THE INFLUENCE OF FAMILY SIZE ON SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN NIGERIA (A CASE STUDY OF OGOJA LGA CROSS RIVER STATE)
ABSTRACT
Academic performance one determined the individual scores in relation to performance of other students’ class test or examinations. The school as a social
institution is set up basically for learning to take place. But the family Size of students also play an important part in students’ learning. Thus, the study was
therefore conducted on the influence of family size on the academic performance of secondary school students as perceived by teachers and parents.
The researcher employed the descriptive study method for the study. The population consisted of parents and teachers. The sample consisted of 200 parents
and teachers randomly selected from Calabar and Ogoja Local Government Areas of Cross river State. Seven research hypotheses were generated to guide
the study. Data were collected using a research designed instrument questionnaire tiled “Influence of Family Size on the Academic Performance of Secondary
School Students Questionnaire” (IFSAPSSSQ). It consists of two sections: Section A deals with the demographic data while Section B contains item on the
influence of family size on the academic performance of secondary school students. Content validity of the instrument was established by administering it
twice are an interval of three weeks to 20 married adults who were not part of the sample. Data analysis was done using percentage, means, t-test and
Analysis of Variance, (ANOVA). All hypotheses were tested at 0.05 alpha level.
The findings; it is revealed that there was no significant difference
in the parents and teachers based on age, status and family type while significant
difference is found on the basis of gender, highest educational qualification, number of children and religion. This signifies that three of the hypotheses were accepted while four were rejected.
