A Path Analysis of Parental Socio-Economic Status and Home Education Environment on Students' Academic Achievement in the Secondary Schools in Benue State, Nigeria

The main purpose of this study was to examine the influence of parental socio-economic status and home education environment on students' academic achievement using path analytic approach. The study adopted an ex-post-facto research design. The sample of the study was 360 respondents drawn using proportionate stratified random sampling technique from the population of Senior Secondary School II students from Zone B Education zone of Benue State.. The instrument for data collection was a 15 item structured questionnaire titled: Parental Socioeconomic Status and Home Education Environment Questionnaire (PSESHEEQ), modeled on a four (4) point rating scale. A data collection format of students' academic achievement was used by the researchers to collect the existing three consecutive ends of term's examination results of the sampled students. Cronbach Alpha was used to determine the internal consistency of the questionnaire items. The reliability index of the instrument was 0.68. Data collected was analyzed using Pearson Product moment correlation coefficient to answer the research questions. Also, Analysis of Moment Structure (AMOS) was used to estimate the paths coefficients which measured the magnitude of the relationship between the predictor variables and the criterion variable. Results showed that there was a significant relationship between parental socioeconomic status and students' academic achievement; there was also a significant relationship between home education environment and students' academic achievement. It was recommended among other things that parents should provide adequate fund for their children, which will help in obtaining the necessary reading materials that may enhance students' academic achievement.