ABSTRACT
The study examined the influence of parents on children’s
emotional adjustment in selected secondary schools in Lagos State.
The descriptive survey research design was used in this study in order to
assess the opinions of the respondents using the questionnaire. A total of
three hundred and twenty (320) samples were used in this study to represent the
entire population of the respondents. Five (5) null hypotheses were tested in
this study using t-test statistical tool at 0.05 level of significance. The
following results were obtained:
1. The role of parents affect their
children’s emotional adjustment in school.
2. Difference exists between intact/single
parents and their influence on emotional adjustment of students.
3. There is a significant gender difference
in emotional adjustment of students due to parental discipline.
4. There is a significant difference between
the emotional adjustment of students who are brought up by parental discipline
and those who were not.
5. There is a significant difference between
the social adjustment of students who are brought up by parental discipline and
those without parental discipline.
At the end of the study, it is
recommended that parents should rear up their children with good discipline and
not leave them to behave as they like. Parents should not spare the rod, in
order not to spoil the child. Rather, children should be taught the proper way
they should behave and then, it will be difficult for them to depart from those
expected values and norms they were taught by their own parents.
TABLE
OF CONTENTS
Title Page i
Certification ii
Dedication iii
Acknowledgements iv
Table of Content v
Abstract vii
CHAPTER
ONE: INTRODUCTION 1
Background to the Study 1
Statement of the Problem 4
Purpose of the Study 5
Research Questions 5
Hypotheses 6
Significance of the Study 7
Theoretical Framework 7
Scope of the Study 9
Definition of Terms 9
CHAPTER
TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW 11
Parental Conflict and Emotional
Adjustment of Children 11
Parental Discipline and Emotional
Adjustment of Children 16
Home Factor and Social Adjustment of
Children 19
Parental
Socio-Economic Status and Emotional Adjustment of Children 21
The Impact of Family Size on
Emotional Adjustment of Children 24
Parental Discipline and Behavioural
Problems of Children 28
Impact of Parental
Disciplinary Methods on the Child’s Emotional Adjustment 32
Summary of Review 35
CHAPTER
THREE: METHODOLOGY 36
Design 36
Population of the Study 36
Sample and Sampling Techniques 36
Instrument 37
Validity of the Instrument 38
Reliability of the Instrument 38
Administration of the Instrument 38
Data Analysis 39
CHAPTER
FOUR: RESULTS 40
Hypotheses Testing 40
Summary of Findings 45
CHAPTER
FIVE: SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND
RECOMMENDATIONS 46
Summary of the Study 46
Conclusions 47
Recommendations 48
References 51
Appendix 59
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background
to the Study
Discipline has been
defined as a set of rules and regulations, rewards and punishment administered
in order to teach self-control, increase desirable behaviour and decrease
undesirable behaviour (Okoli, 1996). As Brown (2000) puts it, to discipline
someone means to make that individual or individuals to follow a laid down code
of conduct. In discipline, the ultimate goal is to foster sound judgment,
positive moral development and positive social and emotional adjustment.
According to the
Bible, God gave Adam and Eve an instruction not to eat of the fruit in the
Garden of Eden, but when they disobeyed, they were promptly punished by God
which resulted in sending them out of the Garden. Also, the Bible states that,
when you spare the rod, and you spoil the child. In the same vein, Proverb 13:24 states that “He that spareth
his nod hateth his son, but he that loveth him, chasteneth him”. Hence, the
influence of parents on the child can be the most important influence given to
the child in his/her life because parents are accountable to God on how they
influence their children’s’ lives.
Parental discipline
has been in existence since the inception of man. The provision of positive
influence by parents gives the child security and emotional adjustment, which
assists the child to grow up as a decent member of the society (Amos, 2003).
The quality of time parents spend with their children is the most important
aspect of parenting and parent-child relationship. This could be day by day,
hour by hour training and instruction in order to secure the appropriate
atmosphere necessary in the child’s growth and emotional development.
Mustapha (2006),
stated that parents who have the habits of spending quality time with children,
bring up good children who are socially and emotionally balanced in the
communities where they live. He went ahead to claim that children who are well
behaved and emotionally balanced are normally influenced by effective parental
discipline and strong training given to them during the childhood and adolescence
stages.
Locke (1963),
theorized that the child is resembled like the black tablet (tabula rasa) at
birth and that it is the print made in it that is physically seen. In the same
vein, Adamson (2000) admitted that the cultural, educational, financial and the
social status of the home have bearing on the child’s emotional adjustment, it
is the environment and the type of home that makes a man what he is. Therefore,
when and how a child is nurtured and bred, determine who and what the child
becomes in the near future and the overall social and most importantly,
emotional adjustment.
Some thoughts concerning
education suggested that the task of the parents was mainly to build in the
child a strong body and habits that would allow for capacity of reasoning to
develop and that parents could reward good behaviour, punish or discipline bad
behaviour with disgrace and the withdrawal of parental approval and affection
as opposed to beating (Arnolds,
2001).
According to Eden (2002), misbehaviour
ought to be punished, so that a child does not repeat what he termed or seen by
the society as unwanted behaviour. According to him, if bad behaviour is left
unaddressed by applying disciplinary measures, the child tends to repeat the
unwanted behaviour, thinking that those behaviours are normal norms or values
cherished by the society.
Waller (2005) opined
that parental discipline with love and affection makes a child to adjust
emotionally, socially and psychologically in the society. He went on to opine
that operant conditioning as a form of punishment with artificial consequences
for misbehaviour could be used. According to him, a child who used the family
car without parental permission, the punishment is that the car is taken from
him for a period of time while or praise and reward, operant conditioning could
be used through encouragements and presentation of valuable gifts to the child
in order to encourage him to repeat the valuable norms or behaviour so
exhibited.
Statement
of the Problem
These days, many
parents shy away from using disciplinary measures as corrective instruments
toward the remedying of children’s bad or unwanted behaviour in the society.
Because of this, child’s negligence or avoidance of parental control through
disciplinary actions (discipline), most children these days grow up to lack
emotional adjustment.
Children nowadays,
do not exhibit positive emotional adjustment, they do not feel bad whenever
they do wrong or step upon the recommended norms or values stipulated in the
society as laid down rules and regulations. This kind of hardened behaviour by
our youth, have caused negative effects in the society.
For the fact that
youth do not feel bad about the wrong attitude, exhibited in the society, this,
has resulted into wayward behaviour; prostitution; armed robbery; lying,
stealing; fraudulent activities; examination malpractices; raping; disrespect
and disobedience to the authorities of the parents and significant others in
the society. This study therefore, focused on the influence of parental
discipline on emotional adjustment of secondary school students.
Purpose
of the Study
The objective of
this study include:
1.
To investigate the role of parents in the
emotional adjustment of secondary school students.
2.
To identify the extent at which parental
discipline has affected the emotional adjustment of students in secondary
schools.
3.
To enumerate the different disciplinary
measures taken by parents.
4.
To differentiate different categories of
single or intact parents that have influenced the emotional adjustment of
secondary school students.
5.
To suggest solutions to be taken in order to
avoid emotional imbalance while trying to impose discipline on children.
Research
Questions
The following
questions were raised and answered in the process of carrying out this
research.
1.
How can the role of parents in the emotional
adjustment of secondary school students be investigated?
2.
Is there a differentiation between the
different categories of single or intact parents and their influence on the
emotional adjustment of secondary school students?
3.
Is there any difference between the
emotional adjustment of students who are brought up by parents who are
disciplinarians and those brought up by parents who are not?
4.
Is there any gender difference in emotional
adjustment of children due to parental discipline?
5.
Will the social adjustment of students who
are brought up by parental discipline differ from those who are not?
Hypotheses
The following
hypotheses were formulated and tested in this study.
1.
The role of parents will not significantly
affect children’s emotional adjustment in school.
2.
There will be no significant difference
between intact and single parents and their influence on emotional adjustment
of the students.
3.
There will be no significant gender
difference in emotional adjustment of students due to parental discipline.
4.
There will be no significant difference
between the emotional adjustment of students who are brought up by parental
discipline and those who are not.
5.
There will be no significant difference
between the social adjustment of students who were brought up by parental
discipline and those who are not.
Significance
of the Study
It is hoped that the
findings of this research work will help parents realize their roles toward the
emotional adjustment of their children in the secondary schools.
The study will
contribute to the extent at which parents could influence the emotions of their
children at all levels of their education. It will also be beneficial to
teachers, educators and counsellors in dealing with students’ emotional
adjustment during their educational career in school.
Theoretical
Framework
The Emotional Theory
(Lake, 1980) stated that parental discipline
is necessary for the emotional, social and psychological adjustment of the
child. According to this theory, the child is helpless when left without
personal upbringing of the parents and the significant others in the nearby
community or environment where the child is nurtured and brought up. In this
regard, Lake (1980) opined that the discipline
of the child is necessary, as without disciplinary measures in terms of
smacking and or punishment when the child is wrong, the child tends to grow up
upholding the wrong ideas and negative life and behaviour.
Arnolds
(2000), stated that individuals cannot give what they do not possess. According
to him, parents who are not disciplined themselves will find it extremely
difficult to instruct their children/wards to toe the part of discipline. He
went on to state that most parents who train their children on the part of
strictness and absolute discipline, are those who themselves are strict,
disciplined and principled as well.
Children who are
brought up by parents who are authoritative (i.e. not completely authoritarians
and not completely laizzez affaire parents), tend to rear children whose
character conform to the dictates, norms and values of the society. As Adamson
(2001), put it, no society frowns at positive and good norms. Rather, all
societies welcome children or members of the society who are well behaved, who
dance to the positive tune of the societal music and values. Therefore, any
society in the world, welcomes its members whether adult or children, who are
well adjusted to the ethics and morals of the larger society.
Mundi (1990),
theorized that the characters of children solely depend on the upbringing they
have while growing up. As he puts it, parental discipline helps children to be
either positively or negatively adjusted in any society. For instance, parents
who bring up their children/wards through aggressive ways are aggressive and
violent because aggression beget aggression while parents who bring up their
children/wards in the democratic way, rear up children who are well behaved who
know how to live well in a decent society.
Scope
of the Study
This study covered Lagos metropolis
especially, the Mainland Local Government Education District.
Definition
of Terms
The following
terminologies were used in the research work. Some of the operational
definitions of the terms are as follows:
i.
Influence:
This is what makes an individual to take action whether positive or negative.
ii.
Parental
Discipline: These are the rules and regulations set out
by parents which are observed by their children/wards.
iii.
Emotional
Adjustment: This is the ability to make right changes
in behaviours due to agitation or disturbance occasioned by strong feeling.
iv.
Intact
Parents: This connotes the family in which there is a unity
between father and mother who live together as husband and wife with their
children/wards.
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