Parent absenteeism and the child's motivation to learn and academic performance

Abstract

This study sought to compare the motivation to learn and academic performance of children with absentee and non-absentee parents. Respondents were 180 pupils from Grades IV, V, and VI in Miagao Central Elementary School. The respondents were made to answer independently a 40-item questionnaire with a 5-point Likert Scale. It was hypothesized that children with absentee parents have low motivation to learn and poor academic performance and that there is a correlation between the two variables. T-test for independent samples was used to determine the difference of the mean scores of children with absentee and non-absentee parents. Pearson r was utilized to measure correlation between motivation to learn and academic performance. Results showed that motivation to learn (t1 = .30) and academic performance (t2 = -.24) were not significant at .05 alpha level and there was a low correlation (r = .02) between motivation to learn and academic performance. Findings imply that parent absenteeism did not entirely determine the degree of the child’s motivation to learn and academic performance due to other factors such as parental involvement, the child’s intelligence, home environment, teacher and classroom setting, and the child’s intrinsic inclination to learn and perform well.