Parents’ academic expectations and psychological distress among adolescents in private secondary schools in Nairobi County, Kenya

The increase in levels of psychological distress among adolescents in secondary school in Nairobi county Kenya is alarming which created the need for this study to assess the relationship between parental academic expectations and psychological distress among adolescents in this County. Addressed objective was; to establish if parents’ academic expectations contribute to psychological distress among adolescents in private secondary school. A descriptive survey design was employed. A sample of 380 students from 28 private secondary schools was used who were sampled through simple random sampling technique. Data was collected through questionnaires from the students. This quantitative data was analyzed through descriptive (means) and inferential analysis specifically chi-square and Pearson product moment correlation using SPSS version 22 and presented using tables. The findings of the study showed that adolescents in private secondary in Nairobi County Kenya experienced academic expectations from parents. The parents’ academic expectations was not significantly influenced by age, gender and parents’ educational level. In relation to psychological distress, parents’ academic expectations had a weak positive relationship with anxiety, stress and depression symptoms. In the academic fields, outcomes of this study contributes by informing all stakeholders especially, students, parents, academic staffs and government of how parental academic expectations influence psychological distress among school going adolescents hence encouraging them to collectively come up with measures to remedy the negative effects of parental academic expectations on students’ psychological distress using these outcomes.