Influence of Parental Variables on Academic Achievement of Business Education Students.  A Case Study of Teritary Institutions in Delta State.

Influence of Parental Variables on Academic Achievement of Business Education Students.  A Case Study of Teritary Institutions in Delta State.

Efe, Carol, Dr. Igberaharha Omovigho Clever

Faculty of Education, Department of Business Education, Delta State University, Abraka.

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2024.801024

Received: 29 December 2023; Revised: 11 December 2024; Accepted: 16 December 2024; Published: 26 January 2024

ABSTRACT

This study examined the influence of parental variables on academic achievement of business education students in tertiary institutions in Delta State. Four research questions were raised and answered and four null and alternate hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance to guide the study. The main purpose of the study was to determine the influence of parental variables on business education students’ academic achievement in tertiary institutions in Delta State. Specifically, the study sought to determine the influence of parental financial support on academic achievement of business education students in tertiary institutions in Delta State; influence of parental involvement on academic achievement of business education students in tertiary institutions in Delta State; influence of level of parental educational background on academic achievement of business education students in tertiary institutions in Delta State and the comparative influence of parental variables on academic achievement of business education students in tertiary institutions in Delta State. The correlational survey research and expo-facto was used. The population of the study was 441 business education students and the sample size was 172. The instrument used was a structured questionnaire and was validated by five experts. The reliability coefficient of the instrument using PPMC reported r=0.78. The data collected was analyzed using Mean, Standard Deviation, Chi-Square and Multivariate Simple Linear Regression Analysis. Findings of the study include: Parental financial support influence academic achievement of business education students in tertiary institutions in Delta State to a high extent. In addition, parental involvement influence academic achievement of business education students in tertiary institutions in Delta State to a high extent. It was therefore concluded that that parental financial support, involvement and level of parents education background influence business education students’ academic achievement in tertiary institutions in Delta State to a high extent. The study also concluded that all the parental variables (parental financial support, involvement and level of parents educational background) do significantly influence business education students’ academic achievement in tertiary institutions in Delta State. It was recommended that parents should continually be involve in the academic activities of their children at all time. Also that Government should provide loans, grants and scholarship to students as this will assist them in boasting their academic achievement among others.

Keywords: Parental Variables, Parental Financial Support, Parental Involvement, Parents Level of Education, Academic Achievement

INTRODUCTION

The major responsibility any parent bequeath to a child is giving the best education can offer. This is to say that the primary goal of every parent is not just nurturing the child physiologically but to equip the child with the right knowledge, skills and character that will endear the child into self-actualization, self-determination and independence (Olagundoye & Adebile, 2019) and contribute positively to family and societal development. It is the desire of all parents to see that their wards acquire proper education, therefore, it behooves on every parent to plan the future of their children and put everything resource in place to educate the child either formerly or informally.

It is a fact, that from the historic times, nature or destiny has endowed man differently with mental and physical strength to forge through life. In this regards, while there are hardworking individuals, others may be sluggards and this determines how much resources a parent acquires, spends and saves. This also translate into the level of nurturing a particular family enjoys different from another family. On the basis of this fact, in time past families have been broadly classified as either rich or poor family, the extent of poverty or riches depend on culture, regions and continent (Gaziel, 2017).

In modern time, sociology has successfully classified every human or family into different socio-economic backgrounds. Socio-economic in this sense means level of financial income or general standard of living in relation to level of social awareness (education) of a particular family. Thus, while some sociologists classify families as low, medium and high socio-economic background, others spread the classification further into very low, low, average, high and very high income earners. However, it is mindful to say that the primary role of parents earlier talked about, undermines these classifications so that the desire of every parent to bequeath the legacy of education to their offspring do not take deep cognizance of different socio-economic strata; whereas, it does determine the extent and quality of education that parents can give to children (Cotton & Wikelund, 2014).

Children school fees payment is a primary responsibility of every parent who ensure that their wards do not lack personal infrastructure and instructional resources (Baker & Soden, 2007) that are vital to smooth pursuit of their educational programmes. Contrarily, the dwindling economic fortune bedeviling the Nigerian nation over the years has assume a drastic dimension with attendant inflation. This no doubt has untold hardship on every sector of the economy including the education sector. This trend has what economists call multiplier effect on the income generating ability of every family and how much they can cater for the family.

Recently, the cost of managing the educational institutions has skyrocketed that both the federal and state governments are at cross-roads on how to sustain the mission of the educational institutions. This trends combined have put pressure on the standard of living of the average Nigerian. Income generation of business and individuals have been on the decline, worst still is the effect on salary workers whose income is not equally cushioned during inflation. In the same vein, the high cost of running the educational institutions has led to astronomical increase in school fees even among government owned tertiary educational institutions. Hence, the concept of parental variables comes into play. This concept in this study means parental financial support, involvement and level of educational background.

However, one of the key factor of parental variables is parental financial support which is determined by the socio-economic status of every family. This factor is very important in determining the success of any child educational pursuit at all levels of education. Essentially, socio-economic status determines whether a student attends private school where higher fees are paid or public schools with lower school fees. So, in discussing academic achievement of children at school, socio-economic background of parents can facilitate or hinder academic progress. There is a kind of imbalance or inequality in hierarchy of socio-economic background of parents and that it goes a long way in influencing students’ performance at school. A student from a well-educated and rich home tend to perform better than a student from a poor home due to the facilities available in both the home and the school as well as solid financial background at the disposal of the parent; all of which, will promote the individual study consciousness hence, the performances at school.

It has also been observed that the social and economic status of the parent of a child can facilitate the rate of adjustment within the school system as the process of activities is geared towards survival in a given environment. This status is quite disturbing since fees are set as per the policy in place incorporating Government requirement cutting across the Delta state. The high socio-economic and educated parents can afford to provide their children with basic needs like stationery, confectioneries, instructional and educational infrastructure to aid them in their quest for knowledge. On the contrary, parents with poor socio-economic standing may not be able to support the students with the fundamentals that facilitates learning (Eluowa, 2013). In some cases, students drop out of school or temporary withdrawal/deferment of admission in tertiary institutions are majorly financial constraints due to inability of parents or wards to provide the tuition fees.

Ndebele (2015) asserted that parents of low socio-economic status are less likely to emphasize the importance of education to the children compare to the parents of high socio-economic standing. In addition, the latter class of parents have higher tendencies to maintain their economic status quo by providing motivational strategies (Sabri, Gudmunsn, Griesdom, & Dean, 2020; Grolnick & Slowiazek, 2004) to improve their family lineage. This may not be possible with less advantaged parents who under hard or harsh economic condition may become poorer; since the conditions favours the rich and impoverish the poor. At lower levels of educational pursuit, home support including provision of a home teacher may elude the children of the poor. Zhonglu and Zeqi (2018) affirmed that family socio-economic status has a significant negative impact on children’s learning enthusiasm that the higher the family’s socio-economic status, the lower the enthusiasms for learning the children have. Also, Chohan and Khan (2010) attested that parents’ contribution to their children’s education has a consistent and positive effect on their academic achievement and on the self-concept.

Furthermore, another key areas of parental variables in child’s education is parental involvement. In the context of this study, this is the degree to which parents pay attention to academic feedback regarding the progress of the child as well as guidance towards improved performance. This explained how parents review their wards’ performance from time to time and reaching out to the school on the behaviour and attitude while in school. These information enables such parents to advice and encourage meaningful learning as a child left to himself without encouragement may not have the motivation to learn. Machebe, Ezegbe, and Onuoha (2017) upheld that parents’ involvement in children education matter most than to parents’ financial status in uplifting the children academic performance in school. Again, it was suggested that parents should constantly involve themselves in the academic activities of their children irrespective of their financial status (Masabo, Muchopa & Kuoth, 2017 in Moneva, et al., 2020). However, Zhonglu et al. (2018) conducted a research on how does family background affect children’s educational achievement? Evidence from contemporary China. The findings was that parents’ involvement in their children’s education positively affect their learning behaviour.

Parents’ level of education background means the highest educational level obtained by the parents. It could be from the highest school or professional attainment. This could be a predictor of children’s academic achievement. According to Onyedikachim and Ezekiel-Hart (2021), parents’ education level is part of larger group of psychological and sociological variables influencing children’s school outcomes. Zhonglu et al. (2018) asserted that the higher the educational attainment of parent participation, the better the academic performance of the children.  However, it was observed that parents’ level of education is an important factor that influence the performance of children.

However, academic achievement has always been a crucial point and main centre of educational research. Undergraduate students’ academic achievement is a foremost concern of parents and the society at large as it is the responsibility of the entire educational institutions established by society to promote the entire development of students. Therefore, academic achievement of students means the achievement of students in school subjects. In relation to their degree of competence in school takes usually measured by standardized tests and expressed in grades or units based on students’ performance as shown in their final examination results (Zheng & Mustappha, 2022). Consequently, academic achievement refers to what the students has achieved in different subjects of studies, during the process of academic year. However, Cai and Cao (2019) in Zheng et al. (2022) contended that academic achievement is not merely about students and performance in school, it ought to incorporate knowledge, competence and literacy development. Nonetheless, students’ academic achievement over the years has been a major concern of teacher, students and parents.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

One of the major problems in Nigeria educational system today, is the quality of its products. There is the public outcry on the falling standard of education resulting from poor academic achievement by students. This anomaly, invariably has unquantified effect on the progress of the Nigerian economy. Over the years, a lot of studies has been conducted to unveil the reasons for the failing Nigeria educational system and much emphases have been tailored towards problem of funding of education and its constituents; ranging from poor infrastructural and instructional resource inputs. Yet, less attention has been paid on the role of parents in the ailing Nigeria educational system.

The gap between the poor and the rich has effect on ability of some parents to meet the educational needs of their wards (Abdul-El-Fattah, 2015). It follows therefore, that while some students find it difficult to cope with their education, some abandoned their programmes of study and others who so desired education took to self-sustenance by engaging in one or more income generating businesses to augment their parents’ efforts or wholly financing their educational endeavour; while pursuing academic activities.

The consequence is that some of these students tend to pay more attention to their sources of income than to their academic activities hence, regularity, punctuality and unwholesome attention during classes or lesson leading to accumulated failure in number of courses, extension of programme years and increased forms of examination malpractices; culminating in reprimand, rustication and expulsion (Mingzhi, Zang & Zhang 2020). This has an impact on the academic performance or achievement of the students who are affected.

It is on the above premise therefore, that the researcher has decided to investigate the influence of parental variables on business education students’ academic achievement in tertiary institutions in Delta State.

Research Questions

The following research questions guided the study:

1. To what extent does parental financial support influence academic achievement of business education students in tertiary institutions in Delta State?
2. To what extent does parental involvement influence academic achievement of business education students in tertiary institutions in Delta State?
3. To what extent does parental educational background influence academic achievement of business education students in tertiary institutions in Delta State?
4. What is the comparative influence of parental variables on academic achievement of business education students in tertiary institutions in Delta State?

Research Hypotheses

The following hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance to guide the study.

Ho₁: Parental level of financial support does not significantly influence business education students’ academic achievement.

H₁: Parental level of financial support significantly influence business education students’ academic achievement.

Ho₂: Parental level of involvement to wards’ education does not significantly influence business education students’ academic achievement in tertiary institutions in Delta State.

H₂: Parental level of involvement to wards’ education significantly influence business education students’ academic achievement in tertiary institutions in Delta State.

Ho₃: Parental level of educational background does not significantly influence business education students’ academic achievement in tertiary institutions in Delta State.

 H₃: Parental level of educational background significantly influence business education students’ academic achievement in tertiary institutions in Delta State.

Ho₄: Parental variables does not significantly influence business education students’  academic achievement in tertiary institutions in Delta State.

H₄: Parental variables significantly influence business education students’ academic achievement in tertiary institutions in Delta State.

Purpose of the Study

The main purpose of the study was to determine the influence of parental variables on business education students’ academic achievement in tertiary institutions in Delta State. Specifically, the study sought to determine:

1. The influence of parental financial support on academic achievement of business education students in tertiary institutions in Delta State.
2. The influence of parental involvement on academic achievement of business education students in tertiary institutions in Delta State.
3. The influence of parental educational background on academic achievement of business education students in tertiary institutions in tertiary institutions in Delta State.
4. The comparative influence of parental variables on academic achievement of business education students in tertiary institutions in Delta State.

Fig 1:  Conceptual Framework of Parental Variables and Students’ Academic Achievement

Source:  Authors Construct (2023)

According to the framework there is a connecting point between the independent variables of this study and that is the parental variable and the dependent variable of this study which is academic achievement. The independent variables are parental financial support, parental involvement and parental level of education background. The level at which parents financially support their children/wards in school, their personal involvement in their children school activities and the level of their educational background is assumed to influence their wards/children academic outcome. This is shown through their responses to payment of school fees; provision of textbooks; parents encouragement to their wards concerning their academics; supervision of school work by parents; communication with students, accessing lecture materials and discussing lecture materials with students. It is perceived that these factors influences the students’ academic achievements either positively or negatively. This is what is referred to as positive output or negative output.

EMPIRICAL REVIEW

Moneva, Pestano and Vertulfo (2020) conducted a study on parental financial support and students’ motivation in learning. The findings of their study showed that parents’ financial support and students’ motivation has a significant relationship. Also, Flaster (2020) carried out an investigation on expectations and incentives:  Parental Financial Support for College during the transition to young Adulthood. The findings of the study revealed that children whose parents are highly educated and are close to their parents and their parents have the customs of adolescent financial dependency have particularly large financial incentives to attend college.

In another vein, Masabo, Muchopa and Kuoth (2017) carried out a study on parental involvement in school activities in Kibondo Districts, Tanzania. Challenges and Remedies. The findings of the study reviewed that teachers were in disagreement that parents’ involvement, with its challenges did not affect academic performance of students. Also, Shapira-Lishchinsky and Zavelevsky (2020) carried out a study on multiple appearance of parental interactions and Math achievement on TIMSS international assessment. The study showed a positive correlation between students report of parents involvement and students achievement. Furthermore, Mahuro and Hungi (2016) conducted a case study on how parents’ participation improves academic achievement of students. The study found that parental participation motivates children towards significant academic achievements and that students’ numeracy scores were significantly increased. Also, Newchurch (2017) carried out a study on the influence of parental involvement on students’ academic success. Findings from the study indicated that skills and habits, home support skills and communication efforts employed by parents’ supports student success.

Shah and Hussain (2021) investigated parental occupation and its effects on academic performance of children. The findings of the study affirmed that the kind of occupation a parents engages in determines his income as well as his social status. Also, that parents’ education determine the type of education children receive from their parents. Gemecho (2018) conducted a study on family socio-economic status effect on students’ academic achievement at College of Education and Behavioral Sciences. The analysis shows that students whose parents had some level of education tend to perform better academically than those whose parents had no education.

METHOD

The study adopted a combination of a correlational survey design and expo factor. The researcher used the correlational survey method since it was an inquiry into the relationship between parental variables (parental financial support and parental involvement) and business educational students’ academic achievement. The design was considered most suitable for this study because the study explained the extent to which these parental variables influence business education students’ academic achieve in tertiary institutions in Delta State.

The expo factor design was used to obtain data for the dependent variable by this, the researcher collected the final year results (Cumulative Grade Point Average – CGPA) for 2022/2023 academic session of the participants which was analysed based on the demographic factors provided by the students in the questionnaire. The population of the study consisted of 441 final year business education students from five tertiary institutions in Delta State that offers the business education programme. These are Delta State University, Abraka (DELSU), 95; University of Delta Agbor (UNIDEL), 98; College of Education Technical, Asaba (COET), 84, College of Education, Mosogar (DELSU Affiliate), 96; and College of Education, Warri (DELSU Affiliate), 68 in the 2022/2023 academic session. The information was obtained from the office of the Head of Departments of Business education in the various institutions (2023). The sample size of 172 was obtained using the simple random sampling technique.

The researcher developed a 30-item four-point rating scale instrument for the study titled “Parental variables on Academic Achievement of Business Education Students Questionnaire (PVAABESQ)”. The response categories were Very High Extent, High Extent, Low Extent and Very Low Extent. Part A contained information on the bio-data while part B contained information relating to research questions. The instrument was validated by five experts – the researcher’s supervisor, one lecturer from business education department, two from educational counselling and one from measurement and evaluation all from the Delta State University, Abraka. The reliability of the instrument was determined using Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient at 0.05 significant level and correlation co-efficient of r = 0.78 was obtained and this was established through a pilot study on 20 Business education students from Niger Delta University, Amassoma, Bayelsa State who were not part of the study.

172 copies of the instrument were administered through personal contact by the researcher with the help of four research assistants. The entire 172 questionnaire administered were retrieved, making it 100% retrieval rate. Data collected were analyzed using Mean (x), Standard Deviation (SD) to answer research question while Chi-Square (χ²) and multivariate simple linear regression were used to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significant. Decision for research questions was based on Mean (x) where any calculated x of less than 2.50 was regarded as low extent of influence and any calculated x of 2.50 and above was regarded as high extent of influence.  While the decision for hypotheses 1- 4 was based on the probability value of 0.05.  Any calculated – χ² or p-value that was less than 0.05, the null hypothesis was rejected while any calculated- χ² or p-value that was greater than 0.05 the null hypothesis was retained.

PRESENTATION OF RESULTS 

Research Questions 1

To what extent does parental financial support influence academic achievement of business education students in tertiary institutions in Delta State?

Table 1: Summary of students’ response to level of parents’ financial support and it influence on their academic performance.

Source: Field Survey, 2023

Table 1, shows that the mean for six items are above 2.50. This shows that parental financial support influence business education students academic achievement to a high extent as can be seen from the Mean scores which ranged from 2.74 – 3.01 and standard deviation of 0.87 – 1.04. However, the study shows that four items were rated below 2.50 indicating low extent of influence on academic achievement. The Mean scores for those items ranged from 2.38 – 2.45 while the standard deviation ranges from 0.98 -1.03. However, the overall mean score of all the items on parental financial support was 2.69 and standard deviation was 0.99. This indicates that, parental financial support influence academic achievement of business education students in tertiary institutions in Delta State to a high extent.

Research Questions 2

To what extent does parental involvement influence academic achievement of business education students in tertiary institutions in Delta State?

Table2: Summary of students’ response to level of parents’ involvement to student’s education and its influence on their academic achievement.

Source: Field Survey, 2023.

Table 2, shows that the mean for all items on the table are above 2.50. This shows that parental involvement influence business education students’ academic achievement to a high extent. This can be observed from the Mean scores which ranges from 2.66 – 3.13 and standard deviation of 0.88 – 1.14, this shows that the respondents were not far apart in their responses. However, the overall mean score of all the items on parental involvement was 2.84 and standard deviation was 0.99.  This indicates that, parental involvement influence academic achievement of business education students in tertiary institutions in Delta State to a high extent.

Research Questions 3

To what extent does parental educational background influence academic achievement of business education students in tertiary institutions in Delta State?

Table 3: Summary of students’ response to level of parents’ educational background

to student’s education and its influence on their academic performance.

Data on Table 3, indicates that the mean for eight items are above 2.50. This shows that parental educational background influence business education students academic achievement to a high extent as can be seen from the Mean scores which ranges from 2.53 – 2.96 and standard deviation of 0.93 – 1.12. The standard deviation indicates that the responses obtained were at close range. Consequently, the study shows that two items were rated below 2.50 indicating low extent of influence on academic achievement. The Mean scores for the items ranges from 2.37 – 2.46, while the standard deviation was 1.06 – 1.12. However, the overall mean score of all the items on parental occupational type was 2.73 and standard deviation was 1.03. This indicates that, parental educational background influence business education students’ academic achievement in tertiary institutions in Delta State to a high extent.

HYPOTHESES TESTING

Hypothesis 1

Ho₁: Parental level of financial support does not significantly influence business education students’ academic achievement in tertiary institutions in Delta State.

H₁: Parental level of financial support significantly influence business education students’ academic achievement in tertiary institutions in Delta State.

Table 4: Frequency distribution of Students’ Academic Achievement

Table 5:  Parents Financial Support and Students’ Academic Achievement

a. 0 cells (.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is 43.35.

The null hypothesis of no significant influence was rejected. This is because the chi-square statistic of (30.148, df= 6) is greater than the chi-square critical value of (12.59). Similarly, Asymp. Sig (2-sided) (P=0.000) for Pearson Chi-square statistic is less than the alpha value of (0.05), which indicates that parents financial supports significantly influence business education students academic achievement. Therefore, the null hypothesis was rejected.

Hypothesis 2

Ho₂: Parental level of involvement to wards’ education does not significantly influence business education students’ academic achievement in tertiary institutions in Delta State.

H₂: Parental level of involvement to wards’ education significantly influence business education students’ academic achievement in tertiary institutions in Delta State.

Table 6: Parents’ Involvement to Student’s Education  and students‘ academic achievement

a. 0 cells (.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is 35.72.

The null hypothesis of no significant influence was rejected. This is because the chi-square statistic of (44.566, df= 6) is greater than the chi-sqare critical value of (12.59). Likewise, Asymp. Sig (2-sided) (P=0.000) for Pearson Chi-square statistic is less than the alpha value of (0.05), which shows that parents’ involvement to student’s education significantly influence business education students academic achievement. Therefore, the null hypothesis was rejected.

Hypothesis 3

Ho₃: Parental level of educational background does not significantly influence business education students’ academic achievement in tertiary institutions in Delta State.

 H₃: Parental level of educational background significantly influence business education students’ academic achievement in tertiary institutions in Delta State.

Table 7: Parental level of educational and students’ academic achievement

a. 0 cells (.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is 40.00.

The null hypothesis of no significant influence was rejected. This is because the chi-square statistic of (33.360, df= 6) is greater than the chi-square critical value of (12.59). Furthermore, Asymp. Sig (2-sided) (P=0.034) for Pearson Chi-square statistic is less than the alpha value of (0.05), which shows that parental level of educational background do significantly influence business education students academic achievement. Therefore, the null hypothesis was rejected.

Hypothesis 4

Ho₄: Parental variables does not significantly influence business education students’ academic achievement in tertiary institutions in Delta State.

H₄: Parental variables significantly influence business education students’ academic achievement in tertiary institutions in Delta State.

 Table 8:  Regression Model Summary of influence of parental variables on Business Education students’ academic achievement in tertiary institutions

a. Predictors: (Constant), Parental educational background, Parents financial support, Parents’ involvement to student’s education

Table 4.12 shows calculated R value of .672 and an R square value of .455 meaning that parental variables accounts for 45.5% of students’ academic achievement.

Table 9: Regression ANOVA of influence of parental variables on Business Education students’ academic achievement in tertiary institutions

a. Dependent Variable: Students’ Academic Achievement

b. Predictors: (Constant), Parental Educational Background, Parents’ Involvement to Student’s Education, Parents Financial Support.

Table 9 shows a calculated F value of 5.716 and a P value of .001, testing at alpha level of .05 the P value is less than the alpha level, so the null hypothesis which states that parental variables do not significantly influence business education students’ academic achievement in tertiary institutions in Delta State is rejected. Therefore, Parental variables do significantly influence business education students’ academic achievement in tertiary institutions in Delta State. Hence, the null hypothesis was rejected

Table 10: Regression Coefficients of influence of parental variables on Business Education students’ academic achievement in tertiary institutions

Dependent Variable: Students’ academic achievement

Table 10 shows for parents’ financial support influence a p-value of .932; for parents’ involvement to students’ education a p-value .017 and for parental level of education background a p-value of .013. From this result only parental level of education background with a p-value of .013 and parents’ involvement to students’ education with a p-value 0.17 are significant predictors with beta value of .526 and .757 accounting for 52.6 % and 75.7% respectively of students’ academic achievement. Therefore, parental level of education background account for 52.6% influence of students’ academic achievement while parents’ involvement to students’ education account for 75.7% influence of students’ academic achievement.

DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS

The study discovered that parents’ financial support influence academic achievement of business education students in tertiary institutions in Delta State to a high extent. It was found from the study that parental financial support in form of provision of school fees regularly and timely; provision of learning materials needed for studies by rich parents; assistance provided by families and or friends in form of money for academic purpose influence the academic achievement of the business education students in tertiary institutions in Delta State. This finding is in agreement with the findings of Moneva et al. (2020) who found in their study that parents’ financial support and students’ motivation has a significant relationship. This finding contradicted the findings of Zhonglu et al. (2018) who disclosed that family socio-economic status has a significant negative impact on children’s learning enthusiasm that the higher the family’s socio-economic status, the lower the enthusiasms for learning the children have.

The findings on research question two confirmed that parental involvement influence academic achievement of business education students in tertiary institutions in Delta State to a high extent. It was discovered from the study that parental encouragement towards learning, parental supervision of students’ school, parents’ visitation to their wards during school session, communication between parents and students on school issues and positive parental attitude towards students’ academic positively influence business education students’ academic achievement. This finding is in corroboration with the findings of Shapira-Lishchinsky and Zavelevsky (2020) who disclosed a positive correlation between students report of parents involvement and students achievement in their study. Also, it is in agreement with Machebe et al. (2017) who found that parents’ involvement in children education matter most than to financial status in uplifting the children academic performance in school. This finding disputed the findings of Masabo et al.  (2017) who discovered in their research that teachers were in disagreement that parents involvement with its challenges did not affect academic performance of students.

The findings of research question three indicates that parental educational background influence business education students’ academic achievement in tertiary institutions in Delta State to a high extent. The findings from the study showed that their parents educational level makes them pay more attention to them; parents educational level inspires them; father/mother understands their courses contents; father discuss their lecture materials with me; father/mother assess their lecturers with their lesson note contents; parents’ educational level enable them to understand what their children are doing in school and these influence the business education students’ academic performance. This findings concurs with the findings of Onyedikachim and Ezekiel-Hart (2021) who observed that parents’ education level is part of larger group of psychological and sociological variables influencing children’s school outcomes. Also, in line with Zhonglu et al. (2018) who found in their work that the higher the educational attainment of parent participation, the better the academic performance of the children.

The test of hypothesis one revealed that parental financial support significantly influence business education students’ academic achievement in tertiary institutions in Delta State. This finding is in conformity with the findings of Moneva et al (2020) who discovered in their research that parents’ financial support and students’ motivation have a significant relationship.

Hypothesis two specifies that Parental level of involvement to wards’ education significantly influence business education students’ academic achievement in tertiary institutions in Delta State. This findings coincides that of Newchurch (2017) who found that skills and habits, home support skills and communication efforts employed by parents supports student success. It also agrees with Mahuro and Hungi (2016) who found that parental participation motivates children towards significant academic achievements. The finding agreed with Zhonglu et al. (2018) who found that parents’ involvement in children’s education has a positive effect on their learning behaviour. However, it disagrees with the finding of Masabo, Muchopa and Kuoth (2017) who discovered that teachers were in disagreement that parents’ involvement, with its challenges did not affect academic performance of students.

Hypothesis three displays that parental level of educational background significantly influence business education students’ academic achievement in tertiary institutions in Delta State. This finding harmonizes with Gemecho (2018) who found that students whose parents had some level of education tend to perform better academically than those whose parents had no education. It agrees with Shah and Hussain (2021) who confirms that parents’ education determine the type of education children receive from their parents. Also, the finding harmonizes with the findings of Flaster (2020) who found that children whose parents are highly educated and are close to their parents and their parents have the customs of adolescent financial dependency have particularly large financial incentives to attend college.

The test of hypothesis four showed that parental variables do significantly influence business education students’ academic achievement in tertiary institutions in Delta State. This finding is in agreement with the findings of Onyedikachim and Ezekiel-Hart (2021); Mahuro and Hungi (2016) who found that parents’ financial support and parental participation motivates children towards significant academic achievements.

CONCLUSION

This study has demonstrated that parental financial support, involvement and level of education background influence business education students’ academic achievement in tertiary institutions in Delta State to a high extent. The study also concluded that the parental variables (parental financial support, involvement and level of educational background) do significantly influence business education students’ academic achievement in tertiary institutions in Delta State.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Based on the study’s findings, the following recommendations are made:

1. Parents should provide adequate money for textbooks and stationery for their children to enable them to improve in their academic achievement.
2. Parents should continually be involve in the academic activities of their children at all time.
3. Government should provide loans, grants and scholarship to students as this will assist them in boasting their academic achievement.
4. Parents who are educated should endeavour to discuss their children lecture materials with them hence monitor their academic progress in school.

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