The intention of this study was to investigate the extent to which family structure, specifically; single parent families and two parent families affect the academic performance of secondary school students. Two hundred and twenty students of the public secondary schools in Yewa Local Government Area of Ogun State, Nigeria were involved in the study. The Multidimensional Life Satisfaction Scale (MSLSS), which was designed by Suldo and Huebner (2006), was used to gather information from the students and it was conducted in a classroom environment during school period. After collecting information from the students, their scores in Mathematics and English Language (which are compulsory subjects in all secondary schools) of the second term of 2014/2015 academic session were obtained from their class teachers with the permission of the principals of the schools. The scores were then converted to Z-scores in order to ensure their reliability and validity since they were collected from different schools. Results show a significant difference in the academic performance of students from single parent families and those from two parent families. In other words, the academic performance of children from two parent families is better than those from single parent families. The implications of the findings were that parental separation should be avoided and religious leaders, counsellors as well as government must engage in enlightening parents about the importance of family structure on the life of children and in ensuring a well-ordered society.
Keywords: Family Structure, Secondary Schools, and Academic Performance
