Relationship between the Socio-economic Level of ‎Parents and the Academic and Self-concept of ‎Children: Methology of Structural Equation ‎Modeling

Abstract

The present study aims to investigate the structural relationships between the socio-economic level of parents and the academic achievement and self-concept of children. The study population consisted of 5230 first-grade secondary students enrolled in public schools in the Mount Lebanon region. The sample consisted of 489 students selected conveniently from cooperating schools. The PASCI Student Self-concept Inventory was used in addition to measures of the educational level of the father and mother, monthly household income and term averages for foreign language and mathematics, in order to measure the study variables.The results of structural-equation modeling analysis showed that the socio-economic status had direct effects on academic self-concept and achievement in foreign language. In turn, academic self-concept was significantly related to achievement in mathematics and foreign language and partially mediated the relationship between socio-economic status and achievement in foreign language. Further, academic self-concept played a stronger role than non-academic self-concept in the direct and mediated effects of socio-economic level on educational achievement