Relationships between family background problems and school problems and competencies of young normal children

Abstract

Demographically matched groups of normal, nonreferred children who had, or had not, experienced one of four family background problems (lack of educational stimulation in the home, family pressutes to succeed, economic dificulties, and general family problems) were compared on teacher ratings of school maladjustment and competencies. Children with each of these family problems had greater school difficulties and fewer resources than matched controls without such histories. Systematic relations, paralleling earlier findings with referred samples, were found between specific types of family and school problems. Thus, children from homes lacking educational stimulation had higher learning and acting-out problem. scores than controls, and children under farnily pressure to succeed had higher anxiety ratings than controls. Some implications of these findings for prevention were considered.

Family Stress and Organization Following Parental Divorce or Death

“…These relationships were generally consistent across independent year samples, referred and normal populations, and urbanlsuburban and rural samples. It is dear, given the established impact of these stress and family organization variables on the school adjustment of children (Boike et al, 1977;Gesten et al, 1978;Lorion et al, 1977), that their differential incidence of co-occurrence with parental divorce or death may contribute to the specific types of school adjustment problems shown by such children. Further work examining the relative amount of behavioral variance accounted for by stressors and changes which accompany parental divorce or death would aid in clarifying this issue.…”

“…However, several factors make such reports acceptable and indeed possibly desirable for the present work. Previous studies have explored the relationship between the specific types of family background problems children experience and the school adjustment problems they display using the current samples and instruments (Felner et al, 1975;Boike et al, 1977;Gesten et al, 1978;Lorion et al, 1977). These studies have established both the reliability and, perhaps more importantly, the predictive validity of the teacher reports used in the current work.…”

“…However, no work has as yet established whether there are systematic differences in the frequency with which such stressors and changes accompany parental divorce as opposed to the frequency with which they accompany parental death. The relevance of this issue for the previously identified differences in the school adjustment patterns of children from homes disrupted by parental divorce or parental death is underscored by the results of previous studies which have demonstrated that these and other stressors in the household of primary grade children may be related to the degree and type of school adjustment or maladjustment they display (Boike, Gesten, Cowen, Felner, & Francis, 1977;Gesten, Scher, & Cowen, 1978;Lorion, Cowen, Kraus, &Milling, 1977). For example, Boike et al (1977) found that a lack of emphasis on educational stimulation by parents of primary grade children was associated with greater school acting-out Thus, if children of divorce are found to experience systematically lower levels of educational stimulation from their parents than those from homes disrupted by parental death, it may help to account for some of the school adjustment differences in these groups.…”

Family systems theory and school psychology: Implications for training and practice

“…In terms of school functioning, Smith related various family dynamics that maintain and encourage both active and passive behavior problems in the classroom. Boike, Gesten, Cowen, Felner, and Francis (1978) compared large groups of primary age children and found that children whose families were experiencing problems at home had more difficulties in school, compared to controls. Even more supportive was Martin's (1967) finding that, based on teacher reports, negative behaviors decreased following family therapy.…”

The Primary Mental Health Project: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

“…A cluster of seven studies has shown consistent relationships between various family background factors (e.g., excessive pressure on the child, lack of educational stimulation in the home) or life crises (e.g., parent separation/divorce, death in the family) and school adjustment problems (Boike, Gesten, Cowen, Felner, & Francis, 1978;Felner et al, 1975;Gallagher & Cowen, 1976Gesten, Scher, & Cowen, 1978;Lorion, Cowen, Kraus, & Milling, 1977; Searcy, Cowen, & Terrell, 1977). Those studies show consistent associations between life and familial crises and both greater maladjustment and reduced competence in school.…”