Relationship between Risk Taking and Academic Achievement among form Two Students in Nairobi County, Kenya

Abstract

Low academic achievement in Nairobi County has been of great concern especially in the last few years. Research studies conducted earlier have attributed this to various causes including environmental and some psychological factors. This research focused on examining the relationship between students’ risk taking and academic achievement in Nairobi County, Kenya. Elkind’s Adolescent Egocentrism theory guided the study. Correlational design was adopted to demonstrate the correlation between the variables. The population of target was the entire year 2019 Form Two students in public high schools, Nairobi County. To select research location, purposive sampling was used while stratified sampling helped identify the class. Finally, simple random sampling procedure was applied in selecting participants. The study sample comprised of 738 students picked from eight secondary schools. Adolescents’ risk taking scale was adopted and used to evaluate students’ risk taking behaviour. In order to assess students’ academic achievement, records of examination grades maintained in individual schools were consulted. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze collected data. Multiple regression analysis was used to establish prediction model. The study results revealed a weak negative statistically non-significant correlation between risk taking and academic achievement r (738) = -.031, p > 0.05. Similarly, two subscales of risk taking were found to be negatively correlated to academic achievement though not significantly. Only general invulnerability subscale revealed a positive but weak and insignificant relationship with academic achievement. Therefore, the study recommended that educators and other relevant stakeholders consider looking into other factors that may be behind low academic achievement in students. This will allow for application of appropriate intervening measures.