposed to a kind of master-servant relationship with their parents where overly harsh, punitive with no freedom to the children takes places. In a democratic parenting style, there is a kind of positive parenting where there is mutual interaction between parents and their children.

In the permissive parenting style, freedom of choice is given to the students as their parents rarely exert discipline. In the laissez-faire parenting style, we have a kind of indifferent or un-involving parenting where the parents show non-challant attitude to the activities of their children both at home and in school. Therefore, this study intends to examine the influence of parenting styles on academic performance of secondary school students in Government in Oruk Anam Local Government Area.

 

Parenting Styles and Academic Performance of Secondary School Students

1.2    Statement of the Problem

At the senior secondary school level, Government is one of the core subjects which, if effectively taught, according to Yusuf (2014), has the potential to influence all round development of Nigerian youth. However, students’ performance in the subject shows growing decline in the senior school certificate Examination. One of the reasons for the poor performance of the students may be due to the parenting style adopted by their parents. 

Moreover, parenting styles are meant to capture normal variations of their wards if parents attempt to socialize their children and boost their academic performance in school. As such, parenting styles can be both supportive and unsupportive in their tone, both of which affect their school educational attainment. Based on the above, the study was conducted to investigate how authoritative, permissive and neglectful parenting styles affect academic performance of secondary school students in Government in Oruk Anam Local Government Area.

 

1.3    Purpose of the Study

The main purpose of this study was to examine how parenting styles and academic performance of secondary school students in Government in Oruk Anam Local Government Area. In specific terms, the objectives of this study include:

1. To find out the academic performance of students in Government from authoritative and laissez-faire parents.
2. To compare the academic performance of students in Government from authoritarian and neglectful parents.

Parenting Styles and Academic Performance of Secondary School Students

1.4  Significance of the Study

This study will be useful to many people who may want to know those factors that could make or mar student’s academic performance in school. Therefore, the study is significant in the following regards:

1. It will provide empirical evidence to schools, parents and students about the nature of academic performance of students in schools.
2. The result of this study would aid parents to adopt authoritative parenting style in managing their houses which they belong.
3. The findings from this study will serve a reference material for future researcher that might investigate on the same or similar variables.

 

1.5  Research Questions

The following research questions were formulated to guide the study:

1. Is there any significance difference between academic performance of students in Government from authoritarian and neglectful parents.
2. Is there any significance difference between academic performance of students in Government from authoritative and laissez-faire parents?

1.6    Research Hypotheses              

Two null hypotheses are formulated for the study:

1. There is no significant difference between academic performance of students in Government from authoritarian and neglectful parents.
2. There is no significant difference between academic performance of students in Government from authoritative and laissez-faire parents?

Parenting Styles and Academic Performance of Secondary School Students

1.7    Delimitation of the Study

This research work is restricted to parenting styles and academic performance of secondary school students in Government in Oruk Anam Local Government Area.

1.8  Limitation of the Study

Several problems are encountered while undertaking this research work. Some of these include:

1. The period give for the completion of this study was not enough for a wider and more in-dept study.
2. Lack of funds to procure necessary materials for the study and high cost of transportation in getting to sample schools constitutes some hindrances.
3. Lack of enough previous research materials on the subject was also an added constraint encountered during the course of this work.

 

1.9  Definition of Terms

Parenting Style: This is the overall emotional climate of the parent-child relationship which create a emotional climate expressed by parent’s behaviour and which influences the child.

Academic Performance: This is the level of knowledge or skill attained by a student in a given subjects usually designated by test score or grade.

Secondary School: This is a high school which provides secondary education, between the ages of 11 and 19 depending on location, after primary school and before higher education.

Authoritarian Parenting: In this parenting style, children are exposed to a kind of master-servant relationship with their parents where overly harsh, punitive with o freedom to the children.

Authoritative Parenting: In a democratic parenting style, there is a kind of positive parenting where there is mutual interaction between parents and the children.

Laissez-Faire Parenting: In this parenting style, there is a kind of indifferent or uninvolving parenting where the parents show non-challant attitude to the activities of their children both at home and the school.

Neglectful Parenting: In a neglectful parenting style, parents are not concern about the welfare and activities of the child’s education.