Family Communication Orientation, Psychosocial Adjustment and the Disparity in Science Performance among Urban-Rural Secondary School Cohorts in Owerri Education Zone, Nigeria

Background: In studying the disparity in academic performance between urban and rural student cohorts, especially in science, more attention has always been given to achievement scores, the outcome has always remained the same: On the average, urban students always achieve higher than rural students. Access to technology and infrastructure has always been blamed. These days of widespread of modern technology without respect for boundaries and also given infrastructural interventions in schools by governments and other agencies like Niger Delta Development Commission, in Nigeria, and so on, an alternative explanation for the persistent observation has to be sought. This study was therefore, carried out to compare psychosocial adjustment levels of secondary school adolescents from conformity and conversation orientations in communication styles: Place of domicile, that is rural or urban, was a co-variate. The aim was to seek alternative explanation to the disparity in science performance in urban-rural student cohorts. The study was carried out in Owerri Education Zone, Imo state, Nigeria. Materials and Methods: The population of the study comprised of 10,180 senior secondary school adolescents. A sample of 480, selected from 16 out of 70 public secondary schools in the area was used. An adapted psychosocial adjustment questionnaire (PAQ) and family communication pattern questionnaire (FCPQ) were used to collect data. Psychosocial adjustment mean scores were used to answer the research questions and t-test was used to test the null hypotheses. Results: The results revealed that abundance of secondary school adolescents from families of conformity orientation was higher in urban areas while that of conversation orientation was higher in rural areas. The difference mean difference was, however not significant. The results also revealed that secondary school adolescents from families of conversation orientation scored significantly higher mean levels of psychosocial adjustment irrespective of place of domicile, rural or urban. Conformity family communication orientation seems to support the way the teaching and learning of science in secondary schools is carried out: Strict obedience to laid down rules and regulations. Students with higher psychosocial adjustment levels who are from families where members are not regulated to conform, seem to perform comparatively poorer in science. A major recommendation is the call for secondary school science curriculum overhaul to favour creativity and problem solving as well as counseling for parents and teachers to create home and school environments that encourages open conversations.