Family size refers to the number of children in the reference family. The larger the family the less the attention and devotion of each child by the parents and the more the difficulties encountered by the parents in meeting the needs of the children both physically and emotionally, particularly in this austerity period when the prices of food and commodities are sky-rocketed.
According to European Journal of Social Science, Volume 13 (2010), the position a child occupies in a family equally plays a significant role in his development and academic achievement. Generally, the first child enjoys most particularly among the middle class and the rich. The parents are excited and determined to give him/her all he/she needs. They are generally over-protected and have tendency to become spoilt due to the types of family they come from. Due to some of the facts stated above, some of them are undetermined and achieve low academic excellence. In few cases, particularly among the poor, they labour seriously to achieve academic excellence and hence pave way for those behind them.
Research works have shown that nature of parental discipline affect academic output of children (Aremu, 2000). Parents in their bid to discipline their children have been found to be authoritative, democratic or permissive. Children whose parents are authoritative more often than not live in constant fear of such parents and may most likely transfer such a fear to significant others in the school environment. Such children have low self-worth, insecurity and may find it difficult to consult with teachers. Oluwole and Oluwole (2000) found that the degree of self-efficiency and anxiety manifested by learners determine their academic performance. On the other hand, children from permissive homes are too complacent, unmotivated, and lack personal will to succeed. The democratic style of parenting has been found to be very helpful to teaching – learning situation. Here children receive punishment that is commensurate with the offence committed. Such children are strong, willed and ready for success in their academic performance.
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