The relationship between parenting styles and academic performance of matric learners in Gauteng

Abstract

South Africa’s high unemployment rate is a crisis facing millions of its citizens especially for those who have not completed their matric as obtaining a National Senior Certificate may increase a person’s chances of finding employment. Research into what might affect a learner’s academic performance is therefore crucial, which is what this study proposed to do by examining the relationship between parenting styles and matric learners’ academic performance. The study used a quantitative research design, and a questionnaire was developed to collect demographic and academic performance information and parenting styles scored by the respondents. Parenting styles was split into two dimensions, namely the responsiveness (love, nurture, affection) and demandingness (discipline, strictness, control) dimensions. The values of these dimensions were then correlated with the Grade 11 academic marks of the learners in order to determine what the nature, intensity, and direction of the relationship was. Stratified random sampling was used to select five fee-paying and five non-fee-paying government schools located in Gauteng, South Africa. One hundred learners from these 10 schools volunteered to complete the questionnaire. Data were analysed using Pearson correlation and independent samples t-tests. There was a weak, negative, significant relationship between the demandingness dimension and academic performance, and this relationship only occurred for maternal parents and guardians. This indicates that the authoritarian parenting style may be associated with lower academic performance. Future research could employ improved sampling protocols that aim for a larger and more representative sample.