The Impact of Parental Income on Academic Performance of Students
ABSTRACT
The study investigated on the “Parental Income and Academic Performance of Students in Political Science in Akwa Ibom State College of Education, Afaha Nsit”. Three research questions were formulated to guide the study. Survey research design was used for the study. The population of the study comprised of all the students of Political Science in Akwa Ibom State College of Education,Afaha Nsit. The simple random sampling technique was adopted to select 150 Political Science students from NCE I and NCE II.
The instrumentsfor data collection were political science achievement test and structured questionnaire for parental income (SQPI). The data collected was analyzed using simple percentage method. The result revealed that parents’ income level, educational level of parents and occupational status of parents can influence or affect the academic performance of Political Science students in Akwa Ibom State College of Education, Afaha Nsit. Thus, it was recommended that, government through the Ministry of Education should evolve support programmes for students from low income homes, also government should create jobs especially for the unemployed citizens and also parents who are uneducated or unemployed should be creative and be self-employed, to help them cater for their children.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents Pages
TITLE PAGE – – – – – – I
CERTIFICATION – – – – – – II
DEDICATION – – – – – – III
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS – – – – – – IV
ABSTRACT – – – – – – V
TABLE OF CONTENTS – – – – – – VI
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study – – – – – 1
1.2 Statement of the Study – – – – – 3
1.3 Purpose of the Study – – – – – 4
1.4 Research Questions – – – – – 5
1.5 Research Hypotheses – – – – – 5
1.6 Significance of the Study – – – – – 5
1.7 Limitation of the Study – – – – – 7
1.8 Delimitation of the Study – – – – – 7
1.9 Definition of Terms – – – – – 8
CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
2.1 Parental Income and Academic Performance of Students 9
2.2 Income versus other Measures of Economic or Social Status 13
2.3 Permanent versus Short-Term Income – – – 22
2.4 Estimating the Causal Effect of Parental Income – – 23
2.4 Summary of Review of Related Literature – – – 30
CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODS
3.1 Area of the Study – – – – 32
3.2 Research Design – – – – 33
3.3 Population of the Study – – – – 33
3.4 Sample and Sapling Technique – – – – 33
3.5 Instrument for Data Collection – – – – 33
3.6 Validation of the Instrument – – – – 34
3.7 Administration of Instrument – – – – 34
3.8 Method of Data Analysis – – – – 34
CHAPTER FOUR: ANALYSIS OF DATA AND DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS
4.1 Data Analysis – – – – 35
4.2 Discussion of Findings – – – – 39
CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1 Summary – – – – 41
5.2 Recommendations – – – – 42
5.3 Conclusion – – – – 42
References – – – – 43
Appendices – – – – 47
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
The home is the stepping stone in the education and general socialization of the child. The child learns the basic social norms and rules firstly at home from the parents (Bartini, 2007). In accordance with the aims of pre-primary education, that parents should be able to effect a smooth transition from home to school, children should have adequate preparation at home before moving to other levels of education.
Moreover, while the scientific literature is not so clear, it is widely believed that while raising the education for mothers and fathers have broadly similar effects on household income, the external effects associated with education is larger for maternal education than for paternal because mothers tends to be the main provider of care within the household (FRN, 2004).
The existence of such externalities provides an important argument for subsidizing the education of children, especially in households with low income and or low educated parents. One of the key variables in discussing the influence the home has on learning is the parental socio-economic status.
Several studies have established a positive relationship between parental socio-economic status and the children’s interest in learning and performance at school (Cole, 2004, Hearn, 2001). As noted by Woodard (2001), the child’s interest in learning is a function of the learning environment, paramount among which is the parent.
Parent’s occupation, social status, general standard of living, family size, available medical and health care, cognitive stimulation and motivation are some of the parental background factors which may affect students’ achievement in school (Fraser, 2006). The need to examine the influence of these income characteristics on the interest of the students in learning in the present study was informed by the persistent downward trends in students’ academic performance and the relationship between students’ home environment and their academic performances.
Parental income is also potentially endogenous either because correlated with unobservable characteristics explaining educational performance, or because the parental education effect is through income.
1.2 Statement of the Study
It is a general believe that parental socio-economic status has contributed much to the students’ academic achievement. But the assumption that, the higher the socio-economic status of parents, the higher the students’ academic achievement is questionable, debatable and arguable, because students whose parents did not attend any level of education, have no reasonable income and have no good occupation equally have high academic achievement.
Poor academic performance by students is a multifaceted problem, caused by many and varied factors. Some see the poor performance by students as a reflection of the falling standard of education in our society. While some see the students’ variable as the major factor, others see home background variables, societal variables, and even school environment variable as responsible for lack of students’ interest in learning and their poor academic performance. However, low standard of academic performance of students as experienced today, is largely attributed in part to the failure of the home as the fostering center for development and the matrix in which future personality is shaped (John, 2006).
Studies identify parental socio-economic variables such as occupation, income and education as significant predictors of students’ academic performance (Kozol, 2006, Ogodo, 2004). Therefore, it is necessary to find out how parents’ income influences students’ academic performance.
1.3 Purpose of the Study
The main purpose of the study was to examine the influence of parental income on the students’ academic achievement. Specifically, the study seeks to:
- Find out the influence of parents’ income level on students academic performance
- To examine the influence of parental occupation on students’ academic performance
- To examine the influence of parental educational status on students’ academic performance
1.4 Research Questions
- Does parent’s income level influence students’ academic performance
- How does parental educational status influence students’ academic performance
- To what extent does parental occupational status affect students’ academic performance
1.5 Research Hypotheses
- There is no significant difference between parents’ income and students’ academic performance in Political Science in College of Education, Afaha Nsit
- There is no significant difference between parental educational status and students’ academic performance in Political Science in College of Education, Afaha Nsit.
1.6 Significance of the Study
- The finding of the study would add to the body of existing literature on parental income and academic performance of students in Political Science in Akwa Ibom State College of Education, Afaha Nsit in Nsit Ibom Local Government Area.
- The study will serve as a reference material for further research on parental income and academic performance of students in Political Science in Akwa Ibom State College of Education, Afaha Nsit in Nsit Ibom Local Government Area.
- The findings from this study will help the educational administrators in the educational system to formulate and implement different kinds of educational programmes that will take into account the students’ different socio-economic status. The knowledge of the students’ socio-economic status and how it influences the students’ academic achievement will also help the educational administrators in the distribution of school materials and equipment to take care of the children from different socio-economic background.
- The result of this work will also help the government to carryout public enlightenment campaign and intensify efforts in the area of adult education. The public enlightenment campaign and the provision of adequate adult education will help the illiterate/uneducated parents to know the value of education.
- The findings from this study would be of great value to the teachers. Teachers’ knowledge of the influence of parental socio-economic status and home education environment on students’ academic achievement will enable them to restructure their teaching methods and instructional resources to meet the different parental background of the students. This may yield more positive result than the present system which operates in the believe that all children should learn the same thing at the same time with the same instructional resources.
1.7 Limitation of the Study
Financial constraint exerted a great influence on this study and the duration given for the completion of this study was not enough for a wide and in-depth research into the problem.
1.8 Delimitation of the Study
The study only concentrated on parental income and academic performance of students in Political Science in Akwa Ibom State College of Education, Afaha Nsit in Nsit Ibom Local Government Area.
1.9 Definition of Terms
Parent: This is used to describe either the father and mother of a child or any of the two.
Income: This refers to the monetary payment received for goods or services, or from other sources, as rent or investment.
Academic Performance: The performance of student on taught lessons as indicated by their test/examination scores.
Political Science: It is a science of politics or the scientific study and analytical study of politics.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
2.1 Parental Income and Academic Performance of Students
Students’ learning are different from time-to-time. One of the important elements in our education these days is technology. It is obvious that to learn and teach better, both students and teachers must be aware of new innovations. In the education process, the students are the important variables in schools. They need to follow and catch what they learn in school and try to apply it back home. To do this, students need to have the materials inside and outside schools.
However, not every family can provide their students outside schools with all the materials or technology they need. As a result, the family income play an important role in students’ achievement. The family income, high or low, can have its impact on students’ achievement in their learning years. Since they are in their early years, the family incomes can affect their education. Some schools and colleges may pay attention to this important issue. They may ask for the family resource of income and how they pay their children’s tuition.
Otherwise, they may not have a placement in the college. If the family has high income at the early of the student’s learning, may help to accept him/her at the school which makes a huge different from that student whose family has a high income in his late learning (Humlum, 2011).
Another thing is the stress they passed through with their family at home which may affect their grades because no one help them or even, sometimes, care about their success in schools (Jensen, 2013).
Some schools may help and support students from low-income families. They can provide them with computers and some materials for better learning. These kinds of schools are built to help these students outside school (Demski, 2011). This is the most popular problem for students not all of them can have computers or other technology in their homes. While our education these days depend on technology especially when they have home work or research paper should be done at home.
Moreover, not all the families can provide this technology for their children. So, students’ success depends on what their family can give them. Each child must have his/her right to learn as others. No matter about their backgrounds or their families income. Schools must find solutions to help them for better education and not judge them for their family low income (Beck, 2011). They did not choose their background to accept them in a school and rejected them in another because of their family income. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of family income on students’ achievement. Low-income family has been a problem in children education in Nigeria. In the problem statement, the hypothesis is about the effect of low-income family to the child’s academic achievement. The question is how can the low income affect these children academic achievement? The environment whether it is poor or not. The studies that I reviewed below can show these impacts to the students’ achievement.
Xiao (2012) examined students and their families income in china. He studies almost 407 students in their early years. The study measure student’s reading skills and observer families in their home. Also, it took part in the family’s home and in the student’s skills. Moreover, it was well organized study with the chosen children and the process of measuring them and their families. The results with numbers were very clear and show how can the families income affect their children learning (Zhang, 2012).
Another study that has been reviewed is by Davis, Gordon and Burns (2011). In this study, the authors showed another example of the low-income families and their children’s education, who are suffering from asthma. These kinds of children are having problem with education since their pre-school. The author represents that students’ absence affected their education and how their family are having problem with their medical cares. The author did not show methods or results but it showed facts about children from early childhood. These students are behind others from different family background that is suffering from asthma too. The family income can affect their children’s education in their early years (Davis, Gordon and Burns, 2011).
Lawson Peter – Chief Editor in Projectvilla Nigeria. A writer and academic researcher.