CONSENSUAL PARENT-CHILD COMMUNICATION PATTERNS AS CORRELATES OF INTEREST AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN ABIA STATE

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the extent consensual parent-child communication patterns correlate with interest and academic achievement in mathematics of secondary school students in Abia State. The study was guided by two research questions and two null hypotheses formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted a correlational research design. The sample for the study consisted of 878 senior secondary school class II students drawn from a population of 8783 senior secondary class II students in Abia State. Three instruments titled “Parent-Child Communication Pattern Questionnaire (PCCPQ), Students Interest Questionnaire (SIQ), and Students’ Academic Achievement in Mathematics Test (SAAMT)” were developed by the researchers and were used for data collection. These instruments were subjected to face validation by three experts. The stability of PCCPQ, SIQ was determined using PPMCC and reliability indices of 0.83 and 0.82 were obtained for PCCPQ and SIQ, respectively. The reliability of the SAAMT was determined using Kuder-Richardson (KR-21) formula and reliability coefficient calculated was 0.90. The data generated for this study were analyzed using Pearson’s r, R2 (coefficient of determination) to answer the research questions while linear regression analysis was used to test the null hypotheses. Results revealed that consensual parent-child communication pattern was a significant predictor of interest and academic achievement in mathematics of students. It was recommended that parents or guardians, teachers, psychologists/counsellors should educate students on the importance of parent-child communication patterns on interest and academic achievement.