CONTENTS
Sl. No. 1 2 INTRODUCTION REVIEW OF LITERATURE 2.1. Academic achievement 2.2. Factors influencing Academic achievement 3 METHODOLOGY 3.1. Population and the sample 3.2. Research Design 3.3. Variables used for the study 3.4. Tools used for data collection 3.5. Data collection procedure 3.6. Operational definition and terminologies 3.7. Statistical analysis 4 RESULTS 4.1. Demographic characteristics of the students and parents 4.2. Study habit of boys and girls 4.3. Self-concept of boys and girls 4.4. Socio-economic status of boys and girls 4.5. Rural/urban comparison of study habits, self-concept and socio economic status 4.6. Gender, locale and academic achievement 5 DISCUSSION 5.1. Study habits of boys and girls 5.2. Self-concept of boys and girls 5.3. Socio economic status of boys and girls 5.4. Comparison of rural/urban students on study habits, selfconcept and socio economic status 5.5. Gender, locale and academic achievement 6 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS REFERENCES APPENDIX Chapter Particulars Page No.
Title Demographic characteristic of students Demographic characteristic of Parents Distribution of boys and girls on study habits Comparison of boys and girls on study habits Class-wise comparison of the study habits Association of study habits of boys and girls with academic achievement Correlation between Study habits and Academic Achievement Distribution of boys and girls on Self-concept Comparison of boys and girls on self-concept Class-wise comparison of the self-concept Association of self-concept of boys and girls with academic achievement Correlation of Self-concept and Academic Achievement Distribution of boys and girls on Socio Economic Status Association of socio-economic status of boys and girls with academic achievement Correlation of Socio Economic Status and Academic Achievement Distribution of rural/urban students on study habits Comparison of rural/ urban students on Study habits Distribution of rural/urban students on self-concept Comparison of rural/ urban students on Self-concept Distribution of rural/urban students on Socio Economic Status Comparison of rural/ urban students on Socio Economic Status Distribution of boys and girls on Academic achievement Comparison of boys and girls on Academic achievement Comparison of rural and urban students on Academic achievement
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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure No 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Title Selection of sample for the study Distribution of boys and girls on levels of study habits Comparison of boys and girls on study habits Class-wise comparison of the study habits Association of study habits of boys and girls with academic achievement Distribution of boys and girls of self-concept Comparison of boys and girls on self-concept Class-wise comparison of the self-concept Association of self-concept of boys and girls with academic achievement Distribution of boys and girls on Socio-Economic Status Association of Socio Economic Status of boys and girls with academic achievement Distribution of rural/urban students on study habits Comparison of rural/urban students on Study habits Distribution of rural/urban students on self-concept Comparison of rural/ urban students on Self-concept Distribution of rural/urban students on Socio Economic Status Comparison of boys and girls on Academic achievement Distribution of boys and girls on Academic achievement Page No
1. INTRODUCTION
Education is the process of developing the capacities and potentials of the individual so as to prepare that individual to be successful in a specific society or culture. From this perspective, education is serving primarily as an individual development function. Education begins at birth and continues throughout life. It is constant and on going. Schooling generally begins some where between the ages four and six when children are gathered together for the purposes of specific guidance related to skills and competencies that society deems important. In the past, once the formal primary and secondary schooling was completed the process was finished. However, in today’s information age, adults are quite often learning in informal setting throughout their working lives and even into retirement. Education, in its broadest sense, may be defined as a process designed to inculcate the knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary to enable individuals to cope effectively with their environment. Its primary purpose is to foster and promote the fullest individual selfrealization for all people. Achieving this goal requires understanding of commitment to the proposition that education is a primary instrument for social and economic advancement of human welfare (Verma, 1990). The world is becoming more and more competitive. Quality of performance has become the key factor for personal progress. Parents desire that their children climb the ladder of performance to as high a level as possible. This desire for a high level of achievement puts a lot of pressure on students, teachers, schools and in general the education system itself. In fact, it appears as if the whole system of education revolves round the academic achievement of students, though various other outcomes are also expected from the system. Thus a lot of time and effort of the schools are used for helping students to achieve better in their scholastic endeavors. The importance of scholastic and academic achievement has raised important questions for educational researchers. What factors promote achievement in students? How far do the different factors contribute towards academic achievement? (Ramaswamy, 1990). Human life, which is the best creation of god, has got two aspects: The biological and sociological or cultural. While the former is maintained and transmitted by food and reproduction, the latter is preserved and transmitted by education. It is again through education that he promotes his intelligence and adds his knowledge with which he can move the world for good and for evil according to his wishes. Education in fact, is one of the major “life processes” of the human beings “just as there are certain indispensable vital processes of life in a biological sense. So education may be considered a vital process in a social sense. Education is indispensable to normal living, without education the individual would be unqualified for group life (Safaya, et al. 1963). School achievement may be affected by various factors like intelligence, study habits, and attitudes of pupil towards school, different aspects of their personality, socio economic status, etc. The desire of success is derived from individual’s concept of himself and in terms of the meaning of various incentives as they spell success and failure in the eye of others. Thus a child who sees himself as top ranking, as scholars, may set as his goal the attainment of the highest grade in the class. A modern society cannot achieve its aim of economic growth, technical development and cultural advancement without harnessing the talents of its citizens. One of the major tasks of education is to help children to develop the skills appropriate to the age in which they live and those skills which promote a lifetime of learning. Educationists and counsellors in educational settings are often confronted with students who appear to have above average scholastic aptitude but are very poor in their studies. A recurring question baffling them has been why some students succeed in their study while others do not. This question is sometimes considered to be closely related to learning than teaching. Jamuar (1974) stated that efficient learning depends not only on good teaching methods but also satisfactory learning procedures. Anwana and Cobbach (1989) are also of the view that students do badly academically on account of factors other than low intellectual capacity. Tiwari and Bansal (1994) mentioned that a child with high academic achievement is likely to be well-treated as well behaved and independent and low achievers as incapable and deprived of employment, which may lead this to maladjustment to life.
In our society academic achievement is considered as a key criterion to judge one’s total potentialities and capacities. Hence academic achievement occupies a very important place in education as well as in the learning process. Academic achievement is defined by Crow and Crow (1969) as the extent to which a learner is profiting from instructions in a given area of learning i.e., achievement is reflected by the extent to which skill and knowledge has been imparted to him. Academic achievement also denotes the knowledge attained and skill developed in the school subject, usually designated by test scores. Achievement is influenced by personality, motivation, opportunities, education and training. There are several other factors also which influence the academic achievement of student like study habit, self-concept, socio economic status, intelligence etc.
Study habits
Many students do badly academically, due to factors other than low intellectual capacity. One such factor is poor study habits, which often result in poor academic performance even among the naturally bright students. Habits are true indicators of individuality in a person. So study habits are the behavior of an individual related to studies. Which is adjudged from his study habits. In the process of learning, learners habitual ways of exercising and practicing their abilities for learning are considered as study habits of learners. The pattern of behavior adopted by students in the pursuit of their studies is considered under the caption of their study habits. Study habits reveal students personality. Learner’s learning character is characterized by his study habits. Study habits serve as the vehicle of learning. It may be seen as both means and ends of learning. Study habits play a very important role in the life of students. Success or failure of each student depends upon his own study habits. Of course, study is an art and as such it requires practice. Some students study more but they fail to achieve more. Others study less but achieve more. Success of each student definitely depends upon ability, intelligence and effort of students. No doubt, regular study habits bring their own rewards in the sense of achievement of success. There are many types of disadvantaged students: physically, mentally, socially & culturally, educationally and emotionally. The socially disadvantaged are not handicapped by genetic deficiency, but by the socio economic circumstances of their lives. The socio economic disadvantage prevents them from developing their basic and natural potentialities. The disadvantages are not with the individual, but with the society. Study habits refer to the activities carried out by learners during the learning process of improving learning. Study habits are intended to elicit and guide one’s cognitive processes during learning. According to Patel (1976) study habits include. 1. Home environment and planning of work 2. Reading and note taking habits 3. Planning of subjects 4. Habits of concentration 5. Preparation for examination 6. General habits and attitudes 7. School environment The study habits are influenced by attitudes, personality traits, levels of aspirations, teaching methods adopted and material they are to learn. So, it is the effort of teachers to develop good study habits among students. Such habits are the best equipments with which they can live and lead their lives with confidence. If the habits are developed in the young age they will definitely cherish the joy of its fruits in the rest of their lives, because grown up children are already habituated to certain things. So they find it difficult it modify their habits and behavior. Therefore, it is better to develop study habits in secondary school students. It is the proper time and age to cultivate study habits. At this age students are quite matured. They are able to know what is good and what is bad. They can avoid bad things and invite good things with the help of teachers.
Self-concept
As a child grows and develops, he learns, not only about the world about him and his place in it, but also about himself. Each person lives with himself and hence, to some degree is always alone. No one can ever completely know the self better than any one else, although in the persuit for understanding oneself and others there has developed much of human thought and philosophy, including psychology. Man has long held the hope of answering such questions as: who am I? How did I come to be this way? And their logical consequence, the search for purpose; why am I? (Nadalmani, 2001). The psychological construct, the self-concept is essentially private even though it is in part translated into action by the beliefs we express. Sidhu (1987) defined self-concept as those perceptions, beliefs, feelings, attitudes and values which the individual views on describing himself. Personality is not a specific quality of a person but a quality of his behavior. How he behaves depends upon how he feels about himself, about other people and about his relationship with them. These feelings make up his self-concept what he thinks about himself as a person. A person’s self-concept is the fundamental core of his entire personality and determines the quality of behavior. It can be predicted that the poor self-concept implying lack of confidence in facing and mastering the environment, will accomplish his performance in school. In sum, the selfconcept does appear to be related to school adjustment. Substantial evidence indicates that children and adults with poor self-concept when compared with those who have high selfconcept are more anxious and less adjusted generally and less popular, are less effective in groups and are less honest about themselves. The pattern of parental rewards and punishments seems to affect the self-concept and quite certainly, the self-concept of bright but under achieving youngsters are less positive than those of children who are doing as well as can be expected in school. Incidentally children tend to mould their self-concept according to the way they think their teachers regarded them. Adolescence is a period of biosocial transition from childhood to adulthood. This period extends roughly from 12-19 years. Now a day’s puberty occurs earlier than it used to be, due to improvement in nutrition and health care. This has lengthened the transition from adolescence to adulthood. A dramatic biological change occurs in adolescents. In early adolescence, they experience a growth spurt. As a result they stop thinking of themselves as children and parents begin to expect matured behavior from them. Conflicts with parents, teachers and society may arise over their demands and expectations along with this task of establishing a personal identity, which involves an understanding of self, of one’s relationship with others and of one’s values and roles in society. Erickson (1981) describes this as ‘Identity crisis’. Adolescents adopt many strategies to resolve this crisis by trying out different roles like good girl / boy, dutiful daughter / son, a rebel, athlete and so on. The world is becoming more and more competitive and parents desire that their children achieve high in academics. During this stage the influence of school far out weighs all others. So good schooling and effective teacher guidance are of utmost importance. Performance at school and experience in the larger world are related to the self image of students. They have to strive hard to achieve better results academically. As a result, school and studies become major stressors. Hence, adolescents tend to give up and neglect recreational activities. This has resulted in the absence of physical and mental relaxation. The best type of relaxation is one in which the students learn the skill of relaxing. Schools should provide opportunities for regular physical and mental training like yoga which is a relaxation technique which will facilitate the enhancement of study habits, self-concept and academic performance (Erickson 1981). Teachers in school should become facilitators of learning. The infinite treasure with in every learner should be discovered and nurtured. For the purpose of improving learning, effective study skills have to be taught. Study skills may involve reference, reading, listening, study habits and learning strategies. Learning improves with planning of where, when and how much to study. Teaching is not giving knowledge and skills to students, teaching is the process of providing opportunities for students to produce relatively permanent change and moulding their personality. The primary purpose of teaching which is only one of the institutional
influences in a person’s education is to assist the individual to develop his and her full potential as well as to develop the knowledge, attitudes and skills to interact with the environment in a successful manner. The family, religious organizations and community also share primary responsibility in the educational process. (Nayak et al. 2004).
Socio Economic Status
Socio economic status plays an important role in the life of a person. The status opens the ways for his progress. Intelligence, attitudes, aptitudes and even interests are patterned by socio economic background of the individual. The socio economic status pays rewards and punishment both to a person. Chaudhari et al. (1998). Socio economic status refers to the position that an individual and family occupies with reference to prevailing average standards, cultural possession and participation in group activity of community. According to Chain (1944), socio economic status includes both the social and economic status of the individual in the group. The variations in achievement are also due to the differences in socio economic status of the children, differential treatment given by parents, parent’s educational level, influence of the surroundings and so on. The influence of socio-cultural factors on various aspects of individual’s development has particularly caught the attention of educationists. Individual success and failure can also be judged by facilities and environment provided for his study, self-concept and study habits. As pointed out by survey and Telford (1964) children belonging to higher socio economic status are not only brilliant but also are provided better opportunities for developing intellectually, physically and emotionally. The type of intellectual environment in the home will definitely have an impact on the school achievement of the child and this intellectual environment in turn is determined by intellectual level of parents, parent’s education, occupation, income, size of the family etc. During the lifespan of an individual adolescence is a stage highly influenced by so many things around the world. Adolescents are highly influenced by society, socio economic status, self-concept, study habits, emotional maturity etc., which may enhance the academic achievement of adolescence or may disturb the academic achievement of adolescence in high school period.
Gender
Gender issue has become the talk of today’s forum. Although the literacy rate is more among boys than girls; it is quite interesting to observe that girls are securing better ranks than boys in almost all competitive examinations. From the last ten years, it is very fascinating to find note the girls figure to be more often in top ten two ranks in tenth class annual examination. Earlier some of the researches reported that intelligence was the only factor that causes gender variations among high achievers. (Robinson, 1965). Later some attributed familial factors like parental aspiration beliefs and their socio economic status as the main factors that cause age and gender differences among high achievers by Malathi (1987) and she also reported a study on Harijans of villages of Karnataka reported that educational aspirations in case of girls were almost negligible causing very poor enrolment of girl children in schools. However, this trend seems to be changing in the recent past and such discriminations are not so marked. Thus the present study is an attempt to find out the gender differences if any, on the factors affecting academic achievement.
Locale
The educators and the general public believe that students from smaller and rural schools receive an education that is inferior to that of students from larger urban or suburban schools. Until recently, there has been little empirical evidence to challenge this view. Now, however, a growing body of work has begun to examine how well students perform in and after graduation from rural schools. Sundaram (1989) studied urban and rural difference in achievement and achievement related factors such as self-concept, manifest anxiety, study habits, intelligence, adjustment problems and achievement motivation among college students. The results revealed that there was a significant difference between urban and rural students in their self-concept. The rural students had higher self-concept than urban students. But there was no significant difference between urban and rural students with respect to study habits.
Stella and Purushothaman (1993) examined the study habits of underachievers. The mean value showed that urban students had better study habits than rural students. But no significant difference was found between boys and girls. Ayishabi (1991) studied biology achievement of scheduled caste and non-scheduled caste high school pupils. The results showed that backward caste students in biology achievement differed significantly on urban sample as well as rural sample. Keeping in view the importance of study habit, self-concept, socio economic status and academic achievement high school students was taken up with following specific objectives. To analyze the study habits of boys and girls studying in VIII to X classes. To study the self-concept of boys and girls studying in VIII to X classes. To know the influence of study habits, self-concept, socio economic status on academic achievement. To compare the rural and urban students on study habits, self-concept, socio economic status and academic achievement.
Limitations
The study was confined to high school students. Moreover, the study was conducted by considering two rural and two urban schools i.e. Dharwad urban and Somapur, Amminabhavi rural schools of Dharwad district. A wider coverage was not possible due to shortage of time. Though the student investigator has taken a utmost care while collecting data, possibility of some errors creeping in cannot be ruled out.
Scope and importance of study
Study habits, self-concept and socio economic status play a very important role in bringing about the better academic achievement. The study could bring to light the importance of self-concept and study habits which are the major contributors of academic achievement.
2. REVIEW OF LITERATURE
2.1. Academic achievement
Academic achievement has become an index of child’s future in this highly competitive world. Academic achievement has been one of the most important goals of the educational process. It is also a major goal, which every individual is expected to perform in all cultures. Academic achievement is a key mechanism through which adolescents learn about their talents, abilities and competencies which are an important part of developing career aspirations (Lent et al. , 2000) academic achievement and career aspirations in adolescence are often correlated (Abu-Hilal, 2000). Crow and Crow (1969), defined “Academic achievement as the extent to which a learner is profiting from instructions in a given area of learning i.e., achievement is reflected by the extent to which skill or knowledge has been imparted to him”.
2.2. Factors influencing Academic achievement
It has been found that the factors like parent’s education, parental occupation, type of family, family size, ordinal position and even gender and age of the child are found to have their impact on the academic achievement of every pupil. Studies dealing with the effect of family environment on student’s achievement suggest that several characteristics of family life are relevant.
2.2.1. Study habit
The efficient and effective way of learning depends upon the study habits of the students. Study habits are important they influence the academic achievement of students. So parents and teachers must help in improving the study habits of students. Some investigators have sought to determine what study habits are characteristically used by pupils when left to work by themselves with little or no direction. For this purpose used Questionnaires, Schedules, Study habits inventories etc and tried to find out the factors influencing the study habits. Teachers in schools should become facilitators of learning. The finite treasure within every learner should be discovered and nurtured for the purpose of improving learning effective study skills have to be taught. Study skills involve reference, reading listening, study habits and strategies. Learning improves with planning of where, when and how much to study. Positive attitude, proper physical condition and balanced emotional states are important factors influencing study habits (Crow and Crow, 1956). Some of such studies are reviewed in this chapter. 2.2.1.2. Study habit and Academic achievement Christian (1983) studied need achievement and study habits of the pupils of standard 10th in relation to sex, study habits inventory of Patel (1976) and TAT test of Mehta were administered on a sample of 79 girls and 68 boys. The analysis of variance revealed that girls and boys had equally good study habits. The study suggested that study habits are one of the important factors, which is helpful to achieve more in the promising field. Agarwal (1983) made a study on reading ability in relation to certain cognitive and non-cognitive factors. A sample of 200 males and 200 female students of XI grade were randomly selected from high schools in Bihar, India. The subjects completed a battery of reading ability tests, study habits inventory, general intelligence and non-verbal intelligence tests, anxiety, Eysenck personality inventory and youth adjustment inventory. The results indicated that males had a greater predisposition to better study habits, neuroticism, extroversion, favorable parental attitude and a better ideal self than females. However, females showed a higher reading ability and academic achievement than males. There were significant and positive correlations in both males and females between reading ability and their study habits. Singh (1987) investigated into the Study habits of scheduled caste adolescents in relation to their intelligence and achievement motivation. The random sample consisted of 100 boys and 100 girls of 9th standard at high and senior secondary schools of Bilaspur, Kangra and Simla districts of Himachal Pradesh in India. Study habits Inventory and general
mental ability test and TAT were used for the study. General mental ability test above the mean score were considered as high group and below the mean scores as low group. The results reported that the main effect of intelligence (F=9.03***) on study habits was very highly significant. High intelligent group had better study habits than the low intelligent group. Singh (1989-90) made an investigation into the Study habits of scheduled caste adolescents in relation to their sex and achievement motivation. The study was conducted on 150 boys and 150 girls belonging to scheduled caste from 9th classes in Himachal Pradesh, India. The ‘F’ value of 5.16 for the main effect of sex on the study habits was significant at 5 percent level. It indicated that the study habits of boys and girls differed significantly. Boys had significantly better study habits than girls. Mehta et al. (1989-90) studied the psychological correlates of academic achievement at school level. The sample comprised of 300 students of 9th and 10th class. Total marks th th obtained in 8 and 9 annual examination were used as measures of academic achievement. Survey of study habits and attitudes by Brown and Holtzman (Form C., 1964) was used to measure study habits. The study reported a positive and significant correlation between study habits and academic achievement. Ramaswamy (1990) studied the relationship between study habits and academic th achievement in high and low achieving boys and girls of 11 standard in Madurai district, Tamil Nadu, India. The study habit inventory of Patel (1976) was used to measure the study habits. Product moment correlation was used to find out the relationship between study habits and academic achievement. The correlation analysis revealed significant relationship between the study habits and academic achievement variables. Misra (1992) conducted a study on assessing the level of test anxiety, self-concept, adjustment and study habits in predicting academic achievement. The study was conducted th th on a sample of 88 Oriya male students of 9 and 10 class in three schools of Bhubaneshwar and Orissa, India. To determine study habits of subjects Wrenn’s (1941) study habits inventory was used and total marks obtained in annual examination was used to know the relationship between the independent and dependent variables. It revealed significant and positive correlation between study habits and academic achievement. Tymms and Libbon (1992) examined the relationship between time spent on homework and exam grades among approximately 3000 students from schools and colleges in Northeast England. Average time spent was 5 hrs per week. Girls reported spending approximately 30 minutes/week more than boys. The study revealed that students who marked for long hours gained slightly better grades than those who worked for modest periods. Panda (1992) investigated study habits of disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged adolescents in relation to sex and academic achievement. The sample of the study consisted of 50 disadvantaged boys and 50 non-disadvantaged girls of 9th and 10th classes in Orissa, India. The subjects were selected randomly and matched with age, sex, area of living and birth order. Patel’s (1976) study habit Inventory was used in the study. The data was analyzed by applying ANOVA. The ‘F’ value for sex indicated significant difference. From the mean values, it was revealed that boys had significantly better study habits than girls. Mehta and Malhotra (1993) carried out a study to find out the predictors of academic achievement among 300 arts students. Stepwise regression analysis revealed that study habits and study attitudes were the important predictors of academic achievement. Stella and Purushothaman (1993) examined the study habits of underachievers. 90 underachievers from rural and urban schools in Tamil Nadu, India were selected by using randomized block design. Patel’s (1976) Study Habit Inventory was used for the study. The ‘t’ test indicated significant difference between urban and rural students in respect of study habits. The mean value showed that urban students had better study habits than rural students. But no significant difference was found between boys and girls. Stella and Purushothaman (1993) carried out a study on study habits of under achievers. The sample selected through randomized block design consisted of students of Standard IX from there state board schools of Tamil Nadu, India. One rural and two urban areas were selected. IQ score was taken as a blocking variable. There were 30 under
achievers from each IQ category high, average and low. Culture Fair Intelligence test scale-2 form 3 designed by Cattell and Cattell (1961) edition and study habits Inventory by Patel (1976) were used as tools of the study. The ‘t’ test revealed significant difference between study habits of high and low IQ underachievers (t=3.76: P9 big
Table 2. Demographic characteristic of Parents Boys N Father’s education Illiterate Primary High school College Degree Post graduation Illiterate Primary High school College Degree Post graduation Unemployed Labourer Caste occupation Small business Business Professionals House wife Labourer Caste occupation Government job Low Medium High Low Medium High 45 66 35 39 82 58 71 70 56 44 66 18 8 64 12 74 86 81 217 66 2 40 169 86 63 76 23 14 % 13.80 20.30 10.80 12.00 25.20 17.80 21.80 21.50 17.20 13.50 20.30 5.50 2.50 19.70 3.70 22.80 26.50 24.90 66.80 20.30 0.60 12.30 52.00 26.50 19.40 23.40 7.10 4.30 N 41 60 41 30 64 39 67 60 45 33 50 20 1 62 8 88 65 50 161 68 1 45 156 78 36 78 24 12 Girls % 14.90 21.80 14.90 10.90 23.30 14.20 24.40 21.80 16.40 12.00 18.20 7.30 0.40 22.50 2.90 32.00 23.60 18.20 58.50 24.70 0.40 16.40 56.70 28.40 13.10 28.40 8.70 4.40 N 86 126 76 69 146 97 138 130 101 77 116 38 1 126 20 162 151 131 378 134 3 85 325 164 99 154 47 26 Total % 14.30 21.00 12.70 11.50 24.30 16.20 23.00 21.70 16.80 12.80 19.30 6.30 0.20 21.00 3.30 27.00 25.20 21.80 63.00 22.30 0.50 14.20 54.20 27.30 16.50 25.70 7.80 4.30
Characteristics
Category
Mother’s education
Occupation of father
Occupation of mother
Fathers income
Mothers income
It is revealed from table that 2.50 per cent of boys fathers and 0.40 per cent of girls fathers were unemployed, 19.70 per cent of boys fathers and 22.50 per cent of girls fathers were labourers, 3.70 per cent of boys fathers and 2.90 per cent of girls fathers were having caste occupation, 22.80 per cent of boys fathers and 32.00 per cent girls fathers were having small business, 26.50 per cent of boys fathers and 23.60 per cent of girls fathers were running business and 24.90 per cent of boys fathers and 18.20 per cent of girls fathers were professionals. It is showed from the table that 66.80 per cent of boys mothers and 58.50 per cent of girls mothers were housewife, 20.30 per cent of boys mothers and 24.70 per cent of girls mothers were labourers, 0.60 per cent of boys mothers and 0.40 per cent of girls mothers were involved in caste occupation and 12.30 per cent of boys mothers and 16.40 per cent of girls mothers were having government job. It is revealed that 52.00 per cent of boy’s father and 56.70 per cent girl’s father belong to the low income category. Moreover 26.50 per cent of boy’s father and 28.40 per cent of girl’s father had medium income 19.40 per cent of boy’s father and 13.00 per cent of girl’s father had high income. It is seen that 23.40 per cent of boys mothers and 28.40 per cent of girls mothers had low income. About seven per cent of boys mothers and nine per cent of girls mothers had medium income and four per cent of boys mothers income and 4.00 per cent of girls mothers had high income.
4.2. Study habits of boys and girls
4.2.1. Distribution of boys and girls on study habits 4.2.2. Comparison of boys and girls on study habits 4.2.3. Class wise comparison of study habits 4.2.4. Association of study habits of boys and girls with academic achievement 4.2.5. Correlation between study habits and academic achievement
4.2.1. Distribution of boys and girls on study habits
From Table 3 it is revealed that 14.20 per cent of boys and 12.70 per cent of girls had good study habits, where as, 47.10 per cent of boys and 48.70 per cent of girls had average study habits. Further 38.80 per cent of boys and 38.50 per cent of girls had poor study habits. The association between boys and girls on study habits found to be non-significant (χ² = 0.31).
4.2.2. Comparison of boys and girls on study habits
It is observed from Table 4 that the observation of mean scores of boys and girls had almost similar study habits. The perusal of‘t’ scores on dimensions of study habits showed that both groups differed significantly on preparation for examination (t=4.41, p
