BALANCING ACT: ADVERSITY QUOTIENT, EMOTIONAL QUOTIENT AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF STUDENT – PARENTS IN A PRIVATE UNIVERSITY IN IBADAN, NIGERIA

Abstract

Student-parents in universities comprise a significant proportion of the population, yet they appear to be an “invisible” cohort. Navigating home and studies may present challenges in studies and result in negative academic outcomes. Consequently, student-parents are at risk of graduating on time or finishing their programmes of study. This research addressed emotional quotient and adversity quotient as factors that may influence perseverance in studies among such students. Adopting a cross-sectional design, data was collected from 106 student - parents in a private tertiary institution in Nigeria using a structured questionnaire. Participant’s ages ranged from 20 - 54 years with an average age of 33.04 (SD = 8.47).  Findings revealed the independent influence of emotional quotient on academic performance (t (104) =-2.56, p<.05). Adversity quotient also significantly influenced academic performance (r[106]= .219; p<05), especially the Reach and Endurance dimensions (t(104) =-3.84, p<.05); (t(104) =.72, p<.05).  Findings further revealed a significant interaction influence of emotional quotient and adversity quotient on academic performance (F [1, 106] =1.36; p<.05). It is recommended that college administrators and faculty raise emotional and adversity quotients in students through awareness creation.

Keywords: Student-parents, Academic performance, Emotional quotient, Adversity quotient