INFLUENCE OF FAMILY SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS ON THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF STUDENTS IN SOBA LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF KADUNA STATE

The paper examined the influence of family socioeconomic status on the academic performance of students in Soba Local Government Area. The study adopted a descriptive survey design. The population for this study comprised all public and private school students in Soba Local Government Area. A simple random sampling technique of method was used to select secondary schools in Soba Local Government Area. The researcher wrote the names of the schools in a different sheet of paper and folded it for someone to pick four (4) schools that were used for this study. The purposive sampling technique was used to select fifty (50) students from each school selected with the total of two hundred (200) secondary school students serving as the respondents for the study. A correlation coefficient of 0.61 was obtained and thus shows that the instrument is reliable for the study. Data collected were analysed using percentages and frequency count and the hypotheses were tested using the chi-square statistical method. The result of the findings revealed that the socioeconomic status of the family has a significant influence on the academic performance of students and single parent has a significant influence on the academic performance of students in Soba Local Government Area of Kaduna State. It was concluded that the socio-economic status of parents, as well as single parent’s influence on academic performance of students in Soba local Government Area, cannot be over-emphasized. In light of the results of this study, the recommendation was made that parents should work harder to increase their income level. This will have a positive effect on the academic performance of students. It was also recommended that single parents that are promiscuous or humanizers should repent and create more time to look into the academic performance of the children in school.