Family Size, Peer Influence and School Environment as Correlates of Academic Achievement of Senior Secondary School Students in Oyo State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between the predictor variables of family size, peer influence and school environment on the criterion variable of academic achievement on public senior secondary school students in Oyo State. The study adopted a descriptive survey design. A multi-stage random sampling technique was employed to obtain the sample of 2,925 (5.153%) respondents (SS 2 students) from the population of 56,759. The instrument used for data collection was entitled “Questionnaire on family size, peer influence and school environment as correlates of academic achievement of senior secondary school students in Oyo State, Nigeria”. Experts in the fields of Measurement and Evaluation, and Research Methodology established the contents, constructs and face validity of the instrument. The reliability of the instrument was established with Cronbach Alpha and the reliability co-efficient of .874 was obtained. The study revealed that family size; peer influence and school environment had significant relationship with students’ academic achievement. Consequent on the findings, it was recommended that parents should limit the number of their children and wards to what they could adequately and conveniently make provisions for with a view to enhancing their educational outcomes (achievement); parents, teachers and the school authority should ensure that students are properly counselled on the need to identify and interact with only serious-minded and well-behaved students; among a host of other recommendations.