A study on factors influencing parenting styles on the academic performance of students

Abstract

This research utilised a quantitative methodology with a descriptive survey design to examine the influence of parenting styles on the academic achievement of junior high school students in the Aowin Municipality of Ghana. The population consisted of around 2,520 final-year public junior high school pupils in the area. A multistage probability selection strategy was employed to pick a representative sample of 252 pupils, constituting 10% of the population, utilising simple random and proportional sampling techniques to ensure equity and representativeness. Data were gathered through standardised questionnaires administered to students, evaluating their judgements of authoritative, authoritarian, permissive, and neglectful parenting styles, in conjunction with their end-of-term examination scores. The instruments' validity was affirmed by specialists, and reliability was determined by pilot testing, resulting in acceptable Cronbach’s alpha coefficients. Data analysis utilised SPSS version 25, employing descriptive statistics to encapsulate demographic and academic information, and multiple regression analysis to investigate the correlation between parenting approaches and academic success. The results demonstrated that authoritative parenting favourably affects student achievement, whereas authoritarian, permissive, and neglectful methods correlate with inferior outcomes. The study suggests that parenting profoundly influences academic achievement among Ghanaian junior high students and underscores the necessity of supportive, communicative, and disciplinary parenting methods. The conclusions indicate that policymakers and educators ought to advocate for parenting programs that emphasise authoritative tactics and urge the incorporation of parenting education into school counselling services. The study promotes culturally customised treatments to improve academic performance, calling for additional research on the impact of cultural values on parenting and student success within Ghanaian settings.