Comparing the Academic Performance of Adolescents in Monogamous and Polygamous Families based on Mental health and Attribution Style of Mothers

Mothers in the family can influence the academic performance of adolescents with their psychological characteristics. The purpose of this research was to compare the academic performance of adolescents in monogamous and polygamous families based on mental health and the attribution Style of mothers.

The research method was causal-comparative. The statistical population of the research consists of adolescents aged 14 to 18 and mothers of monogamous and polygamous families in Saravan city. 240 people, including 120 adolescents from polygamous and monogamous families and 120 mothers from polygamous and monogamous families, were selected by available and targeted sampling method.
Goldberg and Hillier (1979) general health questionnaire and Peterson and Seligman (1982) attribution style were used to collect data. The obtained data have been analyzed using independent groups t-test and multivariate analysis of variance with SPSS software. 

The results of the research showed that the academic performance of adolescents in monogamous families is better than the academic performance of adolescents in polygamous families (P=0/002, T=3/194).  Also, the results showed that the academic performance of adolescents in monogamous families whose mothers have no mental symptoms and moderate mental symptoms is better than their peers in polygamous families (P=0/031, T=2/21). Another finding of the research showed that the academic performance of adolescents in monogamous families is better than the academic performance of adolescents in polygamous families based on the optimistic attribution style of mothers (P=0/002, T=3/18).

According to the results of the research, it is suggested to pay attention to mental health and familiarization of mothers with attribution Style to improve the academic performance of children in polygamous families.