Family dynamics and school achievement in Cyprus

The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which family cohesion, a functional characteristic of family life, is related to school achievement. It is already established in the international literature that such a relationship does exist between school achievement and a number of structural characteristics of the family, particularly socioeconomic status (SES). Demographic data were collected from all the ninth grade students of two Greek Cypriot high schools, one serving a suburban and the other serving a rural population. The students (N = 391) completed a self report questionnaire that was designed to measure the degree of their family cohesion or the emotional togetherness that they felt existing among the members of their family. It was found that the degree of family cohesion was as able to discriminate them in terms of school achievement as their family's SES. Both variables produced statistically significant differences, in contrast to gender and place of residence (urban vs rural). The results are discussed in relation to the Greek Cypriot family context.