A study of the relationships between father's educational level, self-expectaion, and academic performance of junior high school students in Hong Kong

This study was initiated to ascertain the relationships between father’s educational level, self-expectation, and academic achievement of Chinese students in several selected secondary schools in Hong Kong. Participants consisted of 161 secondary students - 81 male and 80 female - from four large government-aided schools in Hong Kong. In the May of 1998, a questionnaire entitled Student Social Survey was constructed in order to obtain the necessary demographic and academic data for the present study. The questionnaire consisted of a total of 14 items about student biographic, family and academic background, including their age, sex, housing condition, parent’s educational level, self-expectation and total number of school subjects failed during the term. The instrument was administered to lower form students in the late spring of the school year in 1998. Descriptive statistics, two-way ANOVA, and multiple comparison with post-hoc procedures, as well as correlation and stepwise multiple regression techniques, were employed to ascertain the influence of independent variables on the criterion measures of self-expectation (DEGEXP) and academic achievement (SUBJFAIL). The major findings of this study indicate that (i) father’s educational level has very little influence on the academic achievement of their children, but its relationship with student self-expectation is seen to be quite evident; (ii) there was no significant difference between students who wished to major in art, science or commerce in terms of their level of degree expectation and academic achievement, nor significant interaction existed between father educational level and students intended major on degree expectation and academic achievement; (iii) academically, males performed better than their female counterparts, while high achievers tended to have greater educational aspiration for future success; (iv) among the three selected predictor variables used for multiple regression, sex and degree expectation, rather than educational level of father, were found to be useful predictors of students’ academic achievement. The study recommends that future replication efforts be made.