Family Factors That Affect Students’ Academic Performance

A Research Paper Submitted In Partial Fulfilment Of The

Requirement In Practical Research-1

Melrose Jagonoy

Krystel Orio

Camille Jagonoy

Kimberly Crebello

Abner Arnesto

Gimarie Orio

Jovito Drio

Kirvie Crebello

Researchers

Sheryl P. Jagonoy

Research Teacher

JANUARY 2020
 THE PROBLEM, SETTING AND ITS BACKGROUND

INTRODUCTION

Certainly, academic performance  is a major goal in

education and a very important tool with which the success,

ability, and capability of a student to contribute to the

development of a society are measured. MAIHS students

academic performance is declining and some of the reasons that

have been identified for such decline are personal factors

such as financial, individual’s intelligence, study habit,

achievement motivation, anxiety, self-esteem etc. Without any

doubt, these factors affect the educational attainments of

students but important as well are certain family factors of

the students. The home has a great influence on the child’s

psychological, emotional, social and economic state. Family is

considered the smallest unit of a community. It consists of

the people who support and love you, and the people you can

confide in and trust, also it shapes the character of its

members. The state of the home affects the individual since

the family is the first point of contact and socializing agent

in an individual’s life. So whatever happens to the family it

will surely affect the members.

Changes in Family Relationships, Broken family, parental

separation , Economic Stability, and abandonment are one of

the factors affecting every learner’s, mostly the affected

part is their emotional health. Therefore they can’t even pay

much attention or they lacked on focus on their academics that

may cause over thinking, anxiety and even suicide. When it

comes to family problems it will definitely affect the student

behaviour inside the classroom, because they’ve got

distracted. The students face a lot of problems in developing

positive study attitudes and study habits. Guidance is of the

factor through which a student can improve his study attitudes

and study habits and is directly proportional to academic

achievement. The students who are properly guided by their

parents have performed well in the school. This study intends

to find out how family factors affects student’s academic

performance.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

This study aims to determine how family affect the

students of Mapanas Agro Industrial High School’s academic

performances. Specifically it aims to answer the following

questions:

1. How can family affect the students academic performances?

2. What family factors mostly affect the students?

3. How a family problems affect the student mental health?

4. What is the impact of family problems to the students

learning?
SCOPE AND LIMITATION

This study is focused on the family factors affecting

the academic performances of the students of Mapanas Agro

Industrial High School SY 2019-2020.

It involved 35 informants. Furthermore, the researcher

wants to determine the impact of families to students academic

performances.

The Students of Mapanas Agro Industrial High School

are the respondents of this study. This aims to deepen each

knowledge on why students are so affected with their family

structure.
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The results of the following will be of great benefit to the

following:

Students. This study will provide information regarding on

how family affect the students performances in school. It will

help the students to realize the impact if they can’t cope up

with this problems.

Parents. The outcome of the study are expected to open the

eyes and mind of parents on how a family affects the students

academic performance in school sense they are the foundation

of the family.

Teachers. This study is very essential work. If the child

fails to meet expectation to the school, teacher should

consider the family life of the students.

Future Researcher. The findings of this study will support

further researchers concerning of the family factors affecting

students academic performances. It can be their basis and

patterns that can help them with their research for it to have

strong foundation.
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

When a child misbehaves or fails to meet expectations

at school, the child’s home and family life should be

considered. Several family factors can affect a child’s

behavior and ability to perform in the classroom. These

include economic stability, changes in family relationships,

parental attitudes toward education and incidents of child

abuse.

Economic Stability

Poverty can affect school readiness in several ways. Children

from lower-income homes often experience a lack of parental

consistency, a frequent change in part-time caregivers, a lack

of supervision, poor nutrition and poor role-modeling.

According to a 2007 article titled "The Impact of Poverty on

Educational Outcomes for Children" in the journal "Pediatric

Child Health," studies show that children from impoverished

families tend to score lower in communication and vocabulary

skills, knowledge of numbers, ability to copy and recognize

symbols, concentration, and teamwork and cooperative play.

Research conducted by the Society for Research in Child

Development also found that children from low-income families

received less positive parenting and had higher levels of

cortisol, which has been associated with lower levels of

cognitive development.

Changes in Family Relationships

Divorce has long been linked to behavior problems, anxiety and

depression in children. This is often because single-parent

homes feature parents struggling with their own feelings of

depression and anxiety, accomplishing household

responsibilities previously held by two people and meeting

more financial demands. Single parents often must take on more

hours at work to meet financial responsibilities, which can

lead to children feeling neglected and acting out, and cause

them to experience the effects of economic instability

mentioned above. However, according to Priscila Comino, a

researcher at the University of the Basque Country, it is not

the divorce itself that affects children's behavior so much as

it is the way that parents handle the divorce. In cases where

both parents mutually decided on the divorce and choose to co-

parent, both making decisions and providing for the child, the

negative effects of divorce are lessened.

Parental Attitudes Toward Education

Children learn first by mimicking behavior they see modeled

for them. According to a 2009 article published in on the

website of the National Center for Biotechnology Information,

studies show a positive correlation between the parents' level

of education and their child’s attitudes toward academic

achievement. Children who have parents who encourage academic

success are more likely to develop their own aspirations for

higher education. In this way, parent education is a good

predictor of a child’s academic success.

Child Abuse

Child abuse can happen by way of physical abuse, emotional

abuse, neglect, sexual abuse or substance abuse in the home.

According to KidsHealth.org, victims of child abuse are known

to be at high risk for engaging in risky behaviors and acting

out in school. They might have problems socializing with other

children and adults and completing or focusing on assignments.

Poor academic performance have been attributed to many factors

that are mainly family based such as those that are faced with

changing hard economic times which has made it not possible for them

to meet their responsibilities of ensuring a healthy and literate

family. The size of the family in which the child grows especially

if the family does not have adequate resources will affect the child

growth and development due to lack of quality feeding, lack of

proper medical care, and more so a child will not be given the

required attention on his/her academic work which can make him/her

lose focus. The issue of homework, payment of school fees, providing

security is all within the confines of the family to provide to the

children. Family financial resources, which are associated with

parent’s education attainment and occupation, often imply increased

learning opportunities both at home and at school. In general, the

socio-economic background of the family impacts negatively on the

academic performance of the child.

According to Okumu et al (2008), education is a fundamental

human right for economic growth and human development.

Education is therefore necessary for all societies to thrive

in all aspects of growth. Education is valuable because it

contributes to national development through provision of

appropriate resource personnel that aids in stimulating

productivity as well as eliminating poverty, hunger disease

and ignorance (Republic of Kenya 2005). A lot more study done

by Kapunga (1992) shows that education liberates society from

socio-political forces that affect and influence his

personality at global level.

Mbelle and Katabalo (2003), asserts that secondary education

aims at meeting global challenges in science and technology

not leaving behind organization of production processes and

markets. Other scholars such as Schultz (2002) emphasize that

investing in education leads to faster growth for developed

and new industrialized countries. This explains why most of

the developing world especially the sub-Saharan Africa is

heavily investing in education from primary, secondary and

tertiary levels by increasing enrolment and improving the

quality of education. For Uganda’s case government has

encouraged education for all in primary and lower secondary

levels. Research by Miller-Grandvaur and Yoder (2002) on

secondary school education forms a vital part of education

interventions in sub-Saharan Africa. However the main

challenge of secondary school education seems to be poor

academic performance that cuts across the developing world.

A lot of studies show that there is a big effect of the nature

of family background on the academic performance of children

in school. The family back ground plays has a big on the

academic performance of children at all levels of education in

the school system. It is generally accepted that the quality

of family interactions has important associations with the

children’s academic motivation and achievement. For instance

Ryan (2000) shows that there is a significant effect of family

background variables, parent support and teacher support on a

child’s educational attainment. According to (Morgan et al,

2009), stresses that children from low socio economic status

households and communities develop academic skills more slowly

compared to their counterparts from higher socio-economic

status families. The low socio economic status (economic

struggling families) deprives children of what is necessary to

support their growth and welfare. Initial academic skills are

correlated with home environment where low literacy

involvement and chronic stress negatively affect a child’s

academic performance. Parents from low socio economic

background are less likely to have the financial resources or

time availability to provide children with academic support.

An American, Kean, (2005) suggested that more highly educated

parents actively encourage their children to develop higher

expectations of their own. He further pointed out that

students perform better in school if their parents as well as

mothers are actively involved in their education. The home

environment provides environment for learning and is an

element of the and the basics for students’ life that can

affect academic performance. Providing opportunities to learn

outside the school helps to facilitate student’s success in

the school environment as reported by the University of

Minnesota extension.

Globally, Hargreaves (2002), reported that in Germany students

with parents who are involved in their school tend to have

fewer problems, and better academic performance and are more

likely to complete high school than students who are not

involved in their school. Good grades require positive effects

of parental involvement that have to be demonstrated at both

elementary and secondary levels across several studies with

the largest effect often occurring at elementary level where

numeracy, literacy as well as values of human development are

very essential. Atieno (2012) emphasizes that the quest for

provision of quality education continues to a matter that

continues to be cherished by both consumers and providers of

education in Kenya and the entire developing world.

Parents’ education and family interaction pattern during

childhood also might be linked more directly to the children’s

developing academic success and achievements that includes

among others oriented attitudes, general social learning and

cognitive framework (Bandura 1996). Bandura stated that

behavior is shaped in part through observational and direct

learning experiences. Learning takes a course of interactive

actions and reactions which implies that it is learning by

copying from parents and that everything children do is by and

through socialization.

It is important to note that education process and success is

positively impacted by favorable home learning opportunities

such as parents encouraging that their children have the right

feeding, have security, and are happy and calm. They further

reported that creating a positive physical and mental

atmosphere in the home helps to prepare students to be ready

and able to learn. A parent child relationship characterized

by nurturing, acceptance and encouragement as well as parents’

responsiveness to the child needs correlates with positive

academic performance. However according to the University of

Minnesota extension parental overprotectiveness,

authoritarianism, disapproval and punishment often have a

negative relationship with students’ academic performance. The

relationship family socio-economic status and the academic

performance has been well established in sociological

research.

Regionally, according to (2014), report by a task force on

improving the performance of public secondary schools

commissioned by the Kenya governor in Nairobi Evans Kidero,

the transition rate from primary to secondary schools in the

city was at all the time low. Only 50% of pupils complete
secondary schools due to lack of school fees or insufficient

facilities.

Kevin Marjori banks and Mboya (2000) used such combination of

family structures to examine differences in the academic goal

orientation of African students in South Africa. The findings

indicated that while measures of refined family influences are

related to goal orientations, there continue to be unmediated

differences for students from social status background and

from urban rural location in an examination of differences in

the academic performance.

In East Africa the demand for secondary education has been

increasing over time due to increase in enrolment of pupils in

primary schools. It has resulted into overcrowding of

classrooms and general lack of scholastic materials that has

necessitated the involvement of parents to cater for the

learning of their children.

In Uganda’s case, Nalukwago (1995), identified the influence

of parents’ attitude, social economic background, cultural

attitudes which affect the performance of students in Uganda.

She pointed out the role of parents like catering for

children’s school needs like textbooks, exercise books,

uniforms and paying fees that are vital towards their

children’s academic performance. In the early years parents

are their children’s first teachers exploring nature, reading

together, cooking together, and counting together. When young

children begin formal schooling the parent’s job is to show

how the school can be extended.

It is widely believed that the home has a great influence on

students’ psychological, emotional, social and economic state.

In the view of (Ajira et al, 2007), the state of the home

affects the individual since the parents are the first

socializing agents in an individual’s life. This is because

the family background and the context of the child affect her

reaction to life situations and his level of performance.

Uwaifo (2008) asserts that parents and the individuals

experience at home play a tremendous role in making the child

what he or she is.

Involvement of the parents will make students achieve more,

exhibit more positive attitudes and behavior and feel more

comfortable in the environment. Parents being the first

teachers and the caretakers of the home, the home environment

shapes the child’s initial views of learning, parents’

beliefs, expectations and attitudes about education affect

their children’s conception of the place of education in their

values.

The influence of family background on the students’ academic

performance.

Levin (2001), states that parents are probably the actors with

the clearest dimensional interest in a high level of their

children are in academic performance. To some extent there is

simple evidence to show that marital instability brings about

stress, tension, lack of motivation and frustration. Obviously

these manifestations act negatively on a child’s academic

performance.

Johnson (2005) asserts that children from divorced families

often fail and are at a risk emotionally. However, this may

not be completely applicable in all instances of broken homes.

Some children irrespective of home background or structures

may work hard and become successful in life. Moreover

(Ayodele, 2006), stated that the environment where a child

finds himself or herself goes along way in determining his

learning ability and ultimately his academic performance in

school.

Bliss (2004) is of the view that many students from low socio-

economic homes respond incomprehensively to classroom teaching

because their home environment has not exposed them to the

kinds of materials used in school. If home environment is not

intellectually stimulating some students find it difficult to

cope up in school and may eventually drop out of school.

Furthermore the home has been identified as an overwhelming

factor affecting students’ performance academically. It would

appear then, that broken homes may present a very real danger

to the emotional, personality and mental adjustment of

students. These impinge on students’ academic performance.

According to Fraser, (2001), psychological home conditions

arise mainly from illitimacy of children, the label of adopted

child, broken home divorce and parental deprivation. Such

abnormal conditions of the home are likely to have a

detrimental effect on the school performance of the child. He

asserts that life in single parent family or broken homes can

be stressful for both the child and the parent. Such families

are faced with challenges of inadequate financial resources.

Schultz ( 2006) noticed that if adolescents from unstable

homes are to be compared with those from stable homes it would

be seen that those from unstable homes have more social

academic and emotional problems. (Roehikepartain et al, 2003),

are of the opinion that the family and its structure play a

great role in children’s academic performance.

Omolewa (2002) affirmed that academic performance of the child

could be traced to the home he comes from. Synder et al (2000)

claimed that the family environment is the most powerful

influence in determining the child’s academic performance. It

is obvious that substantial influence on a child’s academic

performance.

According to Abiriri (2010), education is seen as an

instrument per excellence for development and as such it is

the engine that promotes development. Aside from the

intellectual capacity of the child, the academic performance

of the child is also largely determined by the family

background. Obeyan (2003) states that the family is the

bedrock of any society. It is also the foundation of academic

achievements of the child. (Uwifo 2008), further affirmed that

the recent wave of moral decedance and all sorts of anti-

social behavior could be traced to poor home background.

Petit (2008), pointed out that psychological needs are a

potential source of individuals personality and academic

performance achievement. He claimed that academic success is

achieved only if family background sources can be assessed to

maximize the association between family influence and

outcomes. It is believed that families with high social

economic status often have more success in preparing their

children for school because they always have access to wide

range of resources at their disposal to promote, uplift and

support their children. According to Ardedi (2001), Eunice

(2004), it becomes imperative that a study on the relationship

between family background and students’ academic performance

should be investigated, in view of the fact that the youth are

the leaders of tomorrow their academic and emotional well-

being if given appropriate attention will go a long way in

ensuring that their potentials are harnessed and put into use

for national development.

Research indicates that psychological needs are potential

source of individual’s personality and academic performance

achievements. He claimed that academic success is achieved

only if family background resources can be assessed to

maximize the association between family influence that

children from low socio-economic status households and

communities develop academic skills more slowly compared to

children from higher socio-economic status groups. (Morgan et

al, 2009), suggested that initial academic skills are

correlated with the home environment. This is because low

literacy environments and chronic stress negatively affect a

child’s pre-academic skills. The school systems in low socio-

economic status communities are often under resourced

negatively affecting students’ academic progress.

Harighurst (2002) pointed out that inadequate education and

increased dropout rates affect children’s academic

achievements, perpetuating the low economic status of the

family. According to him, parents from low socio-economic

status communities may be unable to afford resources such as

books, computers and school fees for their children.

Similarly, (Coleman, 2009) states that parent’s involvement in

learning activities has substantial emotional and intellectual

benefits for children. He observed that because supportive and

strong families are significant for school success, teachers

confront increasing challenges as many children experience

severe family disruption and upheaval.

According to Ogulu (2004), the high socio-economic status

parents are able to provide their children with books and toys

to encourage them in their various learning activities at

home. Parents face major challenges when it comes to providing

optimal care and education for their children. However, the

challenges are more accurately devastating among the poor

income families that struggle to provide the basic needs to

sustain the family.

Families with low economic status often lack financial, social

and educational support that characterized families with high

socio-economic status due to their poverty levels. These

groups of families may have adequate or limited access to

community resources that can promote and support children’s

development and school readiness.

Dubey (2011), believes that in terms of material circumstances

or environmental, parents of the relatively high class are

able to supply their children with more opportunities to learn

those things which will aid their learning in school. In

addition, they have more appropriate knowledge about academic

needs of their children thus the children coming from well to

do homes will have an advantage in learning due to prior and

continuous experience resulting from the opportunities

provided in their privileged circumstances.

Bernistuern (2008), stated that high income enables parents to

give their children the advantages of that money can buy. A

high income parents provide their children with household

equipment like educative video, text books, good schools which

can equip them in academic performance. According to (Jenks,

2008), many students from low income homes are kept away or

sent out from schools or excluded from certain activities or

lack of money to provide the prescribed equipment or

materials. They suffer from stigma of being isolated during

break, meals because of poverty.

Becker (2005), explained the empirical regularity that

families with higher income have fewer children. He said that

as income raises individuals may choose to increase the

average quality and reduce quantity while correlation between

income and family size is clear. There is a little further

evidence that speaks to this theory. Having a larger family

has a causal effect, families who choose to have more children

are inherently different and children would have done worse

regardless of family size.

Wolpin (2006), used the exogenous variation in family

background to determine the causal relationship between family

background and the child’s academic performance. Although the

school is responsible for the experiences that make up the

child’s life during school periods, parents and the individual

experiences at home play a tremendous role in building the

personality of the child and make the child what he is, thus

(Ichado, 2008), concluded that the environment in which

children come from can greatly influence his or her

performance at school.

The family lays the psychological moral and spiritual

foundations of the child while the mother’s significant roles

cannot be over emphasized. Studies on a further child-

relationship suggest that the presence of a father at home

influence significantly the development of a child.

Conkline (2006), states that structurally, a family is either

broken or intact. A broken family in this context is one that

is not structurally intact for various reasons, death of a

parent, divorce, separation, desertion and illegitimacy. In

this case a family was never completed and this analysis

becomes more necessary because life in a single parent family

can be stressful for both the child and the parent, such

families are faced with the challenges of diminished financial

resources (Children’s defense fund 2004).

Birtch et al (2006), analyses that the relationship between

parental involvement and students’ academic achievement is

stronger when academic achievement is represented by a more

global indicator of academic achievement rather than by

academic subject indicators.

Family background tends to a negative association with the

academic success whereas parental engagement like volunteering

in most cases should be positive correlations. Similarly, the

relations between families and academic achievement also need

to consider children’s family structure. A mother does

homework with her children and it is generally acknowledged

that family environment is the most powerful influence in

determining the child’s academic motivation and achievement.

The social position of any family determines the ability of

the parents to cater for their children in many areas of life

that includes food, shelter and clothing as well as education

requirements. Simon (2005) stated that, the social position of

a child’s family, his or her father’s occupation, the books

available to him or her at home, the size of the family are

constantly related to his final achievement. He further said

that teaching approaches, class size, teachers experience and

qualifications, methods, use of radio and televisions did not

constantly and unambiguously the final outcome of the child.

METHODOLOGY

Research Design

The research design of this study is correlational

research since the result of this study will bring knowledge

to the students and all the beneficiary. Family background

tends to a negative association with the academic success

whereas parental engagement like volunteering in most cases

should be positive correlations.

Informants

The informants of this study will be the students of the

Mapanas Agro Industrial High School. Since the research is all

about the effect of the family structure on the students, the

student will be the one to be questioned with the following

questions on what are the impact of family structured on their

lives specifically on their behaviour and academic performance

on the school.

Sampling method

child’s academic motivation and achievement.

The social position of any family determines the ability of

the parents to cater for their children in many areas of life
that includes food, shelter and clothing as well as education
requirements. Simon (2005) stated that, the social position of
a child’s family, his or her father’s occupation, the books
available to him or her at home, the size of the family are
constantly related to his final achievement. He further said
that teaching approaches, class size, teachers experience and
qualifications, methods, use of radio and televisions did not
constantly and unambiguously the final outcome of the child.