Social Support andAcademic Achievement of Grade 12 Students

Abstract

Introduction

The study focused on how social support from parents, teachers, peers, and school heads correlates to academic achievement. According to Ahmed (2010), distinct student factors namely family attributes, sex, and level of motivation from external factors such as parents, peers, and teachers contribute to academic performance.

This study focused on the possible relationship between social support and academic achievement. For the first variable, the extent of social support in terms of parental support, peer support, teacher support, and school head support was evaluated. For the second variable, academic achievement was measured using general average grades for the first and second semester of the previous academic year. Also, the profile of the respondents such as age, section, and sex was determined.

Methods

Stratified random sampling was used to determine the target population. Each class served as strata. Out of 171 enrolled Grade 12 students, only 94 were randomly selected as respondents. This correlational research made use of a questionnaire adapted from the study of Melendez (2011) to assess the social support given to the respondents. Then, the Likert scale was used to provide a verbal interpretation. For academic achievement, an average of student-respondents for the first semester of the school year 2016-2017 was taken.

Results

The findings revealed that the majority of the respondents are female with ages ranging from 17-18 years old. Also, most student-respondents got a general weighted average of 85-89 and were interpreted as very satisfactory. There was a significant relationship between social support and academic achievement of the respondents. The result also revealed that the teacher is the number one influential factor that contributes to students' academic success, followed by peers, supervisors, and parents accordingly.

Discussion

This study emphasized the importance of social support to the students' learning process and these findings will be useful in assisting educators, parents, and policymakers to develop strategies that would enhance the academic achievement of students.