Home Variables as Predictor of Students’ Achievements in Social Studies in Junior Secondary Schools in Osun State, Nigeria

The study investigated the relationship between home variables and students’ achievement in Social Studies. This is with a view of enhancing students’ better performance in Social Studies. The study employed the survey research design. The population consisted of the Junior Secondary School Students in Osun State. Stratified sampling technique was employed in selecting 500 students in five purposively selected local governments in Osun State. Two instruments titled “Home Variables Questionnaire” (HVQ) and “Social Studies Achievement Test” (SSAT) were constructed by the researcher to elicit information from the subjects. The two instruments yielded 0.71 and 0.84 respectively using Cronbach alpha. Seven out of the nine variables were found to be significant predictors of students’ achievement in Social Studies; (Sex β = 1.98; t = 4.93; p<0.05, age β=-1.16, t=-3.42; p<0.05, ethnic group β=0.51; t=-6.95; p<0.05, religion β=-2.86, t=-6.95; <0.05 parent living pattern β=-2.66; t=-2.92 p<0.05, number of fathers’ wives β=5.25; t=4.21; p<0.05, mother’s position among wives β=-3.39; t=-4.718; p<0.05) whereas the two other variables were not predictors of students’ achievement (mother’s no of children β=0.19; t=1.78; p>0.05, and position in the family β=0.01, t=0.010, p>0.05). Also, there was significant difference in male and female students’ achievement in Social Studies (t=9.991, p <0.05). Furthermore, there was a significant relationship between home facilities and students’ achievement in Social Students (r=0.180; p<0.05) whereas there was no significant relationship between birth order and students’ achievement (r=0.050, p>0.05). The study recommended among others that government should provide schools with adequate infrastructures and facilities that will enhance effective learning environment.


Introduction
Education is an inevitable need of life. It has been defined by various experts and educationists. Education according to Oladosu (2004) means a set of activities which entail handing down the ideas, values and norms of the society across generations. It involves the transmission of knowledge, skills, attitudes and beliefs. These ideas are properly learnt through Social Studies as a discipline. According to Adeyemi (2014) Social Studies deals with people's interactions with their environments which involve reciprocal relationships to tackle societal challenges. Fafunwa (1981) sees education as the transfer of knowledge, social skills, values, attributes from one generation to another through the society in which an individual was born. All societies have arrangements for taking care of their young children. These arrangements, through socialization processes, have evolved overtime and are diverse across cultures, in keeping with differences in family and community structures and the social and economic roles of men and women (Blumberg, 2006;UNESCO GNU, 2007). However, current social and economic trends are disrupting many existing child care arrangements especially in Nigerian households where child rearing and career development is not only the responsibility of the parents but of everybody in the extended household (Albert, Awe, Herault, & Omitoogun, 1995).
Children are fundamental to the society because they are our future; they hold the key to change and in turn a successful future in their hands (Gratz, 2006). Therefore, the society's duty is to provide them with a complete education that teaches them how to work together, how to question what is in front of them and how to be catalyst of change. Education starts with what children learn from their parents and from what they learn in the first few years of their lives. This initial education impacts the rest of their lives and inherently society's future.
By its design, Social Studies should enable people to tackle societal challenges by helping environment adapt to www.ccsenet.org/ass Asian Social Science Vol. 12, No. 3;2016 the ever-changing environment they live in through the acquisition of relevant knowledge attitudes, values and practical skills. Thus Social Studies was designed to provide functional and social education to Nigerian children and youths who are rich in the knowledge of Social Studies concepts and facts but deficient in expected values, attitude and behaviour that characterize socially responsible citizens. No wonder the use of Social Studies is germane to this study.
Investigations that have adopted refined measures of family influences have tended to show that they are related more strongly to academic outcomes than are more global measures of family background. Kellaghan (1993) concludes, for example, that family social status or cultural background need not determine a child's achievement at school. He proposes that for academic success, it is what parents do in the home, and not children's family background, that is significant. Similarly, Redding (1999) indicates that in relation to academic outcomes, the potential limitations associated with poor economic circumstances can be overcome by parents who provide stimulating, supportive, and language-rich experiences for their children. In another development Fitchet (2010) had observed that students tend to perform better when there are appropriate and conducive arrangements for their transportation to and from their respective schools.
It is also important to note that home variables such as family background, socio-economic status are capable of influencing students' performance in any subject. Stephen (1997) proposes that the efficacy of a family influence for academic success is determined to a large degree by a child's family background. He observed that parent-child interactions are the forces that lead to academic performance. In addition, he equally claim that academic success is achieved only if family background resources can be accessed to maximize the association between family influences and outcomes: relationships between family influences and academic achievement need to take into account the potentially constraining or expanding opportunities provided by children's family backgrounds.

Statement of the Problem
There has been a long standing fascination with exploring associations between home variables and students' academic performance. Researchers in the past have dealt extensively on issues related to home variables and students' academic performance. However, there is dearth in literature most essentially in Nigeria in some aspects of home variables such as position in the family, sex, mother's position among wives, ethnic groups, mother's number of children, age, parent living pattern, religion and number of father's wives. It is therefore essential to examine these variables in the light of students' academic performance in Social Studies; hence this study.

Hypotheses
1. There is no significant relationship between students' home background and their achievement in Social Studies.
2. There is no significant sex difference in the academic achievement of students' in Social Studies.
3. Students birth order will not significantly influence their achievement in Social Studies.
4. There is no significant relationship between fathers' variables and students' achievement in Social Studies.
5. There is no significant relationship between mothers' variables and students' achievement in Social Studies.
6. There is no significant influence of home facilities on students' achievement in Social Studies.

Methodology
The study employed the survey research design. The population consisted of all the Junior Secondary School Students in Osun State. Stratified sampling technique was employed in selecting 500 students in five purposively selected local governments in Osun State. Two instruments titled "Home Variables Questionnaire" (HVQ) and "Social Studies Achievement Test" (SSAT) were constructed by the researcher to elicit information from the subjects. The two instruments were validated before use and the reliability coefficient yielded 0.71 and 0.84 respectively using Cronbach alpha. Six research hypotheses were tested. The data generated are analysed with the use of Pearson Correlation, Multiple Regression and t-test statistical analyses.

Results
1. There is no significant relationship between students' home background and their performance in Social Studies. 2. There is no significant sex difference in the Academic Achievement of Students' in Social Studies.   The Pearson correlation analysis yields the value of 0.050 at 0.05 confidence level. This shows that there is no significant relationship between one's position in the family and students' achievement in Social Studies. (r=0.050, p>0.05) 5. There is no significant relationship between mother's variables and students' achievement in Social Studies Note: Predictors (constant) mother's age, mother's religion, mother's occupation and mother's marital status: Dependent variable: Achievement in Social Studies: Significant (p<0.05) Table 5 shows that four out of the seven variables were found to be significant predictors of students' achievement in Social Studies. (mother's age β=0.94; t=7.78; p<0.05, mother's religion β=-1.31; t=-3.32; p<0.05, www.ccsenet.org/ass Asian Social Science Vol. 12, No. 3;2016 mother's occupation β=0.48; t=-1.98; p<0.05, mother's marital status β=-0.33, t=-1.99; <0.05) whereas the three other variables are found not to be predictors of students' achievement (mother's ethnic group β=-0.38; t=-1.84; p>0.05, mothers highest level of education β=0.003, t=0.023, p>0.05; mother's number of children β=-0.20, t=-1.37; p>0.05).

There is no significant relationship between fathers' variables and students' achievement in Social Studies
6. There is no significant influence of home facilities on students' Achievement in Social Studies The Pearson correlation analysis yields significant value of 0.180 at 0.05. This shows that there is a significant relationship between home facilities and students' achievement in Social Studies. (r=0.180; p<0.05).

Discussion
Based on the findings of this study, seven variables (sex, age, ethnic group, religion, parent living pattern, no of father's wives, mother's position among wives) were found to be predictors of students' achievement in Social Studies. Also, the results equally revealed that there is significant difference in achievement of males and female students' in Social Studies. The results tallied with Lewine (2011); Zembair & Blume (2011) and Chalachew & Lakshmi (2013) who were of the views that sex played a significant role in academics performance of students.
There is also a significant relationship between facilities and students' achievement in Social Studies, whereas, there is no significant relationship between birth order and students' achievement in Social Studies. This study is in line with previous research studies. Morgan, Farkas, Hilemeier, and Maczuga, (2009) observed that children from low socio-economic status and communities develop academic skills more slowly compared to children from higher SES groups. And also the findings of Onabamiro, Ositoye & Adeyemi (2010); Hussain & Khan (2012) whose their results showed that male were significantly better than female at different level of birth order and that student birth order often affects personality, self esteem and cognitive achievements.
Also, according to Orr (2003) parents from low socio-economic community may be unable to afford resources such as books, computers or tutor to create positive literacy environments. Not only that, Coley, (2002) observed that the nationwide study of American kindergarten children, 36% of parents in the lowest income quintile read to their children on a daily basis, compared with 62% of parents from the highest income quintile. National Centre for Education Statistics (2008) (2013) and Egunsola (2014) who were of the views that parental status, family sizes and study facilities could not be divorced in the attainment of student academic performance.

Conclusion
There is no doubt home variables play a very significant role in academic achievement of students in Social Studies which has been found to be negatively affecting the performance of students. This is likely due to lack of proper preparation and training on the part of the parent before having children. Children in turn will not be able to get all the essential facilities that could enhance their academic achievement.

Recommendations
1. There should be a regulation from government on the number of wives a man should have. This is likely to reduce parents' inability to cater for the educational development of their wards.