Parental attitudes and academic achievement

Abstract

PROBLEMThere are two contradictory viewpoints regarding the type of familial atniosphere which is most conducive t o achievement motivation, namely the free permissive type of environment and the more authoritarian or restrictive type of home setting. Proponents of the former view cite such animal studies as Christie's'') and Thompson and Melzack's ( 9 ) which shotved retardation in various psychological traits as a result of early restriction. Psychoanalysts such as C r e e n a~r e '~) have argued that the frustrations engendered by parental restraints may impair intellectual efficiency because of an increase in sado-masochism and resulting anxiety in the child. On the other side of the issue stand P e a r~o n '~) and Liss(b) n h o look upon the acquisition of kno:\ledge and society's symbols as a process of sublimation. They feel that if a child is allowed too much freedom he ]Till remain a t the mercy of the pleasure principle.Perhaps one source of confusion in this issue has been the tendency t o use such words as "democratic" t o stand !or the "good" parent, and "authoritarian" to stand for the "bad" parent, while the actual operational definitions of these nords vary from investigator t o investigator. It is questionable ~3 hether any parent can completely escape the role of an authoritarian during the formative years of a child's life. I n this respect Lewin(4) has identified t m o different kinds of restrictive parental attitudes, one of which sets certain limits upon the child's behavior .vlhile a t the same time encouraging him t o engage in acceptable activities. The other, houever, issues "blanket warnings" leaving the child insecure and afraid to engage in any new behavior. The importance of parental intervention is also contained in the book of McClelland ( 6 ) and Winterbottom (I1) who have emphasized the importance of parental demands upon achievement motivation. Such demands for certain standards of excellence in the child would seem to imply something different than mere passive permissiveness. It is therefore the thesis of this paper that the parents of high academic achievers \till actually be less permissive and accepting in the treatment of their children than the parents of low academic achievers. SUBJECTSParents of Gifted Students. One group consisted of the mothers of forty junior high school students of gifted intelligence (I& of 130 or more on the Stanford-Binet).Twenty of these students (ten girls and ten boys) had maintained a uniform grade point average of "A" o~e r a, previous two-year period and they were identified as high achievers. A group of low achievers (ten girls and ten boys) were matched to these students t o within five I& points on the Stanford-Binet, and t o aithin six months in age. These low achieving students had maintained only a "€3 minus" or lower grade point average throughout the previous two-year 9eriod of their school history. An attempt VI as also made to equate the groups for socio-economic status by matching high and low achievers on the basis of their fat...

Dimensions of Parental Practice Concerned with Cognitive Development in the Preschool Child

“…Of particular interest, however, is one dimension that seems to pervade all of the factor analytic studies, including the present study, and would appear to characterize a general mode of parental response to a wide range of child behavior. This is what has been termed here as the acceptance-rejection dimension and variously designated as the "permissiveness-strictness" factor (26), the "Love-Hostility os, Control-Autonomy" model of Schaefer (24), and the "Democratic-Authoritarian" factor by several investigators (1,12). The other factors of cognitive-oriented practices that were identified bear remote (if any) similarities to the interpersonal-social dimensions of rearing practice described for such widely used scales as the Parent Attitude Research Instrument (25) and the Fels Parent Behavior Rating Scales (23).…”

Selected Factors Influencing Over- and Under-Achievement in Young School-Age Children

“…Overachievers also showed better peer relations and a more positive attitude toward school and school work. Drews and Teahan (1957) studied childrearing attitudes of mothers in terms of permissiveness, protectiveness, and domination. Subjects were high and low achievers of both gifted and average intelligence.…”

Selected Factors Influencing over- and Underachievement in Young School-Age Children

“…After a review of studies on the subject, Christmas (1973) concluded that no clear trends were indicated as to the correlations of self-concept with academic achievement and that most of the studies contained methodological weaknesses with consequent limitations in generalizability. Drews and Teahan (1957) studied childrearing attitudes of mothers in terms of permissiveness, protectiveness, and domination. The root source of the emotional difficulty may be over-expecting parents, sibling rivalry, low self-esteem, poor school experiences, and rejection by parents or peers.…”