Die invloed van ontoereikende vaderidentifikasie op skoloastiese prestasie

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the influence of insufficient father-identification on scholastic achievement. Two methods of enquiry were used. A study of the available relevant literature was made in order to give an outline of former investigations on the father-child relationship and more specifically the father-son relationship. Subsequently the empirical method was used to test the validity of specific hypotheses. A cultural historical picture of the role played by the father in the father-son relationship of different cultures through the ages is given. The patriarchal family form prevailed in most cultures. The father was the strict head of the family. In many cases he had unlimited power and demanded obedience from the members of his family. In some cultures the father exerted an influence on the cognitive development of his son. It was even possible in other cultures for the son to have identified with the father. Nowadays, however, the father's most important contribution is to provide for his family economically. In the Republic of South Africa, however, the father still plays an important role. Even here some fathers are affected by economic prosperity, materialism and being busy which leads to their withdrawal from the home. This frequent absence is to the detriment of contact with his son. The father's influence on his son's academic achievement has to be considered in the educational context, and therefore the role of the father as educator in his son's development is discussed. Because the father, as familial educator in the family, plays an important part in his son's development, early contact between father and son is imperative. The father's role in the family setup is instrumentally superior and universal and he is superior in power whilst the mother's role is expressive and superior. Sex-role adoption is problematic for the boy in many aspects. The father has to assist the boy in adopting a satisfactory sex-role identity in order to avoid derailment, maladjustment and feminisation. Both the father's presence and his influence are necessary for the development of the boy's personality, especially his self-confidence, self-esteem and self-concept. The father makes an essential contribution to the boy's development in the emotional, social, sexual and moral fields. A study of the concept of identification as portrayed by the psychoanalysts as well as by the sociologists was made. Subsequently also father-identification is discussed. Identification is a complex process which takes place among humans. Under normal circumstances initial identification takes place in the family between parent and child. It begins when the child starts imitating certain characteristics of the parent and this eventually leads to the child's internalization of the characteristics, values and norms of the parents. The following exposition of the concept of identification was formulated for this investigation: Identification is the concept used for the chain of events which develops between an adult, the educator, and a child when the child, through observation and through experience, accepts and internalizes certain values, norms, actions, attitudes and characteristics of the adult as his own, to such an extent that the child often unconsciously, experiences and expressed them as his own. The child therefore consciously and unconsciously follows the example of the adult. He gradually thinks and feels like the adult; in this way he identifies with the adult. Identification is therefore a complex chain of events which initiates between child and parent and requires the active involvement of the parent. The parent's involvement and therefore also the identification-process continues at least until the child's developmental curve of growth has reached its maximum, i.e. until after adolescence. Although both parents serve as models for identification, the parent of the same sex is the most important. After the initial identification with his mother, the boy gradually becomes aware of the cultural requirements of his environment, namely masculine behaviour; so he turns to his father, and reverts from identification with his mother to identification with his father. The child's identification with his parents, more specifically the boy's identification with his father, provides him with a model according to which to develop his own identity and to internalize his own sex-role as part of his self-image. Internalizing the norms and values of a positive, well-balanced, affectionate, masculine father ensures eventual identification with a masculine sex-role. Identification with his father not only assists the boy in developing a self-identity, it also influences his social, emotional, sexual and moral maturation. The standard eight pupils involved in this investigation were in mid-adolescence. Because many adolescents experience an identity diffusion, this confusing era of a quest for identity which is often accompanied by intense affective cognoscente, is discussed. Special attention is paid to the affective experiences of the adolescent. Identity and identification are closely related - one implies the other. In his quest for identity and faced by an identity crisis, the adolescent is still dependent on his parents. The boy is dependent on his father. The adolescent's fast physical, psychological and cognitive development, his growth spurt, causes confusion but simultaneously introduces a vast field of new experiences. During this phase of development the adolescent has to develop his self-concept and self-identity and has to reinforce his sex-role identity. Identification with his father aids positive progress in this sphere of development. As this investigation is concerned with the scholastic achievement of boys, attention is given to the child's work-load at school. The theory of learning at school is discussed with special reference to the learning theory of Bloom. The affective entry characteristics with which the child enters the school task, largely determine the manner in which he will cope with the task. Because intelligence is used as an example of cognitive entry behaviour in the learning task, it is discussed briefly. The father can also contribute to the intellectual and cognitive development of the boy. Motivation and academic self-concept are affective entry characteristics in the learning task which largely influence the affective results of the school assignment. Because under- and over-achievers constitute a vital portion of this experimental research, the matter of under- and over-achievement is discussed. Attention is paid to defining under- and over-achievers and their characteristics, their personality traits as well as the methods used to identify them. Underachievement is predominantly a male rather than a female problem which often starts before or during the early stages of primary school. Parents can have a marked influence on under- and over-achievement. Their behaviour can curb or foster this phenomenon. Three related research studies in connection with father-identification and under- and over-achievement are discussed. The results differ considerably: * Ringness (1967) found that the high achievers tended to identify with their fathers to a greater extent than the low achievers. In a follow-up study, however, he could find no difference in the father-identification of high achievers, normal achievers and low achievers. * Danesino and Layman (1969) found that one group of high achieving male students identified with their fathers while another group identified with their mothers. They did, however, determine that high achieving male students tended to identify more closely with their fathers than the low achievers. * Shaw and White (1965) determined that male achievers identified with their fathers but under-achievers did not. In order to determine whether there is a relationship between father-identification and scholastic achievement a number of hypotheses were formulated and tested. The experimental research was conducted as follows: Three hundred and eighty seven Afrikaans speaking standard eight pupils were selected from twelve secondary schools in South-Western Transvaal by means of randomized, stratified cluster sampling. The test battery consisted of a number of available tests, tests compiled by the author as well as tests compiled by three doctoral students doing related research studies. Scholastic achievement, the dependent variable was operationalised to the average percentage in standerd seven with percentage for Afrikaans standard seven, percentage for English standard seven and percentage for Mathematics standard seven as additional components of scholastic achievement. Although standard eight pupils were used in this research, their final marks in standard seven were used because the questionnaires were completed towards the middle of the standard eight year and these standard seven marks were therefore regarded as more reliable than the mid-year standard eight marks. These marks as well as the I.Q.'s were obtained from the Ed. Lab. Cards. The following independent variables were used in the various analyses: a) Particulars of the subjects: Sex, age in months, non-verbal I.Q., verbal I.Q., number of schools attended. b) Aspects concerning the horne, the family and socio-economic status: * size of residence, number of children in the family, number of people in the residence; * completeness of the family, length of father's absence or length of period the child was fatherless; * age of child when parents were divorced, age of child when father died, age of child when mother died, substitute for parentis); * father's age, mother's age, educational level of the father, educational level of the mother, father's occupations mother's occupation; * identification with the home, home-adjustment, health-adjustment, submissiveness, self-assertion. c) Parental involvement: * time father spends at home, time father spends with the child, time mother spends with the child; * educational aspirations of parents for child, occupational aspirations of parents for child; * educational involvement of father, educational involvement of mother; * father-identification, mother-identification. d) Involvement of other people: * identification with other persons, masculinity-femininity, sociability in group, attitude towards teachers. e) Aspects concerning the subject: * self-evaluation, general self-concept, academic self-concept, measure of certainty with regard to identity, self-confidence, self-esteem, personal-self, self-criticism, health; * inadequate integration, inadequate ego-development, lack of ego-strength; * physical self, familial self, social self, self in relation to values. f) The subject and his inner feelings: * emotionality, hostility-friendliness, nervousness, self-control; * suspiciousness or paranoiac feeling of insecurity, inclination to feelings of guilt, tension due to frustration or pressure of the id; * conscious and sub-conscious anxiety. g) The subject and his school: * school-affect, attitude towards different subjects and teachers; * educational aspirations of the child, occupational aspirations of the child; * achievement motivation. Special attention is paid to the adolescent boy in this research study. In order to obtain a clearer picture of the father-identification of the boy and his scholastic achievement, the boys in the ordinary course are constantly compared to the girls in the ordinary course and the boys in the practical course. The boys in the practical course already lag behind boys in the ordinary course in terms of ability. The father-identification of the boy in the practical course will possibly differ from the father-identification of the boy in the ordinary course. The possibility also exists that father-identification will exert a greater influence on the under- or overachiever. The two most important hypotheses that were tested are: a) There is a relationship between father-identification and scholastic achievement. This hypothesis is subdivided into a number of sub-hypotheses in which each group of subjects and each component of scholastic achievement was used. A number of supporting hypotheses were also formulated. The relationship between father-identification and scholastic achievement is compared to the relationship between mother identification and scholastic achievement, identification with the home and scholastic achievement, as well as other affective entry characteristics and scholastic achievement. b) There is a difference in the father-identification of over-achievers, achievers and under-achievers in: * average percentage for standard seven; * percentage for Afrikaans standard seven; * percentage for English standard seven; * percentage for Mathematics standard seven. The truth of these hypotheses for * boys ordinary course, * girls ordinary course, * boys practical course is also tested. A number of supporting hypotheses similar to those formulated for the whole group of subjects originally selected, are also formulated and tested. The computer program BMDP4M was used to perform a factor-analysis in order to reduce the number of variables meaningfully. By means of multiple regression analysis the influence of the dependent variables was kept constant and the variance in scholastic achievement, which is accounted for only by father-identification, was determined. The contribution of each of the variables to the variance in scholastic achievement was determined. By comparing the variance accounted for by father-identification in scholastic achievement with the variance accounted for by each of the independent variables, the relative contribution of father-identification to scholastic achievement could be determined. A number of over-achievers (P+) , achievers (P) and under-achievers (P-) in each of the components of scholastic achievement, were then selected for each of the groups of pupils by means of multiple regression analysis. Marks that should be achieved by the pupils according to their individual ability were predicted for each pupil - and referred to as predicted marks - by using the following criterion variables: * non-verbal and verbal I.Q.; * the educational level of the father and mother; * father's occupation; * size of family. The components of scholastic achievement were used alternatively as the actual marks. A positive difference between the actual marks and the predicted marks indicates over-achievement whilst a negative residue between the actual marks and the predicted marks indicates under-achievement. The BMDPIV-program was used to execute a one-way analysis of variance. The independent variables were used as dependent variables in this analysis. This was done to determine whether the average of overachievers, achievers and under-achievers in each of the dependent variables differed significantly. The resultant findings are: 1) Father-identification and scholastic achievement: a) According to the study which was made of the available literature a relationship does exist between father-identification and scholastic achievement. This relationship, however, could not be determined by means of the experimental research done for this study as no significant proportion of the variance in scholastic achievement was accounted for by father-identification. b) No significant differences between the averages of over-achievers, achievers and under-achievers with regard to father-identification could be determined. 2) Mother-identification and scholastic achievement: a) A significant proportion of the variance in average percentage in standard seven, for girls in the ordinary course, was accounted for by mother-identification; R2 (all the variables) –R2 (all the variables, mother-identification excluded) = 0,0070; p < 0,05. b) By using mother-identification as dependent variable, differences were determined between the over-achievers, achievers and under-achievers in percentage for Afrikaans standard seven for; * boys ordinary course; * girls ordinary course; The lower the child's achievement at school in relation to what he should achieve, the better his identification with his mother. The proportion of the variance in scholastic achievement accounted for by mother-identification is larger than the proportion of the variance in scholastic achievement accounted for by father-identification. The girls in the ordinary course, particularly, identify with the mother. 3) Identification with the home as variable and scholastic achievement: a) A significant proportion of the variance percentage for mathematics in standard seven, for boys in the practical course, was accounted for by identification with the home; R2 (all the variables) – R2 (all the variables, identification with the home excluded) = 0,0384; p < 0,05. b) By using identification with the home as dependent variable, differences were determined between the over-achievers, achievers and under-achievers in percentage for Afrikaans in standard seven for: * boys ordinary course; * girls ordinary course; The proportion of the variance in scholastic achievement, accounted for by identification with the home is larger than the proportion of the variance in scholastic achievement, accounted for by father-identification. Similar to mother-identification the boys and girls in the ordinary course who are over-achievers, achievers and under-achievers, tend to identify more with the home. These academically orientated boys and girls are dependent on their families for progress at school. 4) Verbal and non-verbal I.Q. and scholastic achievement: Significant proportions of the variance in scholastic achievement were accounted for by verbal and nonverbal I.Q., especially for boys and girls in the ordinary course, who are the more academically orientated pupils. According to the results of the experimental research it can be said that verbal and non-verbal I.Q. is a more important contributor to scholastic achievement than father-identification. I.Q., as a cognitive entry behaviour, is therefore very important for achieving success at school. 5) Joint affective entry characteristics and scholastic achievement: The proportions of variance in scholastic achievement accounted for by the joint entry characteristics, were highly significant. 6) Individual affective entry characteristics and scholastic achievement: a) The influence of the affective entry characteristics on scholastic achievement determined individually, resulted in the following findings: * The proportions of the variance in scholastic achievement accounted for by a large number of entry characteristics are highly significant. * The prominent variable in this field is home adjustment. This holds true particularly for the boys and girls in the ordinary course. * The proportions of the variance in scholastic achievement accounted for by the variable academic self-concept are also significant, particularly for the boys and girls in the ordinary course. b) Significant differences between the averages of over-achievers, achievers and under-achievers in scholastic achievement were determined by variables related to: * home-adjustment; boys and girls in the ordinary course; * school and school set-up; each of the groups of pupils; * the father and variables concerning the father; boys in the practical course. According to this research study the conclusion can be made that father-identification is a complex variable which cannot be easily measured, empirically. What the child internalizes is most probably the product of the characteristics of both parents. That which is measured by father-identification and mother-identification therefore, consists of the characteristics of both parents. A number of other reasons given for the complex character of father-identification, were also discussed, including the limen-effect and inter-correlation with other variables. Father-identification, according to this study, does not have a marked effect on scholastic achievement. Mother-identification and even more so identification with the home and the child's home-adjustment are far more prominent and are important factors in the child's progress at school. Identification with the home can only be fully deployed and can only make a full contribution to the scholastic achievement of the child if the father and mother fulfil their individual roles as equal partners. Because the father is the instrumentally-superior parent, he is responsible for disclosing the instrumentally-directed abilities of his son. He therefore has to take full responsibility for his son. It is imperative that the father becomes involved with his son through communication and dialogue. The father must initiate and sustain dialogue. The boy in the practical course is in special need of the aid and assistance of his father in order to progress at school. Fathers of over-achieving, achieving and under-achieving boys in the practical course can largely support their sons in their school set-up. As a result of these findings the following recommendations are made: * The fact that the over-achievers identify with their home to a greater extent than the underachievers accentuates the importance of the assistance the family gives the boy in his scholastic progress. Every step should be taken to ensure that children grow up in complete and happy families. * Under-achievement is an ever-present problem and everything possible should be done to identify under-achievers in order to initiate remedial procedures as soon as possible. * By using the computer and the method of multiple regression analysis under- and over-achievers may be identified during the junior secondary phase of the high school. Under-achievers could then be subjected to remedial programmes. The results of this research show that a large number of variables contribute significantly to the variance in scholastic achievement. These variables were only partly explored and implemented in this research study and therefore a number of topics for further research are indicated.