Social-background factors affecting the academic success of first year sociology students at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa

The objective of the research was to explore the role of social-economic factors in the academic achievement of first year students at a South African University. A survey was conducted with a sample size of 210 students. The influence of the following variables were examined with inferential statistics: having English as a home language; being a first-generation student; quality of high school attended; size of physical living/study space of a student and household structure. Chi-square tests showed that in this sample home language, type of high school and living/study space impacted on students' performance