Abstract
This study investigated parental economic and educational factors on the academic performance of secondary school students in Sagbama Local Government Area of Bayelsa State. The study focused on four objectives, research questions and hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. Theoretical frameworks were Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory (1978) and Coleman’s Social Capital Theory (1988). The conceptual framework was well designed and specifically examined parental economic status and educational background as predictors of students’ academic performance. A descriptive survey design was adopted. Sample of 384 students was selected using stratified random sampling techniques from a population of 9,436 students. A structured questionnaire was validated by experts and tested for reliability using Cronbach’s alpha, which yielded a coefficient of 0.84. Data were collected and analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequency counts, percentages, means, and standard deviations were used for data presentation, while one-sample t-tests were employed to test the hypotheses at a 0.05 significance level. The findings revealed that parental economic status and education background significantly and positively affect students’ academic performance. All four null hypotheses were rejected, confirming that these parental factors are crucial to academic success. The study concluded that parental factors collectively form a strong support system enhance students’ academic performance, and recommended increased parental involvement in educational activities.
Keywords: Parental Factors, Economic Status, Educational Background, Academic Performance, Sagbama LGA.