GENDER AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS AS CORRELATES OF STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS

Abstract

Educators have expended tremendous efforts in the study of personal factors on students’ academic achievement. Sex related problems have contributed greatly to the creation of gender crisis by providing unequal opportunities for males and females. Similarly, the state of the home environment or family structure is supposed to have important significance on the child’s academic achievement. This study investigated gender and socio-economic status as correlates of students’ academic achievement in senior secondary schools. Two major hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. Pearson-Moment Correlation Co-efficient was used to analyze the data. The participants were 108 students drawn from three senior secondary schools in Nigeria. Their ages ranged between 14 and 21 with a mean age of 17.1 years. Two validated instruments were used to elicit responses from the participants. Results revealed (i) negative significant relationship between gender and academic achievement (r = -.260; p<.05), (ii) no significant relationship between socioeconomic status and academic achievement (r = .083; p<.05).