PREDICTIVE EFFECT OF COMBINED PARENTAL EMOTIONAL SUPPORT STRATEGIES ON THE PERFORMANCE OF PRIMARY SCHOOL LEARNERS IN OYO EAST LOCAL GOVERNMENT

This study investigated the influence of parental emotional support on the academic performance of primary school pupils in Oyo East Local Government Area. The research employed a quantitative survey design, guided by five research questions. Findings from descriptive analysis revealed that pupils most frequently received encouragement and praise (62.2%), followed by reading together and discussion (45.9%), and responding positively to mistakes (45.9%). However, engaging in conversation (5.4%) and access to a quiet and comfortable study space (10.8%) were notably lacking. Regression analysis showed that among individual predictors, only reading together and discussion significantly contributed to pupils’ performance (β = 0.53, p< 0.05). Collectively, parental emotional supports explained 30.2% of the variance in pupils' performance (R² = 0.302), with the regression model reaching statistical significance (F(5,31) = 2.68, p = 0.040). Furthermore, analysis of combined parental emotional support strategies revealed that the combination of reading together and discussion with encouragement and praise significantly predicted academic performance (β = 0.402, p = 0.025), accounting for 24.4% of the variance (R² = 0.244; F(3,33) = 3.55, p = 0.025). The study concludes that consistent parental involvement and particularly through reading together and offering praise usually plays a vital role in enhancing pupil performance. Recommendations are made for targeted parental guidance and school-based sensitization programs to foster emotionally supportive learning environments.