Single Parenting and Academic Performance of Secondary School Students in Taita Taveta County, Kenya

Abstract

This study sought to establish the academic performance of secondary schools’ students brought up by single parents. In particular, the study aimed at establishing the family type structure students in secondary schools in Taita Taveta belong to; assessing the nature of assistance given to the students by their parents; examining the level of discipline exhibited by the students given their family type structure; and finally determining the level of involvement by parents in the students’ academic attainment. A survey descriptive research design was adopted for the study. Simple random sampling was employed to select seventy (70) students from targeted secondary schools who constituted the respondents for the study. Data was analyzed using a set of descriptive statistics. The study results established that to a great extent, students from single parent family type background scored poorly compared to those from twoparents family type on the aspects of students’ discipline and extent of involvement of parents in their children’s academic activities as well as on academic attainment. Single parents are therefore urged to involve themselves more with their children’s academic activities and disciplinary matters in order to enhance the students’ academic performance.