This study was aimed at investigating the extent of relationship that exists between birth order, family size, parental involvement and academic underachievement among some secondary school adolescents. The study was carried out in Rivers State secondary schools. Purposive sampling techniques were used to draw a sample of 240 students identified as underachievers. Bakare’s (1977) progressive matrices adopted from Uwazurike (2008) was used to identify students with high mental ability while Basic Education Certificate Examination results of 2016 which is a cumulative record of examination and continuous assessment scores of the students’ three years in school, was used as a measure of students’ academic ability. Based on the attained mental ability performance and academic achievement of the students, the academic underachievers were identified. The various independent variables of the study were measured with a questionnaire whose reliabilities were statistically determined with Cronbach Alpha and reliability coefficients ranging from 0.51 to 0.74. Mean, standard deviation, independent t-test, and one-way analysis of variance were used for data analysis at 0.05 level of significance. Results showed that; there was a very low relationship between birth order, family size, parental involvement and academic underachievement which showed no statistical significance. Based on the findings, four relevant recommendations were made.
Keywords: Birth Order, Family Size, Parental Involvement, Students, Underachievement
