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Academic Performance and Social Behavior13

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ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE AND SOCIAL BEHAVIOR

The Effect of Family Structure and Parental Support on Academic Performance and Social Behavior

Anella Jeanine Garness

Saint Leo University

Abstract

The comparison of single parent and two parent families shows that family structure has a profound effect on a student’s academic performance and social interaction in the school setting (Featherstone, Cundick & Jensen, 1992). Research has shown that students brought up in single parent families, despite that parent’s sex, tend to perform at a lower academic level and are also more susceptible to becoming juvenile delinquents. Conversely, students from a traditional family structure, consisting of both a mother and father, have a propensity to perform better in school in both academics and social interaction (Weitoft, Hjern & Rosén, 2004; Featherstone, Cundick & Jensen, 1992).

Keywords: single parent, two parent, academics, social interaction

The Effect of Family Structure and Parental Support on Academic Performance and Social Behavior

Divorce rates are escalating leaving an increasing number of single parent families. Unfortunately, this change may be adversely affecting the children in these households in aspects of academic performance and overall school behavior. Research shows that in comparison with intact families, consisting of both parents, students from lone parent families tend to perform at a lower academic level (Weitoft, Hjern & Rosén, 2004; Featherstone, Cundick & Jensen, 1992). This is a major problem since academic accomplishment has been correlated to a more successful future and lifestyle (Weitoft et al., 2004).

Research has emphasized that students of nuclear families had twice as high end of year grades and grade point averages than students of single parent families (Weitoft et al., 2004; Featherstone et al., 1992). In a ranking scheme constructed based on the outcome of desirable behavior by Featherstone et al. (1992), students from intact families ranked first on the scale with highest grade point averages, more occurrences of punctuality, and least number of absences and detentions. Reconstructed families ranked next on the scale, finally followed by students from single parent families, who had the lowest grade point averages and highest occurrences of absences, detentions and tardiness. In addition, students from intact families were viewed more positively by teachers and had less negative, undesirable behavior ratings in comparison to students from one parent families (Featherstone et al., 1992).

Furthermore, students from intact families were more likely to attain education past the compulsory curriculum in relation to students of single parent families (Weitoft et al., 2004). Also, Weitoft et al (2004) found that single parent families had a more profound effect on girls in comparison to boys since girls from lone parent families were less likely to complete compulsory education. Finally, Weitoft et al. (2004) results showed that the educational background of parents affected student’s performance since students with highly educated single parents performed at the same level as students with two parents of minimal education. However, highly educated single parents also tend to give less support to their children since they have high career aspirations for themselves.

Researchers have proposed various reasons for the lower academic performance of students from single parent families. Primarily, Boyce & Rose (2001) believed that economic resources play an influential role since men have higher wages than women and most children of lone parent families live with their mother. In addition, students from single parent families due to economic constraints tend to live in lower class neighborhoods and thus, students are not motivated academically by their environment outside of school (Weitoft et al., 2004). Furthermore, academic performance is positively correlated with parental support and monitoring. Students from single parent families, tend to report their parents as less supportive since lone parents have multiple roles to accomplish in the household. As a result, these students are at higher risk for academic failure due to lack of parental support (Boyce & Rose, 2001).

Despite the aforementioned research demonstrating that family structure affects school performance, other researchers have found a few discrepancies. For example, Kurdek et al.’s (1988) research determined that regardless of family structure, students performed equivalently on verbal tests and also had the same number of detentions and occurrences of tardiness. Furthermore, in single mother families, the absence of a paternal figure, did not affect academic and school performance (Kurdek & Sinclair, 1988). In addition, Boyce and Rose’s (2001) research revealed that irrespective of family structure, students who perceived their parents as more supportive performed better academically.

Purpose of Proposed Study

Extensive research exploring the effects of family structure on academic performance has emphasized that students from single parent families perform at a lower academic level and also are more prone to negative behavior in school when compared to students from intact families. These researchers have proposed a socioeconomic cause for these academic differences but have not taken into effect the role of parental support. Future research should evaluate the hypothesized socioeconomic causes to see if parental support is also a deciding factor of academic performance. Children of single parent families will perceive their parent as less supportive when compared to children of two parent families. It is hypothesized that students who receive more parental support will perform better, regardless of family structure and economic standing. Furthermore, researchers should focus on children’s behavior outside the school environment. It is hypothesized that students from single parent families will have more occurrences of delinquent behaviors and undesirable activities such as drug and alcohol abuse, in comparison to persons from intact families. This aspect of research is beneficial because it could potentially show the relationship between family structure and juvenile delinquent behavior.

Method

Participants

The participants for the study will be recruited from a private, liberal arts university located in Western Florida. The sample will be comprised of full-time (12 or more credit hours) psychology students. The total sample size will be 150 participants. All participants will be over the age of eighteen and of diverse ethnic and racial backgrounds so as to be representative of the university campus. Psychology professors may provide a small extra credit incentive, which participants will receive regardless of completion of the study. Furthermore, participants are able to decline from completing the study at any time.

Materials and Procedure

Participants will receive a link to an electronic survey containing: (1) an informed consent form, (2) a demographics sheet, (3) a parental support measure, (5) a delinquent behavior measure, (6) a drug use measure, (7) an alcohol use measure, and (7) a deviance measure.

The informed consent form (Appendix A) used will fully inform the participants of the risks and/or benefits associated with participation in the survey. Furthermore, this form will make participants aware that they are able to withdraw from the study at any time, without penalty.

The demographics sheet (Appendix B) will contain items questioning the participant’s sex, age, ethnic or racial background, family structure and current and past academic performance.

Boyd and Higgins’ (2006) Parent Support Measure is an 18-item Likert-type scale measuring the participant’s perceived support of their parent(s). The scale measures both emotional support and instrumental support. The internal consistency reliability for emotional and instrumental support is 0.85 and 0.72 respectively (Boyd & Higgins, 2006). This measure may be found in Appendix C.

The Multisite Violence Prevention Project’s (2004) 8-item Problem Behavior Frequency Scale measures the participant’s participation in theft, cheating and property damage. The internal consistency reliability of the delinquent behavior scale is 0.76. This measure is in Appendix D.

The measure of deviance (Appendix E) used will be Boyd and Higgins’ (2006) 16-item scale measuring the participants cheating, drinking, smoking, and violent behaviors. The internal consistency reliability of this deviance measure is 0.81 (Boyd & Higgins, 2006)

Two measures of drug and alcohol use will be used. The first measure of drug and alcohol behavior (Appendix F) used will be Bosworth and Espalage’s (1995) 12-item, Teen Conflict Scale, measuring the participant’s initial use of drugs and alcohol as well as their drug and alcohol behavior over the past month. The internal consistency reliability of this scale is 0.83. The final scale (Appendix G) measuring the participant’s drinking and smoking behavior will be Engs (2007) Student Alcohol Questionnaire (SAQ). The SAQ has an internal consistency reliability of 0.84.

Results

Descriptive Analyses including means, standard deviations and frequencies will be calculated.

Pearson’s r correlation will be calculated so as to determine the relationship between parental support and academic performance; parental support and drug and alcohol use; parental support and delinquent and deviant behavior; family structure and academic performance, family structure and drug and alcohol use; family structure and delinquent and deviant behavior; and parental support and family structure. It is expected for a strong, positive relationship to exist between parental support and family structure. Also, a strong positive relationship will exist between parental support and academic performance; while a strong, negative relationship will exist between parental support and drug and alcohol use, and parental support and delinquent and deviant behavior.

A simultaneous regression analysis will be calculated to examine how predictive family structure, parental support and gender are of academic performance, drug and alcohol use and delinquent and deviant behavior. It is expected that family structure and parental support will be significant predictors of academic performance ( M= ___, SD= ___, β= ___, p= ___), drug and alcohol use ( M= ___, SD= ___, β= ___, p= ___) and delinquent and deviant behavior ( M= ___, SD= ___, β= ___, p= ___); while gender will be a significant predictor of drug and alcohol use and delinquent and deviant behavior ( M= ___, SD= ___, β= ___, p= ___). Gender will not be a significant predictor of academic performance ( M= ___, SD= ___, β= ___, p= ___).

To determine if there is a significant difference between participants from single parent families and two parent families in academic performance, drug and alcohol use and delinquent and deviant behavior, two-tailed, independent sample t-tests will be calculated. Table 3 shows the expected results of the independent sample t-tests. A significant difference is expected between the scores of participants from single parent families and two parent families for academic performance ( t( df)= ___, p= ___), drug and alcohol use ( t( df)= ___, p= ___), and delinquent and deviant behavior ( t( df)= ___, p= ___). Two tailed, independent sample t-tests will be calculated so as to determine if there is a significant difference in scores in academic performance, drug and alcohol use, and delinquent and deviant behavior between participants with more supportive parent(s) and participants with less supportive parent(s). A significant difference is expected between participants of less supportive parent(s) ( M= ___, SD= ___), and more supportive parent(s) ( M= ___, SD= ___) in academic performance ( t( df)= ___, p= ___), drug and alcohol use ( t( df)= ___, p= ___), and delinquent and deviant behavior ( t( df)= ___, p= ___).

Discussion

The purpose of this study will be to determine if family structure and parental support significantly affects academic performance and social behaviors such as drug and alcohol use and delinquent and deviant behavior.

Possible Outcome #1: Persons raised in single parent families perceive their parents as less supportive in comparison to persons from two parent families. The proposed reason for this result is that single parents have multiple roles (household, financial, educational, motivational, and emotional) to balance without the help of a partner.

Possible Outcome # 2: Persons from both family structures will perform better academically, will use less drugs and alcohol and exhibit less delinquent and deviant behavior, if their parent or parents are more supportive. This result will emphasize that it is in fact parental support and not the absence of a parent that is responsible for lower academic level, and more frequency of drug and alcohol abuse, and delinquent and deviant behavior.

One limitation of this study will be the convenient sample size that will be used. The sample size will not be representative of the population since it will possibly consist of primarily female students pursuing a psychology major. Thus, this may affect the effect size for gender. Another possible limitation of the study will be participants providing fictitious information. This may especially occur with questions concerning drug and alcohol use and delinquent and deviant behavior especially if the participant is not of legal age.

Previous research has determined that family structure affects academic performance and social behavior. However, as this study may possibly show, is that parental support plays a major role in a person’s development. Future studies can take into effect not only how persons perceive their parent’s support level but also how the parent’s perceive their own parental support as well.

References

Bosworth & Espelage (1995). Teen Conflict Scale. Retrieved from .

Boyce Rodgers, K., & Rose, H. (2001). Personal, family, and school factors related to adolescent academic performance: A comparison by family structure. Marriage & Family Review, 33( 4), 47-61. doi:10.1300/J002v33n04_05.

Boyd, R. J., & Higgins, G. E. (2006). Can parental support mediate the link between low self-control and deviance?. Criminal Justice Studies: A Critical Journal of Crime, Law & Society, 19(3), 257-273. doi:10.1080/14786010600921654

Engs, R. C. (2007). The Student Alcohol Questionnaire. Retrieved from http://www.indiana.edu/~engs/saq.html

Featherstone, D., Cundick, B., & Jensen, L. (1992). Differences in school behavior and achievement between children from intact, reconstituted, and single-parent families. Adolescence, 27( 105), 1-12.

Kurdek, L., & Sinclair, R. (1988). Relation of eighth graders' family structure, gender, and family environment with academic performance and school behavior. Journal of Educational Psychology, 80( 1), 90-94. doi:10.1037/0022-0663.80.1.90.

Violence Prevention Project (2004). Problem Behavior Frequency Scale. Retrieved from .

Weitoft, G., Hjern, A., & Rosén, M. (2004). School's out! Why earlier among children of lone parents? International Journal of Social Welfare, 13( 2), 134-144. doi:10.1111/j.1369-6866.2004.00307.x.

Appendix B – Demographics Sheet

1. I am a:(A) Male(B) Female

2. My ethnic heritage is:

(A) Asian or Pacific Islander

(B) African American (Black), not of Hispanic origin

(D) European-American (Anglo)

(E) Other

3. My age is: _______

4. The quality of my parent’s marriage is/was (if deceased or divorced):

(A) Very good(B) Good(C) Average (D) Poor(E) Very poor

5. For the majority of my life I lived in a:

(A) One-parent family (mother only/father only)

(B) Two parent family (mother and father/parent & step-parent)

6. The way I feel about myself generally is:

(A) Very positive(B) Positive(C) Average(D) Negative(E) Very negative

7. I would describe my life right now as:

(A) Very happy(B) Happy(C) Okay(D) Unhappy(E) Very unhappy

8. I would describe myself as:

(A) very outgoing (B) Outgoing (C) Average (D) Quiet (E) very quiet

9. I am currently a:

(A) Freshman(B) Sophomore(C) Junior(D) Senior

10. My college grade point average (GPA) is:

(A) 4.0 (B) 3.9-3.5 (C) 3.4-3.0 (D) 2.9-2.5 (E) 2.4-2.0 (F) less than 2.0

11. My high school grade point average (GPA) is:

(A) 4.0 (B) 3.9-3.5 (C) 3.4-3.0 (D) 2.9-2.5 (E) 2.4-2.0 (F) less than 2.0

Appendix C – Parental Support Measure

1. My parents respect my feelings.

2. My parents truly care about me.

3. My parents accept me as I am.

4. I have to rely on myself when I have a problem to solve.

5. I like to get my parents’ point of view on things that I am concerned about.

6. My parents sense when I am upset about something.

7. My parents value my opinion.

8. My parents express their love for me.

9. When we discuss things, my parents consider my point of view.

10. My parents encourage me to talk about my difficulties.

11. My parents understand me.

12. I trust my parents.

13. I know my parents are there for me.

14. I know my parents will help me if I need it.

15. My parents have their own problems, so I do not bother them with mine.

16. I tell my parents about my problems and troubles.

17. When I am angry about something, my parents try to be understanding.

18. I can count on my parents when I need to get something off of my chest.

Appendix D – Delinquent Behavior Measure

Problem Behavior Frequency Scale

How many times have you …

1. Been on suspension?