Influence of Family Background on Causal Attributions of Academic Achievement

The Case Study of Kenya

Abstract

  Efforts to improve learning outcomes are considered important in the post-2015 development agenda. Sub-Saharan Africa (hereafter called Africa) is the area with the highest number of educational problems among the developing countries. Regional academic achievement surveys have indicated significant disparities in academic achievement, especially class differences, among children in these countries. Many studies have suggested that children’s achievement motivation influence their academic achievements. As a result, exploring disparities in achievement motivation is essential for identifying the mechanisms of such disparities. Therefore, the achievement motivation of African children was investigated based on Weiner’s causal attribution theory. The influence of socio-economic status (SES) and parents’ involvement as the family background of causal attributions about academic achievement on five attribution factors affecting pupils’ perceptions of their success or failure in mathematics were assessed by eighth-grade students in Eldoret City, Kenya (N = 245). The results indicated that the causal attributions of academic achievement differed according to the family background, such that pupils with high SES tended to attribute success more often to the family environment and failure to lack of effort, which was expected to promote motivation. Moreover, there were significant differences in the score of four factors assessing the provision of parental involvement, such that pupils with a high level of parental involvement tended to attribute successes more often to effort and the family environment, which was also expected to result in positive motivation. In contrast, pupils with a low levels of parental involvement tended to attribute failures more often to ability and teachers’ instructions, which was expected to cause lower expectancy for future success and hopelessness. These findings support the contention that parental involvement has a positive effect on the causal attributions of academic results. Moreover, these attributions differed according to the provision of parental involvement among pupils with lower SES, such that a high level of parental involvement tended to result in the attribution of success to effort, teachers’ instructions, and family environment; whereas a low level of parental involvement tended to result in the attribution of failure to teachers’ instructions, school environment, and family environment. Even pupils from low social class who received a high level of parental support tended to make attributions that promote achievement behaviour. These results suggest that increasing parent involvement in families with a low socioeconomic background might encourage children's achievement behaviour. The results also indicated the importance of strengthening relationships between schools and parents and engaging in enlightenment activities for promoting the involvement of parents at home. Moreover, it is difficult for lower-class parents to provide learning materials for their children and therefore it is suggested that supporting poor families might also enhance the academic motivation of children.