INTRODUCTION Socioeconomic status is a definite background variable that represents a feature of the social structure in society (Oakes &

Rossi, 2003). It is a fact that families where the parents are privileged educationally, socially and economically, promote a higher level of achievement in their offspring. They also give higher levels of psychological support for their children through enriched atmosphere that promote and encourage the development of skills required for success at school (Williams, 1987 & Williams et al., 1993). The socioeconomic status of a child is usually determined by parental educational level, parental occupational status and income level Jeynes 2002). It is understood that low socioeconomic status negatively and depressingly affects students academic achievement because due to low socioeconomic status, a student does not access to important resources and generates additional stress and tension at home Eamon, 2005 and Jeynes, 2002). According to Parson, Stephanie and Deborah (2001), socioeconomic status is an expression which is used to differentiate between peoples relative status in the community regarding family income, political power, educational background and occupational status. Saifi and Mehmood (2011) state that socioeconomic status is a combined measure of economic and

social position of an individual or family relative to others on the basis of income, education and occupation. Suleman et al. (2012) found that that those children whose socioeconomic status was strong show better academic performance and those with poor socioeconomic status showed poor and unsatisfactory academic

performance. Heyneman (2005) stated that for many years researches have revealed that students do not show effective performance in school whose parental socioeconomic status is low. The academic achievement of students is negatively correlated with the low parental socioeconomic status level as it prevents the individual in gaining access to sources and resources of learning (Duke, 2000 & Eamon, 2005). Most of the researchers and experts believed that the low socioeconomic status negatively affect the academic performance of students because due to low socioeconomic status their needs and demands remain unfulfilled and that is why they do not show better academic performance (Adams, 1996). Farooq et al. (2011) concluded that the higher level of socioeconomic status is the best indicator which plays a fundamental role in promoting quality of students achievement. The current paper was designed to explore the effects of parental socioeconomic status on the academic achievement of secondary school students. The researchers expect that this study will be useful for secondary school

students and their parents as it will suggest some remedial measures for the effective and better academic performance of the secondary school students.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM The study was conducted to explore the Effects of Parental Socioeconomic Status on the Academic Achievement of Secondary School Students in District Karak, Khyber Pukhtunkhwa (Pakistan). OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY Objectives of the study were: to find out the effect of parental socioeconomic status on the academic achievement of secondary school students to determine the effect of parental educational level on the academic achievement of secondary school students to find out the effect of parental occupational level on the academic achievement of secondary school students and to suggest workable recommendations for the enhancement of the students academic achievement. HYPOTHESES OF THE STUDY To achieve the above objectives, the researchers decided to develop the following hypotheses:

1. There is significant effect of parental socio-economic status on the academic achievement of secondary school students 2. There is significant effect of parental income level on the academic achievement of secondary school students 3. There is significant effect of fathers educational level on the academic achievement of secondary school students 4. There is significant effect of mothers educational level on the academic achievement of secondary school students 5. There is significant effect of fathers occupational level on the academic achievement of secondary school students 6. There is significant effect of mothers occupational level on the academic achievement of secondary school students

CHAPTER TWO REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE Socioeconomic status is the combination of economic and sociological measures of an individual work experience and the economic and social position of an individual or family in relation to others on the basis of income, educational level and occupational status. For the analysis of a family socioeconomic status, the household income, education of earner and occupation are checked as well as combined income compared with an individual, when their own attributes are assessed. Socioeconomic status is generally divided into three categories i.e., high socioeconomic status, middle socioeconomic status and low socioeconomic to explain the three fields a family or an individual may fall into. When putting a family or individual into one of these categories, any or all of the three variables i.e., income, education, and occupation can be reviewed and assessed (Online wikipedia encyclopedia). Socioeconomic status (SES) is assessed as a combination of factors containing income, level of education, and occupation. It is a way of observing to know how individuals or families adjust in society using economic and social measures that have been shown to impact individuals' health and well being.

Different scholars have defined socioeconomic status in different ways. Some scholars consider that socioeconomic status is the total household income while other scholars include other variables i.e., parental educational levels. In addition to the widely used income variable, some others variables are also considered i.e., family and parental educational attainment; total family income; living in poverty; living in a single-parent household; motivation for learning; alcohol or drug use; crime;

community/environment; etc. Many scholars consider that socioeconomic status is the most important and fundamental factor which is responsible for the academic success (Coleman 1966; Duncan 2005). Socioeconomic status refers to as a finely graded hierarchy of social positions which can be used to illustrate a persons overall social position or reputation. It can be indicated by a number of concepts such as employment status, occupational status, educational attainment and income and wealth (Graetz, 1995). Many research studies have shown that the socio-economic status is a factor responsible for the academic attainment of the students. Research studies show that socio-economic status influences students achievements (Jeynes, 2002; Eamon, 2005; Hochschild, 2003). It is believed that low socioeconomic status has significant negative affects on the academic achievement of the students because low socio-economic status is the

obstruction to access to very important resources and creates additional tension and stress at home (Eamon 2005; and Jeynes 2002). Students who have a low socio-economic status show poor result and are more likely to leave the school (Eamon, 2005; Hochschild 2003). Morakinyo (2003) found that there is a relationship between socio-economic status and academic achievement of the students. White (1986) in a Meta analysis of 620 correlations coefficient from 100 students describes that there is a definite relationship between socioeconomic status and academic achievement of the students. He noted that the frequency obtained correlation ranged from 0.10 to 0.70 which is positive relationship. It means that if one factor is increased the other also increases. It is came to surface that those children whose socio-economic status is strong show better academic performance and those with poor socio-economic status show poor and unsatisfactory academic performance. Rouse and Barrow (2006) state that socioeconomic status has significant effects on educational achievements that contain test scores, and continue to affect the child throughout their adulthood. White (1982) states, The family characteristic that is the most influential predictor of school performance is socioeconomic status; the higher the socioeconomic status of the students family, the higher his academic achievement. A recent metaanalysis of studies investigating the relationship of socioeconomic status to

academic achievement showed that different variables of socioeconomic status e.g., parental education, parental income and parental occupation have different effects on the educational attainment (Sirin, 2005). Kruse (1996) conducted a study to find out whether students from low socioeconomic environments have lower academic achievement compared to the academic achievement of students from higher socioeconomic environments. He arrived at the results that there was a statistically significant difference between the academic achievements of low socioeconomic environments compared to that of high socioeconomic environments. Parental education is also an important aspect of the socioeconomic status of school students because it is expected that parental and student education are significantly correlated. Peters and Mullis (1997) concluded that parental education had a significant effect on academic achievement of the students. The mothers education level had a 20% higher affect than the fathers education level on the academic achievement of adolescents. According to Eamon (2005), mother education affects the academic achievement of the students. The children of highly educated mothers obtain higher test scores. Caldas and Bankston (1997) found that parental educational background and occupational status had significant effects on academic achievement than family income alone. A number of studies have recommended that parents

of higher socioeconomic status are more engaged in their childrens education as compared to the parents of lower socioeconomic status and that greater parental participation and involvement promotes more positive attitudes toward school, improves homework habits, reduces absenteeism and dropping out, and enhances academic achievement (Muller, 1993 and Stevenson & Baker, 1987). An earlier study by James (2002) also showed that parental education levels exposed the clearest patterns of variation in student attitudes towards school and post school options. In the same way, Western (1998) found that students whose parents had high educational levels had access to a variety of resources which assisted and facilitated to participate in university studies. Ahmed (1991) arrived at the result that out of 56 candidates who had qualified the competitive examination for public sector jobs at the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Provincial Public Commission Pakistan, 30 of the candidates had parents with Bachelor and above educational qualifications. Krashen (2005) found that students whose parents are educated score higher on standardized tests as compared to those whose parents were not educated. Poverty is a crucial and destructive factor that affects students academic achievement negatively. There is inversely relation of parental low income with the students academic achievement. Sum and Fogg (1991) conducted a study and found that poor students are

graded in the 19th percentile on assessments while students from a midupper income family are ranked in the 66th percentile on assessments. In data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (ECLS) measuring academic achievement of kindergarten students on the ECLS reading achievement assessment, low income students scored at about the 30th percentile, middle income students scored at about the 45th percentile, and upper income students scores at about the 70th percentile (Rowan et al., 2004). Klebanov et al. (1994) concluded that both mothers education and family income were the main predictors of the physical atmosphere and learning experiences in the home but that mothers education alone was predictive of parental warmth. Similarly, Smith et al. (1997) found that the combination of family income and parental education with childrens academic attainment was mediated by the home environment. The mediation effect was stronger for maternal education than for family income. Thus, they proposed that education might be connected to specific achievement behaviors in the home e.g., reading, playing. Maurin (2002) stated that there are so many reasons that why parental income is potentially a very important determinant of the performance of children at school. The main reason is may be that rich parents can buy better food, better housing and medical care. In other words, they can purchase more of all the basic goods and

services that support childrens development and assist them to perform well at school. Imagining that the parental demand for these specific goods and services really increases with parental income, we should examine a significant impact of income on childrens performance. Krueger (2004) reviews various contributions supporting the view that financial limitations and constrains significantly impact on educational attainment of a student. Parental occupation has a signification affect on the academic achievement of students. It plays a remarkable role in students academic achievement. Good parental occupation has a positive effect on the academic achievement of students. The Saifi and Mehmood (2011) study the effects of socioeconomic status on students achievement and they used income, parents education and occupation, material possessed at home, transport and servants as the indicators of socioeconomic status and data were analyzed by applying percentages. The findings revealed that parental education and occupation and facilities at home affect the students achievement.