Effects of parenting styles on performance of pupils in english language in selected secondary schools of Lusaka district, Zambia
Date
2017
Authors
Chanda, Musonda.F.M
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Zambia
Abstract
The parenting style exercised by parents have the potential to promote or hinder their children’s academic performance at school. However, the extent to which each parenting style affects pupils’ academic performance in various subjects among secondary school pupils has not been explored in Zambia. Thus, this study sought to investigate the effect of parenting styles on the performance of Grade 11 pupils in English language in selected secondary schools of Lusaka District. The objectives of study were: to identify the common parenting styles experienced by grade 11 pupils and how they are associated to gender; to investigate the effect of each parenting style on the performance of pupils in English language; To establish the influence of gender, age, and home-type on performance in English within each parenting style; and To evaluate the contribution of parenting styles, gender, age and home-type to pupils’ performance in English language.
The study used a cross-sectional design which was conducted among 409 Grade 11 pupils from eight secondary schools of Lusaka District. The study employed multi-stage sampling and at each stage a simple random technique was used. The study adapted the Parental Authority Questionnaire (Buri, 1991) to determine parenting styles as perceived by pupils. Data was analyzed using Cross-tabulation to compare frequencies and Chi-square to determine the association between parenting styles and gender, ANOVA to establish the effect of parenting styles on pupil’s performance, and Multiple Linear Regression was also used for inferential statistics to predict performance in English.
The results revealed that of the four parenting styles, permissive was the most common parenting style while neglectful was the least common parenting style. There was no association between gender and parenting styles. A two-way ANOVA indicated statistically significant differences in pupils’ performance in English language based on parenting styles, 𝐹(3,405) = 14.38,𝑝 < .05. The first Multiple Linear Regression Analysis showed that the English language performance variance for the Authoritative model explained by gender, age, and home-type was the largest (79%) while that for the Neglectful model was the smallest (55%). The second Multiple Linear Regression Analysis showed that parenting style (𝛽 = .16), home-type (𝛽 = .75) and gender (𝛽 = .21) statistically significantly contributed to performance, but not age (𝛽 = .04).
This implies that school alone does not determine pupils’ excellence in academic work but collaborative efforts of home and school. Therefore, the study recommended, among other things, that there is need to create awareness among parents on the impact of parenting styles on their school going adolescents.
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Keywords
Parenting style--academic performance--Zambia