INFLUENCE OF PARENTING STYLES ON IN- SCHOOL ADOLESCENTS’ ACHIEVEMENT ORIENTATION AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN ENUGU STATE

ABSTRACT

The study was carried out to investigate the influence of parenting styles on in school adolescents’ achievement orientation and academic achievement in secondary schools in Enugu State. The design of the study is ex-post facto while the population comprised aII Students in Enugu North. The sample size for the study was 296 respondents while the researchers’ self developed questionnaires formed the instruments for data collection. Three experts validated the instruments and a Cronbach Alpha reliability coefficient method was employed to ensure the reliability of the instruments. Four research questions and four null hypotheses guided the study; while the t –test statistics was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significant. A review of empirical studies was carried out to guide the researchers into previous studies in the area and also to provide the researcher with the theoretical base. Two sets of questionnaires were used to collect data for the study while t- test statistics was used to analyze the data. The researcher found that the authoritative parenting style has more positive influence on achievement orientation and academic achievement of in-school adolescents and the influence of gender on in-school adolescents’ achievement orientation is not significant.

Keywords: Parenting styles, adolescents, achievement orientation and academic achievement

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

When a child is born into a family, such a child is helpless and needs the help of others to get on. These others are usually the members of the family or the caregivers. The major caregivers are usually the parents. The word ‘parent’ refers to the biological relationship of an adult to a child or when used as a verb, to the care and protection that adult provides (Smith, 1999). A parent is a person who fosters all facets of a child’s growth by nourishing, protecting, and guiding the child through the course of development (Eze, 2002). Operationally, a parent is one who has the duty of transferring values, norms and experiences that could influence the adolescent in the society because parents exert the first influence on the children’s life before any other factor. Thus, parent shape the character and personality of its siblings through the process of parenting. Okpoko (2004) and Utti (2006) defined parenting as the act of parenthood, child upbringing, training, rearing or child education. Olsen & Defrain (2000) defined parenting as the process of raising adolescent from infant to adulthood who will provide continuity within the family for years to come. Parenting is described as a constellation of attitudes toward the child that are communicated to the child and that, taken together, create an emotional climate in which the parent’s behaviour is expressed (Darling & Steinberg, 1993). The quality of parenting is more essential than the quantity of time spent with the child. For instance a parent can spend the entire afternoon with his or her child but the parent may be engaging in a different activity and not demonstrating interest towards the child. Operationally, parenting is the act of moulding, shaping, guiding, and

supporting the development of an individual from infant to adulthood. Parenting is carried out differently by individuals because of differences in personalities and exposure, giving rise to different parenting styles.

Parenting style is a universal climate in which families function and in which child rearing behaviour of parents or other primary caregivers revolve (Chiew, 2011). Kelland (2000) observe that where an ideal parenting style is employed in the home, the children are disciplined but where this is not, the reverse is the case. It has also been observed that in-school adolescents in public secondary schools especially in Enugu State are faced with a lot of problems which include: lack of parent monitoring and control, and poor academic achievement. The ways to rear children is presented in Baumrind typology of parenting styles. Authoritative parenting style indicated in Baumrind typology of parenting style is the best way to rear children. Though, Children go through different stages in life; therefore parents create their own parenting styles from a combination of factors that evolve over time as children begin to develop their own personalities. In the context of this study, Parenting styles are the representation of how parents respond to the demands of their children. Many authors have presented different forms of parenting styles but for the purpose of this study, the researcher is adopting Baumrind (1973) parenting styles which include authoritarian, authoritative, permissive, and uninvolved. Authoritarian parents are highly controlling in their use of authority but are not responsive. They are often strict and harsh. They show little affection to their children. They do not consider the children’s opinion as a group, and discourage verbal give-and-take. Obedience, respect, and tradition are valued. Rules are non-negotiable; parents are

always right and disobedient children are often punished physically (Baumrind, 1989). The authoritarian parents have high expectations of maturity and want to control their child’s behaviour and attitudes; and do not condone disobedience and confrontation from their children with regards to laid down rules, regulation, traditions and decision.

Authoritative parents are warm and communicate well with their children. They are both responsive to the needs of their children and demanding in that they set expectations for their children. This type of parenting style permits children enough freedom of expression so that they can develop a sense of independence without extending beyond reasonable limits. They are firm, consistent, and fair. They establish and enforce behaviour standards and stay in control by encouraging their children to follow the standard. Family rule is democratic rather than dictatorial (Berger, 2001). In authoritative parenting, children’s opinions are valued and respected. They are encouraged to decide and accept responsibility for their actions and decisions (Cherry, 2005). In addition, such parents are more likely to encourage academic success. This parenting style is in favour of one of the variables in the present study which is academic achievement.

Permissive parents on the other hand are high in warmth but lack control towards their children. They are more responsive to the needs of their children but less demanding. Permissive parents are lenient, do not require mature behaviour, allow considerable self-regulation and avoid confrontation. They find it hard to set clear limits and provide structure. They tend to reward bad behaviour regularly. Children are not pushed to obey guidelines or standards such that even when they do exist, they are not enforced (Sarac, 2001). Permissive parents take orders and instructions from their

children. They are passive, endow children with power, have low expectations, use minimal discipline and do not feel responsible for how their children turn out. Ironically, these children turn out to be the unhappiest of all. They are more likely to exhibit such psychological problems as anxiety and depression. Research links permissive parents with delinquency, substance abuse, and sexual activities (Sailor, 2010).

Uninvolved parent demands almost nothing and gives almost nothing in return, except near – absolute freedom. This style is low in both demandingness and responsiveness. At its worst, it can verge into neglect. They rarely dialogue with their adolescents and generally do not want to be bothered by their children. Little is known about this parenting style and research on this population of parents is lacking because that are typically not very responsive or involved in their children’s lives and therefore do not volunteer to be studied (Cramer, 2002). For the reasons above, the researcher is limiting the study to authoritarian, authoritative, and permissive parenting styles. Research shows that some parenting styles do not favour good achievement orientation and academic achievement while others do. Parenting style has been found to predict child well – being in a number of areas, including social skills, academic achievement, and the degree of problem behaviour (Baumrind, 1989). The response and demand of parents to their children will be influenced by achievement orientation of adolescents.

Adolescents go through the period of adolescence thus, Wigfield, Eccles & Pintrich, (1996) defined adolescence as a transitional stage of development between childhood and adulthood, representing a period of time during which a person experiences a variety of biological changes and encounter a number of emotional issues, thus, this period is termed the period of storm and stress. Adolescence according to Who Health Organization (2002) is the period of human growth and development that occurs after childhood and before adulthood. (Silk and Steinberg, 2002) defined adolescence as a particular period of human development in which the boundary between the school and the home is quite important. This is because, during this period, adolescents transition from the highly dependent and controlled period of childhood into a period marked by an increasing sense of self-exploration and autonomy. For instance, adolescents begin to develop their self-concept and they explore their relationship and connection to family, friends, and the larger society. Operationally, adolescence is viewed as a stage between childhood and adulthood. This is a period of storm and stress for adolescents.

According to the United Nations Planning Association (2007), an adolescent is a young person between 10 -19 years with his or her own views and evolving decision making capacities. Adolescent can also be defined by Hornby (2000), as person growing up from childhood to adulthood with drastic changes in the social, emotional and cognitive aspect. In agreement with the above definition Smith, Cowie & blades, (1998), defined adolescent as a boy or a girl who is changing into a young man or woman between the ages of 13-19. Operationally, adolescent is a person behaving in an immature way and who is also at the period of adolescence. Also, an in – school adolescents can behave in an immature way. In – school adolescents comprises of those adolescents that are still in the school system and are said to be mostly influenced by peer relationship in school Berry (2000).

According to Onyejiaku (1991), they are referred to as “School Stayers”. Some of the in-school adolescents see school as the most significant institution in their lives because school helps adolescents to realize their potentials but when they do not perform

well in school, it may lead to unrealized potentials which could result to low academic achievement. Some of the in-school adolescents may see school as challenging because some of them may not have the ability to carry out school tasks while some of them may be interested in continuing academic pursuit to higher institution.

The consistent poor academic achievement among in-school adolescents which include personal conditions, study habits, home-related aspects, school-related aspects, and teacher-related factors has remained a thing of great concern in Enugu North Local Government Area, Enugu State (Onainor & Obiora, 2001). The relationship between a student and the parents has been noted to have an influence not only on the students’ achievement in school but also in the entire life of the child (Kay, 2005). Achievements boost the morale of Adolescents in a specific task.

Achievement is task-oriented behaviour that allows the individual’s performance to be evaluated according to some internally or externally imposed criterion, which involves the individual in competing with others, or that otherwise, involves some standard of excellence (Steve, 2000). Achievement is something that somebody has succeeded in doing usually with efforts (Howard, 2004). Achievement in all domains of life does not only excite an individual but also engenders in the individual an aspiration for success and further accomplishments. Achievement is the level of performance attained by a learner in a particular task (Harold, Shin Yin & James, 2000). Operationally, achievement is the attainment of personal success according to social standard. For achievement to take its shape, parents need to play a vital role in the life activities of their children, especially the in – school adolescents. However, these achievements can be acquired or learned through orientation.

Orientation is very important in the life of every adolescent. In other words, one’s constant effort to represent practically what one has learnt from the background training given to the adolescent can be understood as orientation. Orientation is an adjustment or adaptation to a new environment, situation, custom, or set of ideas (Houghton, 2009). Orientation is the process of familiarizing students with their new environment and introducing them to the workings of the school as a social system (Ejionueme, 2010). Operationally, orientation is a “disposition towards developing or demonstrating ability in achievement situations”. Thus, this orientation could be achieved through personal effort. Hence, the personal efforts could come from parents through parenting styles they exhibit to their wards and this effort could be ascertained through children’s motivational outcomes such as achievement orientation.

Achievement Orientation refers to how an individual interprets and reacts to tasks, resulting in different patterns of cognition, affect and behaviour (Barron & Harackiewicz, 2001). Developed within a social-cognitive framework, achievement theory of J.W. Atkinson (1968) proposes that students’ motivation and achievement-related behaviours can be understood by considering the reasons or purposes they adopt while engaged in academic work. The focus is on how students think about themselves, their tasks, and their performance. In general, an individual can be said to be “mastery” or “performance” oriented, based on whether one’s orientation is to develop one’s ability or to demonstrate one’s ability, respectively. In the context of this study, achievement orientation is the attachment of importance to success or failure, positive or negative outcome of one’s effort to succeed in life. An achievement orientation has been shown to be associated with individuals’ academic achievement, adjustment, and well-being (Elliot & Gregor

2001). Achievement orientations play a critical role in explaining academic achievement. Students’ achievement orientations were also shown to be predictive of academic performance, specifically, students with high achievement orientation tended to value competence, expect success and seek challenges, while students with low achievement orientation tended to expect failure and avoid challenges.

In line with the above assertion, an individual’s achievement orientation has a significant impact on his or her cultivation of new skills, and thus has important implications for educators. According to Johnson (2009), Achievement orientation has two dimensions which includes high achievement orientation and low achievement orientation. Adolescents with high achievement orientation may have improved self awareness and performance of life goal while adolescents with low achievement orientation may have low self awareness and poor learning ability.

Achievement theory of Atkinson (1968) proposes that students adopt a certain achievement orientation that is instrumental in motivating learning behaviours. The orientation adopted will in turn, influence the ways in which student approach and respond to academic demands. In- school adolescents’ achievement orientation has three types of goal which include mastery orientation, performance – approach orientation, and performance – avoidance orientation (Church, Elliot & Gable, 2001). Mastery orientation goals are defined as a desire to improve one’s competence to master a skill and to understand the learning materials. Performance – approach orientation represents students desire to demonstrate ability, while performance avoidance orientation represents students’ aim to hide the demonstration of lack of ability. (Kaplan, Middleton and Midgley, 2002).The value or worth one places on success or failure may be positive or negative. Adolescent’s achievement orientation is the desire of the adolescents to improve on their self awareness and performance of life goal. For an adolescent to cope and deal with the challenges that exist in school environment, the adolescent need to be supported firstly at home by their parents, caregivers and this may enable the adolescent to study hard and achieve success. Hard work begets success and success is derived through academic achievement, therefore, parents should equip their children with necessary skills to enable them attain high academic achievement.

Academic achievement is the outcome of education — the extent to which a student, teacher or institution has achieved their educational goals (Howard, 2004). Academic achievement is commonly measured by examinations or continuous assessment but there is no general agreement on how it is best tested or which aspects are most important — procedural knowledge such as skills or declarative knowledge such as facts. Evidence in literature reveals that students with high academic achievement are important asset to any country, while low academic achievement may cause negative consequences such as stress, hopelessness, delinquency, psychopathology, and substance abuse (Fatemeh, Hossein, & Asqar, 2006). Again, Eze (2002), has it that poor academic achievement brings untold hardships and frustration to an individuals and backwardness in the development of a country. Operationally, Academic achievement is the level of success attained by a student/learner in higher academic studies.

Persistent poor academic achievement of adolescents in the Nigerian secondary schools has been a source of worry to parents, teachers, educators, educational institutions, and the Nigerian government. This is so because success or failure at this level determines one’s chances of gaining admission into the university, a goal that is

desired and sought after by most parents, teachers and schools. Increasing adolescents’ academic achievement has been one of the abiding interests of most Nigerian educators and researchers. Academic achievement is important because it prepares students for future careers. It also allows students to enter competitive fields. Academic achievement is often a sign of a refined intellect, which can help students in all areas of their lives. In consideration of the Influence of parenting styles on in- school adolescent achievement orientation and academic achievement, demographic variable that mediate their influence may include gender.

Gender is seen as sexual identity, especially in relation to society or culture. It is the condition of being female or male. Gender is a concept that is used to distinguish between male and female (Esparnol, 2002). Okafor, (2012) observed that male students tend to receive more encouragement in science while female students are nurtured more in arts. Okafor further stated that parents are often gender biased. In the context of this present study, gender is seen as the condition of being female or male. Evidence from literature shows relationship between parenting styles and academic achievement. Several studies in the literature found that the authoritative parenting style was positively associated with higher academic achievement while authoritarian, permissive, and uninvolved parenting styles were negatively associated with high academic achievement (Aunola, Stattin, & Nurmi, 2000; Walker, 2010).

Statement of the Problem

Poor achievement orientation in recent times has contributed to adolescents’ poor academic achievement in public Senior Secondary Schools. It has also been observed that in-school adolescents in public Senior Secondary Schools especially in Enugu State are faced with a lot of problems which include: lack of parent monitoring and control, and poor academic achievement. Lack of monitoring and control of adolescents development could be as a result of parents’ indisposition as regards their family obligations, indisposition could be the nature of their job, more time devoted to their business and other things. Parents rarely have time these days to assess their adolescents’ academic activities to give appropriate directions. These could affect the achievement orientation and academic achievement of in-school adolescents. When an adolescent cannot speak boldly in the class or be convinced of one’s academic capability, it may result to poor performance in the school examination and eventually in external examination too. It could be that most of the in-school adolescents have parents whose parenting style undermines their relationship with their adolescents and this may invariably affects the in-school adolescents’ achievement orientation and academic achievement. Thus, these situations are worrisome to the researcher in that they might lead the in-school adolescents that have such parents to exhibit low achievement orientation.

Although, several studies have been carried out on the in-school adolescents’ achievement orientation and academic achievement, however, there seems to be paucity of literature ascertaining whether the influence of parenting style may account for the achievement orientation and academic achievement of the in-school adolescents despite the fact that these in-school adolescents exhibits low achievement orientation and academic achievement. Therefore, the problem of this study put in a question form is: how does parenting styles influence achievement orientation and academic achievement of in-school adolescents?

Purpose of the Study

The general purpose of this study is to find the influence of parenting styles on in– school adolescents’ achievement orientation and academic achievement. Specifically, the study seeks to determine the:

1 Influence of parenting styles on achievement orientation of in- school adolescents.

2 Influence of parenting styles on academic achievement of in – school adolescents.

3 Influence of gender on achievement orientation of in- school adolescents.

4  Influence of gender on academic achievement of in- school adolescents.

Significance of the Study

This study will be of both theoretical and practical significance.

The theoretical significance was hinged on Atkinson’s need achievement theory. Atkinson is of the view that when an individual is actually involved in a task, that individual sets a standard to conquer. The findings of this study therefore may support or debunk the tenets of Atkinson’s need achievement theory.

Practically, the findings of the study will be of significance to teachers, school guidance counsellor, parents, students, and the general public.

For the teachers, they will hopefully benefit from this study through seminars and workshops because the information from the findings when published will give them more knowledge on the level of achievement orientation and academic achievement of in school adolescents. It will also help the teachers to understand that in- school adolescents come from different homes with different achievement orientation and so, should handle each adolescent as a unique individual. For school guidance counsellor, it will help the counsellor direct the students from different homes and equally according to gender (male/female) depending on the result of the findings.

For parents, the information they will get will help them to know the pattern of parenting style that is necessary for their children’s orientation and support that will enable them to achieve well academically

For students, the findings when published and sensitized will help them to know the pattern of achievement orientation that is necessary for them.

Generally, the findings from this study will play a pivotal role on the development of adolescents who are important to the future of the society and will also form a bedrock for the future researchers in similar areas. This is because the results when published will provide more empirical studies for the future researchers.

Scope of the Study

The content scope of this study focuses on the influence of parenting styles on in-school adolescent achievement orientation and academic achievement. The geographical scope of this study will comprise of all the SS II students in the nine public secondary schools in Enugu North Local Government Area, Enugu State.

Research Questions

The following research questions will guide this study:

1. What is the influence of parenting styles on achievement orientation of in- school adolescents in Enugu North Local Government Area?
2. What is the influence of parenting styles on academic achievement of in- school adolescents in Enugu North Local Government Area?
3. What is the influence of gender on achievement orientation of in- school adolescents in Enugu North Local Government Area?
4. What is the influence of gender on academic achievement of in- school adolescents in Enugu North Local Government Area?

Research Hypotheses

The following Null hypotheses formulated will be tested at 0.05 level of significance:

Ho₁: Parenting styles do not significantly influence in-school adolescents’ achievement orientation.

Ho₂: Parenting styles do not significantly influence in-school adolescents’ academic achievement.

Ho₃: The influence of Gender on in- school adolescents’ achievement orientation in Enugu North Local Government Area is not significant.

H_O4: The influence of Gender on in- school adolescents’ achievement orientation in Enugu North Local Government Area is not significant.

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