Abstract:
The aim of this dissertation is to identify the effect that maternal employment and
maternal home-stay have on children’s academic performance in selected schools of
Male’. Social cognitive theory has been used to conduct the research which explains how
mothers obtain and uphold certain behavioral patterns through behavioral, personal and
environmental factors. This correlation study has used case-control approach to examine
the student’s academic performance as there were two survey groups with varied
outcomes that would be compared to one another. A sample size of 112 children has been
taken to this study from 5th graders of the 4 selected schools in Male’. Structured
questionnaire was used to collect data and the response rate of the survey was 98.21%.
Findings of the study show that there is significant relationship between maternal
working status and children’s academic performance with p-value significant at 0.01. The
dissertation then identifies the other maternal factors such as mother’s education level
and time spend with children have influence on the children’s educational performance
with p-value significant at 0.01. In a detailed discussion section the dissertation delivers
mothers with useful practical tips to improve their children’s academic performance and
have provided other non-maternal factors need to be studied and address in order to
improve children’s academic performance. In conclusion, the findings witness that there
is a relationship between maternal working status and children’s academic performance
since children of working mothers perform academically better than the children of non-
working mothers.