INFLUENCE OF PARENTAL SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUSONSTUDENTS’ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL IN ABUJA

The study investigated influence of parental socio-economic status on the academic performance of secondary school students in Federal Capital Territory. (F.C.T). Ex-post-facto research design was adopted. A sample of 560 students was used for the study. Cluster random sampling technique was used to compose the sample. Three research questions were answered and four hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. Two instruments were used to collect data about the students. They included the parental socioeconomic status Questionnaire (PSESQ) and the Students Performance Record (SAPR).Parental occupation, parental education and parental socialclass were used to determine the parental socio-economic status of the students while Mathematic and English scores of the students was used to determine their academic achievement. Descriptive statistics of mean and standard deviation were used to answered research questions while non parametric statistic of Chi-square was used to test the hypotheses. The finding revealed that parental education, occupation and social class influences academic achievement of students to a very large extent. It was therefore recommended among, others, that Government, non-governmental organisations and as well as well to do individuals should assist schools in the provision of instructional materials and school facilities so as to enable indigent students to take advantage of them to improve their achievement like their counterpart from wealthy and notable homes.