Influence of Family Structure and Parental Occupation on Examination Stress of Secondary School

Abstract

Background: Parents do experience stress from their family structure and occupation, and these stress can be transferred to their children. Since the stress imposed by the different occupations and the different family structures are different, the stress transferred to the children will depend on the occupation and family structure of their parents. Objective: This study was therefore designed to understand the influence of the stress incurred by parents from their family structure and occupation on the academic/examination stress of their children in Oroke High School Akungba -Akoko, Ondo State, SW Nigeria. Method: The population of the study comprises all the students of Oroke High School, Akungba Akoko (650) out of which a sample of 313 that satisfied our criteria was selected, using purposive sampling technique. Digital sphygmomanometer was used to measure the actual blood pressure readings of the respondents twice, with at least thirty minutes interval in sitting positions. The mean reading was used. The measurements were carried out three times during the study: two weeks after resumption for the second term of the 2017/2018 academic year, two weeks before the second term examination and four weeks after exam. Results: Students were grouped according to their family structure and also according to the occupation of their fathers or their mothers. The study finds that the systolic blood pressure generally increases as students go from the beginning of the term to two weeks before the terminal examination and decreases after the exam for the different types of family structure and occupation of their fathers or their mothers when the academic stress is removed. Conclusion and recommendation: Under whatever stress that parents may be, it is recommended that they should make the home environment congenial and stress less for study so that the children can go to school the next day with little or no transferred stress.