The relationship between kindergarten children's classroom behavior and family unit type

• Main Author: Kendrick, Martha L.
• Other Authors: Hochstetler, Ruth J.
• Format: Others
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: School children > Family relationships.; Child psychology.; Kindergarten.
• Online Access: http://cardinalscholar.bsu.edu/handle/handle/177289; http://liblink.bsu.edu/uhtbin/catkey/225257

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between kindergarten children's classroom behavior and family unit type. Three dimensions of classroom behavior were examined: temperament, socialization, and task-orientation. Family unit types were: nuclear, single-parent, and remarried.The sample consisted of ninety-eight subjects divided, according to family unit types, as follows: nuclear - forty, single-parent - thirty-one, and remarried - twenty-seven. There were fifty-three males and forty-five females. Subjects were enrolled in kindergarten classrooms of two public school corporations in Indiana.Null hypotheses were formulated to examine kindergarten children's classroom behavior, temperament, socialization, and task-orientation, as functions of family unit type. A multivariate and univariate analysis of variance, with statistical control for the sex factor, was used to test the null hypotheses.The dependent variables, classroom behavior, temperament, socialization, and task-orientation, were measured by the teacher-rated Classroom Behavior Inventory. Data identifying the independent variable, family unit type, and the control variable, sex, were collected on the Personal Data Form.An examination of the statistical analyses yielded the following results:No significant difference in kindergarten children's classroom behavior was found among children of nuclear, -single-parent, and remarried families (p<.4589).Due to an insignificant F-ratio on the multivariate analysis of variance, univariate analyses of variance could not be performed.Results of this study indicated that there was no significant difference in classroom behavior among kindergarten children of nuclear, single-parent, and remarried families. Results of the sex variance analysis suggested that sex differences existed relative to task-orientation.Although differences in classroom behavior existed they were not caused by family unit type. Concerns of educators that children of non-nuclear families deem special attention were not supported. Children in single-parent and remarried families evidenced classroom behavior similar to that of nuclear family children.