Influence of Home Environment on the Academic Performance of the Students in Some Selected Schools in Dekina Local Government Area in Kogi State, Nigeria

This study investigates empirically the influence of home environment on the academic performance of the students in some selected schools in Dekina Local Government Area in Kogi State, Nigeria. The study was anchored on Charles Darwin Social Theory and Theory of Parent Involvement. The researcher used mainly primary data from a sample of 120 respondents obtained by the use of a well-structured questionnaire. The data collected were analyzed using multiple linear regression analysis. The probability value of the estimate was used for accepting and rejecting the hypotheses of the study. The result of the regression analysis indicates that a positive relationship exist between parents’ economic status (PES) and Students Academic Performance (SAP) in selected schools in Dekina Local Government Kogi State, Nigeria and the relationship is statistically significant (p<0.05). A positive relationship exist between parents educational background (PEB) and Students' Academic Performance (SAP) in selected schools in Dekina Local Government Kogi State, Nigeria and the relationship is statistically significant (p<0.05). Parental marital style (PMS) was negatively related to Students' Academic Performance (SAP) in selected schools in Dekina Local Government Kogi State, Nigeria. Home location of parent (HLP) was positively related to Students' Academic Performance (SAP) in selected schools in Dekina Local Government Kogi State, Nigeria and the relationship is statistically significant (p<0.05) and in line with a priori expectation. It was concluded that parents’ economic statuses, parental educational backgrounds, parental marital Styles, and home locations of parents all do have varying degrees of effects on the performance of students in the study area. It was recommended among others that illiterate parents should be encouraged to go to school, in that their literacy will enhance their children academic achievement in schools.


Background to the Study:
A home is a place where pupils live with their parents or guidance and it is the place where they are groomed. It is a place where the child begins to learn the norms and values of the society in which they find themselves. The family is a social unit in any society and it is the source of early stimulation and experience in children (Collins, 2007). The home influences the students at the most possible time of his life at a time when his mind is most receptive. It provides the first impression which may last through the whole of the child's life. The child often sees the parents, siblings and things in their immediate environment to be most significant and they are capable of promoting or diminishing him in self worth and academic performance (Ekanem, 2004). The environment is the immediate surroundings in which the pupils find themselves. It is also refer to as the physical and psychological conditions that affect children. The parents or guidance of these children are responsible for providing the right home environment that will facilitate effective learning for their wards and some factors that influence their academic performance include: parental educational background, background, parental economic status, parental marital status and parental home location (Collins, 2007).
According to Ogbemudia and Aiasa (2013), the parents or guidance of these pupils are responsible for providing the right home environment that will facilitate effective learning for their wards. Furthermore, in pupil's home environment some factors that influences their academic performance: parental educational background, background, parental economic status (At least an average financial status), parental marital status and parental home location. In assessing the parental marital status on pupils academic performance, much attention will b e given to sound human relations, as the home environment that is tensed due to divorce or unhealthy atmosphere of quarrelling, fighting due to polygamy cannot favour learning, in the home as the mind of the pupils will not be settled in order to give room for creativity. Ekanem (2004) stated that harmonious home create emotional stability in the child at home and subsequently throughout his school life. Hence the researcher was also concerned with the careful study of the influence of single parenthood due to broken home, death, widowhood and intact home on the academic performance of pupils in English Language. In terms of the influence of home location on the academic performance of pupils, the researcher was concerned with the socio-metric factors such as the kinds of social activities around the home environment of the pupils. For instance, a pupil that lives near the market square will adopt the language of the people around him/her which is pidgin. This could affect the child in learning good English at school. Likewise, a pupil that lives in a communal compound where pidgin is the order of the day would also be affected negatively in the learning of good English at school. Furthermore, pupils from homes located in an environment where there is noisy traffic, noisy sound of machine from ply-wood industry and market square will be affect negatively in their performance because the noisy environment will disturb them from concentrating while reading their novels, English text. Story books and even in listening to educative radio programmes. Hence, Durojaiye (1976) maintained that physical and psychological conditions of the home environment affect the children academically.
Education/Academic is very vital in human existence because the society and education are interrelated and inter-dependent. This can also be seen in the nature and development of a child in a given society. The school is an umbrella governing children from different parental background and social background and as such the children learning and rate of academic development is closely related to experience. The child's performance in school is determined by environment in which the child finds him or herself. In the child's environment different factors can be found, which include social economic, psychological, cultural genetic environmental and emotional. The issue of pupils' performance at schools has been of concern ever since modern education was introduced. Many countries have come to realize that pupils are at the heart of educational process and that without good performance; all innovations in education are doomed to failure. There is a wide dissatisfaction with the current situation of schooling in many countries and parents come in for the blame. This is because majority of the parents involve their children in garden and other domestic work. This makes pupils have limited time with their teachers and no time for revision, therefore, affecting their performance (Filmer, 2005; Lee, Zuze, and Ross, 2005).
According to Education News Colorado on 18th June 2012, many parents in United States of America are now living in poverty than in 2000. According to Hacker(2008) 58.5 percent, of all Americans will spend at least one year beneath the poverty line which is one dollar a day, at some point between ages 25 and 75. This social economic status of the parents translates into parents' inability to adequately finance their children's education. According to Eze, (2002) homes vary markedly in socioeconomic status and academic level, not in amounts of wealth but in the ways in which the family income is obtained.
Many authors (Harris & Gibbon, 1996;Hofferth & Sandberg, 2001;Jameson, 1997;Wallis & Cole, 1998) discuss factors in a home environment that provide children with educational tools needed to achieve academic success. Even though Hacker (2008) suggests that you cannot purchase a child's success or wish it into existence, poverty affects a child's academic success in many ways.

Statement of Research Problem:
There are many factors that are blamed for the students' poor academic performance; f actors as school variables (such as environment, structures, buildings, location, etc), teachers variables (such as teacher's age, experience, education, gender, etc), indiscipline, low intelligence, anxiety, students' variables (such as attitude, self-concept, selfesteem, study habit, interest etc) and so-on have been found to cause poor academic performance. While, these factors have been identified as possible factors that contribute to the variations in academic performance, the home environment is hardly mentioned as hindrance to poor performance of the student in schools. Based on the facts above, this study therefore attempted to investigate empirically whether the differences in academic performance of the students can be attributed to differences in their home environments.

Objectives of the Study:
The main objective of this study will be to investigate empirically the influence of home environment on the academic performance of the students in some selected schools in Dekina Local This study will be guided by the following null hypothesis (H0) hypothesis.

H01
There is no significant relationship between Parents' economic statuses on the student's academic performance in some selected schools in Dekina Local Government.

H02
There is no significant relationship between parental educational backgrounds and involvement on the student's performance in some selected schools in Dekina Local Government.

H03
There is no significant relationship between parental marital styles on the student's performance in some selected schools in Dekina Local Government.

H04
There is no significant relationship between home locations of parent on the student's academic performance in some selected schools in Dekina Local Government.

Literature Review: Conceptual Definitions: Home/Primary Environment:
The primary environment of a student is the home and it stands to exert tremendous impact on the students' achievements (Hoover-Dempsey et al., 2005). Moreover, the home is the primary agent of education in the child. Thus, the way the child lives, the food he/she eats and his/her life style is influenced by the home. The type of family system the child is exposed to could influence his academic achievement in school (Keith, 1993) Academic Performance: Academic performance is the advancement of students going from one phase to another or obtains a score of issues which are in middle position to higher (Henderson and Mapp, 2002). They argue that student achievement is most usually limited by report cards and grades, grade point averages, enrolment in advanced years, attendance and staying in school, been advanced to the next stage, and improved behavior. In this study academic performance refers to score in school examinations.

Parents' Economic Status and Students' Academic Performance:
Parent educational status is considered one of the most stable aspects of Socio Economic Status (SES) because it is typically established at an early age and tends to remain the same over time (Sirin, 2005). To date, many studies have established the effect of parent's socioeconomic status on parental involvement. One consistent finding is that parents from the higher economic status are more involved in their child's education. In this case, the higher the parent's education level, occupation status, income and their household income, the higher would be the parent's involvement in their child's education. As a result, the strength of parental involvement enables the children to achieve education success at school (Katsilis & Rubinson, 1990).
Researchers also argue that nonmonetary factors such as parenting (measured by parents' educational expectations for their children and the attention parents give to their children's education) and home environment (measured by the presence of books, newspapers, and other learning materials at home) can be more important for children's academic achievement than money. They have found that regardless of family income, high parental expectations and more parental attention to and effort toward their children's education help raise children's academic achievement (Bradley et al., 2001b;Mayer, 1997;McLanahan & Sandefer, 1994;Yeung et al., 2002).

The Influence of Family Involvement on Students' Academic Performance:
In today's fast-paced society, families are finding it more difficult to stay connected with their children's education (Epstein, 2001). Increasingly, in the modern family, both parents work outside of the home (Benson, 2002). In the report "Every Child Learns, Every Child Succeeds," Alberta's Commission on learning (2003) found that Often the family is led by a single parent with little or no help from extended family Members. Furthermore, the extended family has become significantly less extended as Mobility has increased. Parents are becoming isolated from their children and finding it difficult to keep a careful watch on what needs to be done to help them succeed in school.
Many families are not even led by a parent, but by a grandparent, guardian, or some other adult (Benson, 2002). In what is sometimes called a traditional family environment, parents, usually including a stay-at-home mother, were able to monitor the school work of their children carefully and in turn to ensure to a much greater degree than in today's nontraditional family that student performance remained high in factors such as engagement, academic achievement, attendance and attitude toward school (Deslandes & Bertrand, 2005).
Report cards were valued and trusted in the home as an accurate reflection of academic achievement (Guskey, 2002). Parents were able to keep in touch with the school and the life of their children in the institution, and to monitor success or lack thereof. When children came home from school, homework was completed, assignments finished, tests studied for and snacks eaten, more often than not at the kitchen

The Influence of Home Location on Students' Academic Performance:
In terms of the influence of home location on the academic performance of students, this research is concerned with the socio-metric factors such as the kinds of social activities around the home environment of the students. For instance, a student that lives near the market square will adopt the language of the people around him/her which is pidgin. This could affect the child in learning good English at school. Likewise, a student that lives in a communal compound where pidgin is the order of the day would also be affected negatively in the learning of good English at school Ogbemudia and Aiasa (2013). Furthermore, students from homes located in an environment where there is noisy traffic, noisy sound of machine from ply-wood industry and market square will be affect negatively in their performance in schools because of the noisy environment will disturb them from concentrating while studying their books, textbooks. Story books and even in listening to educative radio programmes. Hence, Durojaiye (1976) maintained that physical and psychological conditions of the home environment affect the students academically.

Empirical Review:
Significant studies have suggested that economic status is one of the best predictors of student achievement (Bryk, & Smith, 1993). Hill and O'Neil (1994) found that, increasing family income in USA by $10,000 per year is associated with an increase in student achievement of 2.4 percentile points. Grissmer, Kirby, Berends, and Williamson (1994) had similar findings on the relationships between income and mathematics as well as income and reading achievement.
Previous studies have showed that students who come from families with illiterate parents have significantly less school success than students from educated parents (Martini, 1995;Walker et al., 1998) and intact families (Amato & Keith, 1991) Some potential explanations were -parents in such settings reported lower educational expectations, less monitoring of children's school work and less overall supervision of social activities compared to students from highly educated and intact families (Jacob and Harvey, 2005). More educated parents are assumed to create environments that facilitate learning (Williams, 1980;Teachman, 1987) and involve themselves in their children's school experiences and school environments (Steinberg et al., 1992; Useem, 1992). However, there are students who come from low-income and single parent homes who are high achievers and many students from high socio-economic and intact families who are low achievers. Students may also come from homes where the parents are highly educated and involved in their children's education, yet achieve poorly at school (Jacob & Harvey, 2005).
Hofferth & Sandberg (2001) did a study on how American children spend their time. The authors were careful not to try and determine causality, but rather examine some activities significantly associated with achievement. This article has shown that the amount of time spent at home eating, sleeping and reading is linked to children's achievement and behavior. Other activities thought to affect academic success were: household work, household conversations, group leisure activities, and family meals.
According to Walberg (2001) "family is a partner in Financial challenges is a prevailing feature amongst many developing countries around the world with ever increasing severe effects of social and economic backdrop felt in countries within sub-Saharan Africa (Hill, 2008). It is arguably a multidimensional challenge found in different forms both in urban and rural areas only possibly differing in its intensity with the effect felt most in day secondary schools depending on the school size.
In a study conducted on the effects of family structure and parenthood on the academic performance of Nigerian University students, Uwaifo (2008) found significant difference between the academic performance of students from singleparent family and those from two-parent family structure. Indeed, parental involvement and individuals' experiences at home play tremendous roles in building the personality of the child and making the child what he is. Furthermore, many children have been hindered from reaching their optimum level in academic pursuit due to some negative factors arisen from home. These include lack of parental encouragement, lack of conductive environment, poor finance and housing, poor feeding, ill-health and lack of interest on the part of the students. Children whose school needs (physical and emotional) are not provided for at home may forever remain underachievers and this could affect the general development (physical and human resources) of the country. Effects of poor academic performance during the school years often carry over to the adulthood, with a higher proportion of school dropouts, behavioral problems and even delinquency among this population.
Epstein, Sanders, Simon, Salinas, Jansorn, and Van Voorhis (2002) draw three key conclusions about parental involvement. First, parental involvement tends to decline across the grades unless schools make conscious efforts to develop and implement partnerships with parents. Reasons for this declining pattern include parents' lack of familiarity with curriculum at the higher grades; adolescents' preferences to have their parents stay involved in less visible ways; parents' decisions to return to the work force once their children gain more independence; and secondary teachers' lack of awareness of how to effectively involve parents at the higher levels.
Second, affluent parents tend to be involved in school more often and in positive ways, whereas economically distressed parents have limited contact with schools, and usually in situations dealing with students' achievement or behavior. Schools that work on building relationships with all parents, however, can equalize the involvement of all socioeconomic groups. Finally, single parents, employed parents, fathers, and parents who live far from the school, on average, are less involved in the school unless the school organizes opportunities that consider these parents' needs and circumstances. Although these patterns are generally observable among schools, they can be overcome if schools develop programs that include families that otherwise would not become involved on their own.
The study of Anthony (2014) surveys a sample of 198 pupils in Matamba Ward in Makete to assess the extent of Parental involvement to test whether that is related to their academic performance, using the Multiple Regression analysis technique. Analyses of Variance (ANOVA) technique was also used to find out whether there are significant differences in the mean score of both parental involvement and academic performance across various sample characteristics. Study finds significant differences in academic performance across the age, education, school type (ownership) and class size categories. Moreover, significant differences were found in parental involvement across the living environment, education, occupation, school type and class size categories. Parental involvement alone significantly explains 13 percent of the variation in academic performance (F= 19.65; p < 0.001) but when used together with the other variables, its significance disappears even though the model now explains 37% of the variation (F=8.362; p <0.001). School type remains the only significant variable.

Charles Darwin Social Theory:
This study is based on Charles Darwin's social theory which emphasize that every citizen should be given, through education, the social status to which he or she entitles him or her to inherited aptitude. Schematically, the theory observes that provision of formal equity of access to education by putting everybody on the same level from the scratch guarantees that the ensuring run is a just one. The theory asserts that the criteria of the scholastic promotion should be ability and will. Therefore the home environment is expected to set in motion an intensive social mobility by facilitating an open competition where the academically able would get access to careers that they deserve is significant. All students should therefore be given a conducive home environment to learn so as to excel in academics (Jerome, 2012).
This study makes use of two theories and was backed up by them, they include Charles Darwin Social Theory and Theory of Parent Involvement.
The following are assumption of Charles Darwin Social Theory which stated that: 1. Every citizen should be given, through education, the social status to which he or she entitles him or her to inherited aptitude 2. The provision of formal equity of access to education by putting everybody on the same level from the scratch guarantees that the ensuring run is a just one. 3. The the criteria of the scholastic promotion should be ability and will. Therefore the home environment is expected to set in motion an intensive social mobility by facilitating an open competition where the academically able would get access to careers that they deserve is significant. 4. All students should therefore be given a conducive home environment to learn so as to excel in academics.

Theory of Parent Involvement:
The theory of parents' involvement was also seconded by Grace et al (2012) that the impact is real gamey. They said that the most precise prediction of a pupil's achievement in school is not income or social status, but the extent to which that pupil's parent is able to produce a home environment that encourage learning and to express high expectations for their children's achievement and future careers. The assumption of Theory of Parent Involvement is as follows: 1. They said that the most precise prediction of a pupil's achievement in school is not income or social status, but the extent to which that pupil's parent is able to produce a home environment that encourage learning and to express high expectations for their children's achievement and future careers. 2. They point out that involvement, including at 'home,' good parenting, helping with homework, talking to teachers, attending school functions, through taking part in school organization. 3. The roles of parental encouragement and participation in their child's academic motivate pupils and enhance their public presentation.

Research Methodology:
The study adopts the descriptive survey design. Descriptive survey design was selected because the study entailed asking a large number of people questions (in form of questionnaires) about their opinions and ideas, and even describe what the people say. The target population of the study are all the principals and selected students of the 10 secondary schools in Dekina Local Government Area in Kogi State, Nigeria. The researcher used multistage sampling. At the first stage, purposive sampling was used to sample 10 public secondary schools in Dekina Local Government Area in Kogi State with 10 principals from the t en schools. In each of the selected schools, the researcher select 10% of the students in e a c h s c h o o l out of a population of 110 students. This is sufficient according to Gay (2003) who stated that a sample size of at least 10% of the population is sufficient. 10% of 110 students for the 10 schools studied equals 110 students plus 10 principals brings to total population to 120 respondents. This population is not too large for the use of sampling formula such as Taro Yamane's formula in sample size determination, hence it was used in the computation of the relationship between the variables of the study in the study area.
The researcher used the questionnaire method in collecting data from the respondents. The questionnaire was designed to cover respondents with prior knowledge of the study under consideration. The questionnaires was divided into five parts; section A of the questionnaires covered the demographic details of the respondents, section B covered the influence of parents' economic status on students' academic performance in secondary schools in Dekina Local Government Area in Kogi State, section covered the influence of home environment on students' academic performance in secondary schools in Dekina Local Government Area in Kogi State, Nigeria, section D covered the influence of parenting style on students and section F covered the influence of home location on students' academic performance. The five point Likert-scales question ranging from Strongly agree=5, Agree=4, Undecided=3, Disagree=2, In this study, the two most common types of validity, which are content and construct validity, were considered. While content validity was tested through the expert contributions, construct validity was tested with the use of Factor analytical tool that considered Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) and Bartlett's Test of Sphericity. The result of the factor analysis as shown by the rotated sum of squared loadings indicates that two components i.e. component 1 and 2 accounted for 71.645% of the variance of the whole variables of the study. This shows that the variables have strong construct validity. To establish the validity of the instrument, therefore pilot test technique was employed using 30% of the respondents. The questionnaire was subjected to a scale test and reliability was assessed based on the Cronbach's Alpha from the test and it was found that the data is reliable since the Cronbach Alpha coefficient is 0.811 which shows that the questionnaire is reliable and has sufficient internal consistency (reliability). Where, b0 =Regression Constant b1, b2, b3, b4 = Regression Coefficients Ut = Error Term A priori expectation ( ) = Parents' economic statuses; a priori expectation is positive ( ) = parental educational backgrounds; a priori expectation is positive ( ) = Parental marital Status; a priori expectation is positive ( ) = home locations of parent; a priori expectation is positive/negative.

Methods of Data Analysis:
The data for the study was collected, coded and analyzed using computer-based Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 23.0 for Microsoft Windows). Multiple Regression Analysis was used to assess the nature and degree of relationship between the dependent variable and a set of independent or predictor variables. However, standard error of the estimate was used to test the 4 hypotheses for this study.

Decision rule:
The following decision rules adopted for accepting or rejecting hypotheses: If the probability value of bi [p (bi) > critical value] we accept the null hypothesis, that is, we accept that the estimate bi is not statistically significant at the 5% level of significance. If the probability value of bi [p (b i ) < critical value] we reject the null hypothesis, that is, we accept that the estimate b i is statistically significant at the 5% level of significance.

Results and Discussion:
Regression Results and Discussion: This section examines the basic assumptions of normality of the data used for the Ordinary Least Squares regression analysis and presents the discussions thereof. It is graphically presented as shown in figure 1.  .   As shown by the results of the multiple regression coefficients, a positive relationship exist between parents educational background (PEB) and Students' Academic Performance (SAP) in selected schools in Dekina Local Government Kogi State, Nigeria and the relationship is statistically significant (p<0.05) and in line with a priori expectation. This means that a unit increases in parents educational background (PEB) will result to a corresponding increase in Students' Academic Performance (SAP) in selected schools in Dekina Local Government Kogi State, Nigeria by a margin of 10.0%. Using the probability value of the estimate, p (b 1 ) < critical value of 0.05 confidence level. Thus, we reject the null hypothesis. That is, we accept that the estimate b2 is statistically significant at the 5% level of significance. This implies that parents educational background has a significant effect on the student's academic performance in selected schools in Dekina Local Government. Previous studies have reaffirmed this result and they showed that students who come from families with illiterate parents have significantly less school success than students from educated parents (Martini, 1995;Walker et al., 1998) and intact families (Amato & Keith, 1991). Some potential explanations were -parents in such settings reported lower educational expectations, less monitoring of children's school work and less overall supervision of social activities compared to students from highly educated and intact families (Jacob and Harvey, 2005). More educated parents are assumed to create environments that facilitate learning (Williams, 1980;Teachman, 1987) and involve themselves in their children's school experiences and school environments (Steinberg et al., 1992;Useem, 1992).

c) Effect of parental marital style on the student's academic performance in some selected schools in Dekina Local Government:
Parental marital style (PMS) was negatively related to Students' Academic Performance (SAP) in selected schools in Dekina Local Government Kogi State, Nigeria and the relationship is not statistically significant (p>0.05) and not in line with a priori expectation. This means that a unit increases in Parental marital style (PMS) will result to a corresponding decrease in Students Academic Performance (SAP) in selected schools in Dekina Local Government Kogi State, Nigeria by a margin of 59.0%. Using the probability value of the estimate, p (b1) > critical value of 0.05 confidence level. Thus, we accept the null hypothesis. That is, we accept that the estimate b3 is not statistically significant at the 5% level of significance. This implies that parents marital styles has no significant effect on the student's academic performance in selected schools in Dekina Local Government. Methods and results of an empirical study by Kohl, (2000) show divorce is the most common but only one way a traditional family might develop into a single-parent family and which do have a negative effect on the academic performances of students from such homes. The findings indicates that children from divorced families are more likely to have difficulties with school performance, delinquency, and disruptions in peer relationships, precocious sexual behavior and substance abuse. Also, Uwaifo (2008) found significant difference between the academic performance of students from single-parent family and those from two-parent family structure. Home location of parent (HLP) was positively related to Students' Academic Performance (SAP) in selected schools in Dekina Local Government Kogi State, Nigeria and the relationship is statistically significant (p<0.05) and in line with a priori expectation. This means that a unit increases in home location of parent (HLP) will result to a corresponding increase in Students' Academic Performance (SAP) in selected schools in Dekina Local Government Kogi State, Nigeria by a margin of 20.1%. Using the probability value of the estimate, p (b1) < critical value of 0.05 confidence level. Thus, we accept the null hypothesis. That is, we accept that the estimate b4 is statistically significant at the 5% level of significance. This implies that home location of parent has a significant effect on the student's academic performance in selected schools in Dekina Local Government. The finding of this study is in line with that of Epstein, Sanders, Simon, Salinas, Jansorn, and Van Voorhis (2002) who found that, single parents, employed parents, fathers, and parents who live far from the school, on average, are less involved in the school unless the school organizes opportunities that consider these parents' needs and circumstances. Although these patterns are generally observable among schools, they can be overcome if schools develop programs that include families that otherwise would not become involved on their own, hence the positive