Relationship between mental health academic achievement and educational aspiration of high school children from single parent families

Family structure has a greater influence on children psychological as well as academic success and aspiration. Children from single parent families face many problems pertaining to mental health, academic success and educational aspiration. This study examines the relationship between mental health, academic achievement and educational aspiration of high school children from single parent families which was conducted during 2019-2020. A total of 240 children (120 from urban area and 120 from rural area) of 13-16yrs were selected from Dharwad taluk. Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire scale was used to assess the level of mental health of children. Children previous year annual examination grades were recorded to know the academic achievement of children. Mazumdar Eucational Aspiration Inventory scale was used to know the level of educational aspiration of children. The outcomes of the study highlighted that, mental health was significantly associated with locality of children where, urban children have more mental health problems as compared to their counterparts in rural area. Academic achievement and educational aspirations were significantly associated with locality of children. Children from rural area had poor academic achievement and low educational aspiration than urban children. It was interesting to note that mental health was not correlated significantly with academic achievement of children in both the regions. However, mental health was negatively and significantly correlated with academic achievement of children in rural area. Which indicates that as mental health problems increases educational aspiration among children decreases. Further the study indicated that academic achievement was not significantly correlated with educational aspiration of children in urban and rural areas. It was noted that there is a need for intervention programmes to improve the mental health, academic success and educational aspiration among children from single parent families.