Direct and Indirect Determinants of Senior Secondary School Students’ Achievement in Economics in the Enugu Education Zone Using Path Analysis

Abstract

This study examined the direct and indirect determinants of senior secondary school students’
achievement in Economics in the Enugu Education Zone, Nigeria. Specifically, it investigated the
roles of socioeconomic status, instructional quality, access to learning resources, and student
motivation using a path analysis framework. A descriptive correlational research design was
adopted, and a multi-stage sampling technique was used to select 280 Senior Secondary School
Two (SS2) Economics students from public and private schools across Enugu North, Enugu East,
and Isi Uzo Local Government Areas. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire and a
curriculum-aligned Economics Achievement Test (EAT), both of which were validated for content
and reliability. Path analysis was conducted within the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM)
framework using the lavaan package in R to examine the direct and indirect effects of the predictor
variables on students’ achievement in Economics. The findings revealed that socioeconomic
status, instructional quality, access to learning resources, and student motivation did not have
statistically significant direct effects on students’ achievement in Economics. Similarly, the
indirect effects of socioeconomic status and instructional quality on achievement through student
motivation and access to learning resources were not statistically significant. Although
socioeconomic status and instructional quality significantly predicted student motivation and
access to learning resources, these relationships did not translate into significant effects on
students’ achievement. The study concluded that the proposed mediation model was not supported
and suggests that other factors beyond those examined may play a more substantial role in
explaining students’ achievement in Economics. It was recommended that educators and
policymakers adopt broader intervention strategies that consider additional learner, instructional,
and school-related factors to improve students’ academic performance in Economics.
Keywords: Economics achievement, path analysis, socioeconomic status, instructional quality,
learning resources, student motivation, senior secondary school students