A study of the relationship between Kenyan secondary school pupils' achievement motivation and educational /0ccupational levels of their parents
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Date
1989
Authors
Mutinda, Ezekiel
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Kenyatta University
Abstract
This thesis was a study of the relationship
between the Kenyan Secondary School Pupils' achievement
motivation (Abbreviated nAch - need for achievement)
and the parental education and occupation. The need for
such a study was given impetus by the lack of such kind
of data in the developing countries, especially Kenya.
The study examined and tested four research null hypotheses:-
(i) There is no significant relationship between the
father's educational level (ELF) and the respondent's
nAch (need-far-achievement) score.
(i i ) There is no significant relationship between the
mother's educational level (ELM) and the
res~ondent's nAch score.
(iii) There is no significant relationship between the
father's occupational level and the respondent's
nAch score.
(i v ) There is no significant relationship between the
mother's occupational level and the respondent's
nAch score.
The respondent's for this study consisted of
a total of 305 Form III pupils from nine (9) in Kwale
and Mombasa Districts of Kenya Table 3.1). In each
school, the selected pupils were given tests in
achievement motivation in form of pictures for them to writes
stories about (Appendix D). A questionnaire for obtaining
information on parental education and occupation was also
administered to the pupils (Appendix A).
x )
The stories were scored for achievement motivation
following a standard scoring procedure (called 'scoring
system C') to obtain achievement motivation (nAch) scores.
Parents were classified into four educational and occupational
level each, given arbitrary scores 1 to 4.
These score (for parental levels) were then correlated,
using the Pearson production moment correlation coefficient
method, with the nAch scores of the pupils. The
results of this correlation were staggering. The
correlation between the father's education and the pupils'
nAch scores was positive, low and significant (r=O.l20,
P(O.05) and that with the mother's education was positive
and significant too (r=O.l30, P~O.05) showing that nAch
of pupils increases with parents' education.
The father's occupation was insiqnificantly
correlated with the pupils' need for achievement (r=O.070,
P~O.05) while that of the mothers was both positively and
significantly correlated with the nAch scores (r=O.l5,
p~O.n5 again showing an increase of nAch of children with
the occupation of mothers.
One-way analysis of variance (A OVA), performed
on the pupils' mean nAch scores for the parental educational
and occupational levels showed that the differences between
these mean nAch scores within the levels were statistically
significant.
From the above findings, it is recommended that a
programme of counselling on career choices for the pupils
and training for achievement motivation for the parents, be
xi
organised so that parents can be trained on how to raise
the level of achievement motivation in their children by
setting standards of excellence for their children. This
may be useful not only in improving their childrens'
academic achievement but also in enabling them to succeed
later in life.