A study of the relationship of preschoolers' perceptions of parental attributes to behaviors exhibited in nursery school

• Main Author: Miller, Darvin Lowell
• Other Authors: Richmond, David F.
• Format: Others
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: Nursery schools.; Child development.
• Online Access: http://cardinalscholar.bsu.edu/handle/handle/178546; http://liblink.bsu.edu/uhtbin/catkey/414193

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship of preschoolers' perceptions of parental attributes to the behaviors exhibited in nursery school. The study was designed to test the following hypotheses:I. Preschool children who perceive their parents as controlling and accepting exhibit positive socializing and independent behaviors in nursery school.II. Preschool children who perceive their parents as punitive and/or overindulgent exhibit negative socializing and dependent behaviors in nursery school.A pilot study, using a semi-structured doll play instrument constructed by the researcher, was conducted to determine significant scenes which would evoke necessary information for the categories of the research study. Twelve scenes were selected on the basis of highest scoring averages as the most reliable scenes. Instructions to the child and order of the scenes to coincide with normal home activity were established.Forty-two preschool children, ages four and five, were administered The Doll Play Technique to determine their perceptions of parental attributes. The attributes measured were categorized as 1) control, 2) acceptance, 3) punitiveness, and 4) overindulgence. The subjects were thirty-two males and ten females of normal intelligence. They were Caucasian, from nuclear type family structure, and represented lower middle class socio-economic status.The subjects were tested and observed in two east central Indiana nursery schools during the Fall of 1969. Twelve three-minute behavioral observations on each subject were gathered and coded into the following basic categories: a) positive socializing, b) independent behavior, c) negative behavior, and d) dependent behavior.The Pearson product-moment correlation statistic was used to test the hypotheses. The level of significance was determined by use of the t test. Inter correlations of the variables were determined along with multiple regression correlations indicating greater variable significance.Findings on the hypotheses indicated a significant relationship between preschoolers' perceptions of their parents as controlling and accepting and their exhibition of positive socializing and independent behaviors in nursery school. There was a probable relationship between preschoolers' perceptions of their parents as punitive and/or overindulgent and their exhibition of negative socializing and dependent behaviors in nursery school. Other findings indicated that: control and acceptance, which were posited as positively related, had an inverse relationshipcontrol and overindulgence, which were posited diversely, had an inverse relationshipacceptance and punitiveness, which were posited diversely, had an inverse relationshipoverindulgence and independent behavior, which were posited diversely, had an inverse relationshipacceptance and independent behavior, which were posited as positively related, had a positive relationshipacceptance and dependent behavior, which were posited diversely, had an inverse relationshippunitiveness and negative socializing, which were posited as positively related, had a positive relationshippositive socializing and dependent behavior, which were posited diversely, had an inverse relationshipindependent behavior and dependent behavior, which were posited diversely, had an inverse relationshipnegative socializing and dependent behavior, which were posited as positively related, had a positive relationship.Greater predictability of the dependent variables in the hypotheses occurred when the independent variables were considered in combination rather than separately.Beyond support for the hypotheses, the study indicated that preschool children's perceptions of parental attributes appear to be antecedent to socializing and independent behaviors in nursery school. The Doll Play Technique gave indication of effectively obtaining preschoolers' perceptions of parental attributes in the rearing process.