Birth Order And Parenting Styles As Predictors Of Private Secondary School Students Academic Performance In Ali Mosho Local Government Area, Lagos

ABSTRACT

The overall aim of this study is to examine the extent to which birth order and parenting styles

predict academic performance of private secondary school students in Alimosho Local

Government Area Lagos.

This study was necessary due to the high rate of students low academic performance in

private secondary school. Questionnaire was used in collecting specific information from 200

participant. The questionnaire was divided into two parts (Section A and B). Section A consist

items that elicit information on the subjects' socio-demographic background. Section B focus on

the second independent variable, parenting styles, which consists 30 items. Three hypothesis

was tested using linear regression and multiple regression.

Result shows that the dimensions of parental styles did not jointly predict scores on English [F

(3, 196) = 1.82, p = .15, E.2= .03), math [F (3, 196) = .92, p = .43, R2 = .01] and overall

perfonnance [F (3, 196) = 1.82, p = .14, R2= .03). Independently, only authoritative style

predicted overall performance W = -.16, p = .03), birth positions did not significantly influence

scores on English [F (5, 194) = 1.74, p = .13], math [F (5, 194) = .86, p = .51) and overall

performance-[F (5, 194) = .86, p = .51]. Therefore, hypothesis two is not supported. The study

concluded that birth order and parenting styles has no significant relationship with private

secondary school students academic performance. This study th~refore recommends that parents

should implement conscious effort to enhance positive perception about students learning as

significant predictors of academic performance. Also the study recommends that more attention

should be also place on student's personality.