ABSTRACT

The study was carried out to investigate the influence of family background on students achievement in chemistry in Umuahia South Local Government Area of Abia State. The study was guided by four research questions and four null hypotheses which were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted casual comparative research design. The population of the ^tudy consisted of 1,686 students from a population of 11 public secondary schools. The sample for the study consisted of three hundred and twenty four (324) students who were sampled using the proportionate stratified random sampling based on the population of the schools. Simple random sampling was used to select the students from each of the schools to make up the required sample size for each school. The instrument for tlie data collection was the achievement test in chemistry, the Senior Secondary School chemistry achievement test. The instrument was validated by lecturers in the department of Science Education and Measurement and Evaluation using the content validity. The reliability of the instrument was 0.78 which was derived using the Kuderichardson 21. The method of data collection was through the administration of the instrument to 324 students through the help of research assistants. The research questions were answered using the mean and standard deviations while the Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to test the null hypotheses 1, 2, 3 and the independent t-test was used to test the hypothesis lour. The result revealed lluil parental cducutionul background, parental income, parental occupation and family structure all influenced the academic achievement ofthe students. Based on the findings of the study, it was reconmicndcd that the government should through the Universal Basic Education programme provide -education fbf the students up to the senior secondary Education level so that indigent children will have access to education.