Family Climate and Peer Pressure as Correlate of Students’ Academic Achievement in Social Studies in Ebonyi State, Nigeria
Dr. Athanatius Ifeanyi IBEH, Enekwe, Chukwudi Bendict

Abstract
The study investigated family climate and peer pressure as correlates of students’ academic achievement in Social Studies in Ebonyi State, Nigeria. Four research questions and four hypotheses guided the study. The study adopted a correlation survey design. The population of the study consisted of all the 25,298 (twenty five thousand, two hundred and ninety - eight made up of 12,501 male and 12789 female) SSI students in the three Education Zones of Abakaliki, Afikpo and Onueke that sat for the 2018 Junior Secondary School Certificate Examinations. Cluster sampling technique with replacement was employed to select 395 respondents (made up of 194 male and 201 female). Data were collected through a 30 item researchers – developed rating scale structured on a four-point rating scale; and Social Studies Achievement Test (SSAT)/30 item objective questions on Social Studies to determine the academic achievement scores of the students. The Instrument was divided into two clusters: cluster A centers on Family Climate with ten 10 items questions, while cluster B centers on Peer Pressure with 10 items questions. The researchers made use of three well trained research assistants to administer the instruments using direct delivery method. The instrument were validated by experts and tested for reliability. They yielded acceptable reliability coefficient values of 0.86; 0.87 respectively on FPRSQ and 0.45 on SSAT using Cronbach Alpha Statistics. Data collected were analyzed using means and Spearman’s rho correlation coefficient for research questions while the hypotheses 1, 2 and 3were tested at 0.05 level of significance using regression analyses; hypotheses 4, 5 and 6 were tested using UNIANOVA. The findings of the study include among others; a significant relationship existing between student’s family climate and their academic mean achievement in Social Studies;. Based on the findings, recommendations were made by the researchers which include: Parents should make every effort to reduce if not completely do away with broken homes and its causes. Since intact home predisposes good academic performance. On this parents should be enlightened through workshops/seminars on the dangers of unhealthy family climate.

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