CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Man’s individuality embodies numerous traits and self-concept holds the predominant of these traits according to Rogers. It helps the person understand personality and social development, for it is through the developing self-concept that man form increasingly stable picture of their selves, partly, reflected by others in their surroundings (Craig; 1996, p. 367). As the person interacts with his environment, such as peer groups, school, community and most especially the family, these concepts are constructed.
Many develop mentalists believe that infants are born without a sense of self (Shaffer, 1989), therefore, we can say that we develop our self-image as we continuously grow. Families are believed to be the first, the closest, and most influential social group in the child’s life. They provide children with the definition of right and wrong, the patterns of behaviors, the expectations and the evaluations of actions on which children base their own ideas (Craig, 1996). It is in the family where a child spends a great portion of his life mainly during the formative years. It is from the family that he receives his earliest training in proper behavior. Thus, it is the family which plays the major role in the development of his self-image (Medina, 1991).
As a child grow, he begins to realize who he really is and what he is and at the same time aware of his capability. The person’s general view of self is made up of other, more specific concepts, including the nonacademic’s sell-concept, self-concept in English, and self-concept in mathematics. This self-concept evolves through constant self-evaluation indifferent situation (Shavelson & Bolus, 1992). Children and adolescents are continually comparing their performance with their own standards and with the performance of peer and also gauge the verbal and nonverbal reactions of significant people. Moreover, a harmonious home environment can create confidence in ones own perspective of himself because it provides not only a place of residence but also an identity of mutual security and support (Sevilla, 1989). However, through the changing nature of the family structure, there are broken families and marital dissolution.
Single parent families, usually are fatherless, continuously growing up which affect both their children’s psychological health and intellectual development. Children commonly experience anger, fears, and phobias, loneliness, conflicts and shaken sense of identity (Henslin, 1992). With these, questions were raised whether the development of a fatherless child would affect their school performance. Whether self-concept can be associated with their academic achievement. For this reason, the researcher aims to find out whether there is a relationship between the Self-concept and English with Reading and Language and Math Achievement of a Father-absent children in middle childhood of two exclusive schools for boys. Statement of the Problem This study aims to know and correlate the Self-concept with the Math and English Achievement of Father-Absent Children in Middle Childhood of Two Exclusive Schools for Boys, namely: Ateneo Grade School and La Salle Greenhills.
Specifically, the researcher seeks to identify the following; 1. What is the Self-concept of Father -Absent Children in middle childhood of two exclusive schools for boys? 2. What is the English Achievement of Father-Absent Children in middle childhood of two exclusive schools for boys? 3. What is the Math Achievement of Father-Absent Children in middle childhood of two exclusive schools for boys? 4. Is there a significant relationship between the Self-concept and the Math and English Achievement of Father-Absent Children in middle childhood of two exclusive schools for boys? Hypothesis The researcher advances the alternative hypothesis that there is significant relationship between the self-concept and the Math and English Achievement of Father-Absent Children in middle childhood of two exclusive schools for boys, namely: Ateneo Grade School and La Salle Greenhills. Significance of the Study Children cannot escape the positive or negative implication of the twist and turns of family.
They greatly affected by these changes they undergo. It may or may not be detrimental to them but the primary concerns here is how they would become in the future. For this reason, the researcher was motivated to give rise to this kind of study that would enable parents to understand the effect of family environment to their children. They may learn to give importance in raising their child well to make them a better person in the future. Teachers will benefit from this study especially those who teach in exclusive schools for boys because in one way or another they can foresee the effect of father-absence to students performance in class and how the development of the self-concept affect their academic achievement. The date gathered from this study may greatly facilitate the guidance counselors job in determining whether the development of the self-concept of a child is a big factor in measuring the performance of students in class.
In effect, they could develop a program on self-awareness to sustain the positive self-concept. Finally, the subjects per se would identify their self-concept as well as their level of achievement and would help them strive harder for better improvement. Theoretical Conceptual Framework Freud describes middle childhood as a period he called latency. He believed that, for most children, the period from age 7 to 12 was a time during which family jealousy and turmoil was less important or latent. Consequently, most children could turn their emotional energies toward peer relationships, creative efforts, and learning the culturally prescribed tasks in the school or community. Erickson, expanding on Freud’s idea, believed that the central focus of middle childhood was the psycho-social conflict or industry versus inferiority.
Erickson states that during this stage, much of the child’s time and energy is directed toward acquiring new knowledge and skills. They are better able to channel their energies into learning, problem solving, and achievement. When children are able to achieve success, they integrate a sense of industry into their self-image. They realize that hard work produces desire outcomes and continue to try to master their environment. (Craig; 1996, p.
365) Research Paradigm The independent variable is the Self-Concept of Father-Absent Children in Middle childhood of two exclusive schools for boys, namely: Ateneo Grade School and La Salle, Greenhills and the dependent variables are the English with Language and Reading and Math Achievements. Scope and Limitation This is a correlational study that aims to find out the relationship of the Self-Concept and the English with Reading and Language and Math Achievement of Father-Absent Children in middle childhood of two exclusive schools for boys, namely: Ateneo Grade School and La Salle Greenhills. The researcher will limit the study to all elementary students with father absence at Ateneo Grade School and La Salle Greenhills, in middle childhood whose age range from 7 to 12 years old. They should have at least an average Intelligence Quotient based on their school profile and generally came from the middle class family.
The subjects will be selected from the mentioned school for boys and are enrolled for the school year 2004-2005. The researcher will use of a self-constructed questionnaire to identify children whose father is absent. To measure their Self-Concept, the Pasao Self-concept Scale will be given. The data for their Math and English Achievement will be based on their first grading grades that will be requested from the school. The result of the study are only applicable to the said subjects. Definition of Terms: 1.
Self-concept – It refers to our conscious or unconscious perceptions and feeling about self with regards to our worth as a person (Tan, 1991) – Operationally, it is the self as perceived by the individual. It is also refers to the scores on the self-concept dimensions of the Pasao Self-concept Scale. 2. Middle Childhood – It refers to a period of latency as described by Freud, a time during which family turmoil were less important or latent (Craig, 1996) – In this study, it refers to the age range of subjects, form 7 to 12 years old. 3. Father-Absence – It refers to the father being absent in one set of the families (Santrock, 1993).
– Operationally, it refers to the absence of the father from home due to marital dissolution. 4. Math Achievement – It refers to the specified level on the mathematical ability in scholastic or academic work as evaluated by teachers, by standard list or by both (Woolfolk, 1995) – In this study, it refers to the math grade given by teachers during the first grading period. 5.
English Achievement – IT refers to the specified level on the verbal ability in scholastic and academic work as evaluated by teacher, by standard list of by both (Woolfolk, 1995). – In this study, it refers to the language and reading grade given by teachers during the first grading period. 6. Marital Dissolution – It refers to a special form of dissolution, may take the form of suicide, murder of spouse, annulment, separation (ranging from psychological withdrawal to legal separation) and finally, divorce (Sills).
– In this study, it refers to the disruption of family structure because of the separation of the parents during their children’s formative years. CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES The related literatures and studies relevant with this study which have been gathered by the researcher are presented in this chapter. Conceptual Literature The parent is the very first significant person in the life of the child. They are the firs to give the child love, warmth and affection. They are the first to whom the child turns for guidance and support. They are the first with whom the child has close emotional attachment and feeling of belonging (Medina, 1991).
Of all the socializing institutions, the family is the most influential, shaping personality, character, and human potential for intelligent thought and self-fulfillment. It provides not only a place of residence, but also, identity, security and assurance of mutual support. (Sevilla, 1989). As children grow older, they form more accurate and complex picture of the physical, intellectual and personality character of themselves.
They attribute increasingly specific characteristics of themselves, leading to a more accurate and complex pictures of themselves and others. This refinement of self-image occurs on two-globally and specifically – in the physical, social and academic domains. (Marsh, Craven & Debus, 1991). The breakup of the family affects the children on a number of ways. We have seen that both parents have strong effects on the development of their children; yet a parental conflict is primary responsible for children’s lowered sense of well-being.
When parents fight, children develop fears and anger. They are especially vulnerable when they are forced to choose between one parent and the other. (Amato, 1993). Moreover, many children coming form disruptive family experienced a sense of shaken world in which the usual indicators had changed place of disappeared. For several children, these changed markers were particularly related to their sense of who they were and who they would become in the future.
(Henslin, 1992). The first two years after the divorce seem to be the most difficult period for both boys and girls. During this time children may have problems in school, lose or gain an unusual amount of weight, develop difficulties sleeping and so on. They blame themselves for the breakup of their family of hold unrealistic hopes for a reconciliation (Hetherington, 1989). On the other hand, not all children of divorce exhibit problems. The situation in which divorced youngster were doing fine had one characteristic in common: there was a third party.
Somebody acted as the third leg ofthe stool, giving it stability. It could be a friend, a coworker, more often a relative. But the most effective, most powerful stabilizing third party was the father, the ex husband. If he still hang in there, not just in relation to his children but in relation to that family.
If her was there to spell the mother, if in an emergency she could call his number, if he dropped by to ask, “Are things OK?” , then nothing terrible happened so far as the children were concerned (Bronfenbrenner, 1992) Much research seems to imply that when a father is missing, only that variable alone is affecting the child’s development. Yet, a family climate and clusters of family attributes concomitant with father-absence may be far more important for a child’s development that the actual number of parents present in the home. (Honig, 1990). In effect, following the tradition of humanism, the role of the self and self-concept serves central to understanding the child’s development, learning the most important facts about the child existence, his or her uniqueness as a person and creative potentials (Santrock, 1993). The developing self-concept of the child is influenced by parents and other family members in the early years and by friends, schoolmates, and teachers as the child grows. Before about age of 7, children tend to see themselves in global terms.
If they have a positive self-concept, they assume that they are good in all areas of performance (Harter, 1990). Children’s emerging self-concept, in turn, provides a “filter” through which children evaluate their own social behavior and that of others (Harter, 1992). They compare their performance with their own standards and with the performance of peers. They also gauge the verbal and nonverbal reactions of significant people, parents, best friends, leaders and teachers.
The context of school makes a difference too. Students who are strong in math in an average school feel better about their math skills that students of equal ability in high-achieving schools. Marsh (1990) calls this the “Big Fish-Little Pond Effect.” The way individuals explain their successes or failures also is important. We must attribute our successes to our own actions, not to luck or to special assistance, in order to build positive self-concept. As children mature, their views of themselves become more; that is, multiple concepts of the self come into play. Separate concepts of self as student (academic self-concepts) and self-beyond school (nonacademic self-concepts) emerge (Byrne & Shavelson, 1986; Marsh 190; Shavelson, Huber, & Stanton, 1976).
The person’s general view of self is made up of other, more specific concepts, including the nonacademic self-concepts, self-concepts in English, and self-concept in Mathematics. These self-concepts at the second level are themselves made up of more specific, separate conceptions of the self, such as conceptions about physical ability, appearance, relations with peers, and relations with family (primarily parents), based on many experiences and events (Woolfolk, 1995). Related Studies The following run down of investigations were made to support my study. According to the study of Mavis Hetherington (1978) of University of Virginia, children living in mother headed single-parent homes appear at higher risk for disruption in cognitive emotional, and social development that do children in nuclear families. Children of divorce have difficulty in school, in part because they don’t pay attention. Their minds are elsewhere (Bronfenbrenner, 1992).
In addition, high levels of family conflicts are related to negative self-concept, greater anxiety, and less inner control in the adolescent, regardless of whether family dissolution has occurred (Slater & Haber, 1989) Moreover, in another study, there was a significant positive relationship between father’s warmth and and amount of interaction of child. Epstein and Rade n (1985) observed social differences related to cognitive achievement among male children. Among middle class boys, there was a positive relationship between paternal and child’s Binet I. Q.
More often than not, paternal has been found to be positively related to high child achievement. The child’s adjustment may also depend on his developmental level at the time of the parental dissolution as well as gender. Based on Katler’s (1990) study recently, the consensus was that divorced had a more detrimental effect on boys that on girls. In part, this was due to the belief that the presence of fathers is more importance for the development of boys that for that of girls, the girls receive greater support form custodial mothers, and that girls may have a higher tolerance for stress that do boys (Kalter, 1989).
It only proved Parson’s hypothesis that father comes to be seen by the child as representative of the outside world. The father is the significant major parent to make a strong demands that expand a child’s horizon for achievement. (Honig, 1990). Therefore, these confirm another finding that most sons of divorced parents perform less scholastically that their peers form intact families. (Kalter, 1990) One national study of 699 elementary school children carefully compared children of broken families from intact families. If found that elementary-age boys from divorced families show marked discrepancies in peer relationships, school achievement and social adjustment (Wallerstein, 1989).
In which case, supported by the study of Aldan a (1993) that children from well-knit families have more positive self-concept that children from broken families. However, several studies will show no indication of negative consequences of parental separation. Rivera (1996) studied 64 selected female students to determine the significant difference between the academic achievement of students belonging to broken families and solid families. Rivera found our that family status does not necessarily affect the achievement level of female adolescent. Thus, adjustment of teenagers may not be as related to a marital dysfunction itself as it is to the conflict level in their family. In fact, most studies have concluded that family structure is also unrelated to self-concept in that children from divorced families suffer no loss is self-esteem their family situation is socially stigmatized (Clark & Barber, 1994) In a review of 92 studies of children, Amato Keith (1991), likewise, found out that parental divorce does not adversely affect children in areas of academic achievement, self-concept, and social relations.
Wallerstein (1989) study revealed that children tend to do well if their mother, and father, whether or not they remarried, resumed their parenting roles, manage to put their difference aside, and allowed the children a continuing relationship with both parents. Furthermore, there are few studies which revealed that children whose parents decide to stay together despite the high levels of marital disharmony show even more deleterious effect that do youngster from father-absent homes. Again, , it is the boys who are most affected. Hetherington (1988) sums it up.
“These development disruption do not seem attributable mainly to father-absence but rather to the stresses and the lack of support systems that result in changed family functioning for the single-mother and her children. Thus, the correlation between self-concept and academic self-confidence, however, is far form perfect. Many children who do not do well in school nonetheless manage to develop positive self-concept. Depending on how their parents treat them and what their friends think of them. Children who do not do good in one thing can find something else in which to excel. Additionally, if they come from a culture in which school is not important, then self-concept may not be related at all to their academic achievement (Spencer, 1988).
On the other hand, in another studies according to Band ura (1969), it indicated a positive correlation between the youth’s concept of himself and different measure of achievement and school performance. These studied seem to show that a student who thinks well of himself excels in school. There is evidence that children have positive self-concept because he does well in school is the nature of the relationship. A teacher or a counselor will apparently be more successful in changing a students behavior and thereby improving the students self-image than in changing the self-image and as a result, improving achievement. (Elliot, 1996). In summary, conceptual literature and related studies have revealed that knowing that the two variable, which is Self-concept and Math and English achievement, are related does not tell us that one is causing the other.
There are many factors that may influence one’s self-concept and academic achievement. And it is through the continuous development of the child that it was enhanced. Both may be correlated but probably works also both ways. CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY This chapter presents the subject, instruments, data gathering procedure and statistical treatment used in the particular research study. Subjects All elementary students with father-absence at Ateneo Grade School and La Salle Greenhills, ages 7-12 years old will be asked to serve as subjects for this study. These will comprise 100% of the target population of father-absence from grade four to grade six.
All of them should have at least an average level of intelligence based on their school profile and belong to middle class family. IntrumentsA self-constructed questionnaire will be used in this study to determine those children whose parents are not living together and in which case, the father is absent from home. Likewise, the Pasao Self-Concept Scale was used to determine the level of self-concept of the respondents. It was pioneered by Dr.
Myrna Pasao and consists of twenty items that pointed our the traits and characteristics of the respondents with regards to their self-concept. The test will measure whether the self-concept of the respondents is positive or negative. Positive self-concept will implicate that the person sees himself to have worth and feels good about himself. While, negative self-concept would mean that the person sees himself with little or no worth at all and feels unhappy about his self. Data Gathering Procedures A survey will be conducted from both exclusive schools for boys. From a number of respondents, all father absent students will be chosen as subjects.
The tests will be administered at their available time… The consolidated first grading records will be used to determine the Math and English with Language and Reading Achievement of the subjects. Even though the tests are self-administering, since the subjects are young, the researcher will inform them that there are no right or wrong answers, no time limit and they are free to ask questions. Furthermore, the researcher will assure the subjects that the test results will be treated with utmost confidentiality. Scoring Procedure The instruction of the scoring will be taken form the manual fo the test instruments. Corresponding points are provided for each answer.
Then the number points are counted. Scoring will follow a given equivalent and through the local norms of the test, the level of self-concept of the subjects will be identified. REFERENCES: Craig, Grace. Human Development, 7 th edition. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Inc. 1996 Davidson, Kenneth J.
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