Socioeconomic Status of Parents and Students Academic Achievement: A Meta-Analytic Review

Abstract

This study examined the influence of parents' socioeconomic status (SES) on students' academic achievement in Nigeria through a meta-analytic review. The study was motivated by persistent disparities in students' academic performance linked to family background and aimed to provide a clearer quantitative estimate of the strength of this relationship. A total of 306 independent empirical studies, selected from an initial population of 1,500 research reports were included in the analysis, with a combined sample size of 18,450 participants. A structured meta-analytic coding protocol was developed and used to extract relevant quantitative data from each study. Data were analysed using SPSS and Microsoft Excel. The findings revealed a moderate and statistically significant positive relationship between parents' socioeconomic status and students' academic achievement (mean effect size r= 0.33, 95% CI=0.28-0.38, p < .001), indicating that higher SES is associated with improved academic performance. Heterogeneity analysis showed moderate variability across studies (I²=46.8%), suggesting that contextual and methodological differences influenced the strength of the relationship. While parental occupation showed no statistically significant effect on students' academic achievement, parental income demonstrated a generally positive but inconsistent association with academic outcomes. [cite_start]Overall, the results confirm that parents' socioeconomic status is a significant determinant of students' academic achievement in Nigeria. [cite: 1251, 1252, 1253, 1254, 1255, 1256, 1257, 1258]

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