Broken Homes and Intact Homes Students’ Academic Attainment in Mathematics in the Kasena-Nankana Municipality, Ghana

Abstract

Students’ academic attainment in mathematics can be influenced by several factors including the structure of student’s home. This study was therefore conducted to compare the academic achievement of students from intact homes and their colleagues from broken homes in mathematics in the Kasena-Nankana Municipality, Ghana. The study embraced a survey design using 26 students from broken homes who were purposely and conveniently selected and 26 students from intact homes selected using simple random sampling technique. The study relied on secondary data (mathematics scores from students report cards) and the data was analysed using independent sample t-test. The test results revealed a significant difference in mean scores between the two groups of students and this difference was in favour of the students from intact homes suggesting that students from broken homes performed poorly compared to those from intact homes. The finding implied that, family structure (broken or intact) is a factor that should not be undermined when looking at students’ performances in mathematics. The study concluded that broken home has a negative impact on basic school students’ academic achievement in mathematics.