Socio-Demographic Status as a Predictor of Academic Performance among Human Kinetics and Health Education Students

Abstract

Background: The major concern of every school is the academic performance which is measured by examination results and it is the measurement of student achievement across various academic subjects. This study aims to assess the socio-demographic status as a predictor of academic performance among human kinetic and health education students of Olabisi Onabanjo University. Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State Methods: This descriptive correlational design study was conducted on 350 selected students of Human Kinetics and Health Education Department.A self-structured questionnaire of SDQ and APQ were administered. The reliability results were .0.72 and .74. The data were analyzed using multiple regression. Results: The descriptive result showed that 67.3% of the respondents were male (N=228) and 49.9% aged 15 - 19 years (N=169). The independent variables had significant joint contribution on academic performance (F 6, 332) = 13.268: p < 0.05 R=.440a and a multiple R².193, Adj R² =.179) and relative contribution on the dependent variable. School location has the highest contribution (β=.256, p<.05) followed by dating (β= .225, p<.05), age (β=-.217, p<.05) educational materials (t = -2.583 (β= -.181, p<.05), school discipline (β=-.171, p<.05), respectively, while gender (β=-.084, p<.05) was not significant. Conclusion: The findings revealed that was a joint contribution of socio-demographic status on academic performance of students of Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye. It was recommended that university authority or government should provide good accommodations in or around school area. Lecturers in Human Kinetics and Health Education should adopt teaching methods that enhance learning effectiveness for all students irrespective of age and gender.