Academic achievement and self-concept of military adolescents attending Canadian Department of National Defence Schools

• Main Author: Malarczyk, Barbara Beth
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 2010
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/29366

This study investigated the relationship between scholastic performance and self-concept of grade ten military dependants, and three selected variables in the military environment. The sample consisted of 119 tenth-grade students from seven Canadian military bases: six in Canada and one Defence base in Germany. Criterion variables were reading comprehension mathematics achievement, written expression and self-concept. Predictor variables were geographic mobility, father absence due to assignment, and military status. The sample was stratified by gender for data analysis. The performance of the research sample on the criterion variables was compared with the published norms through construction of confidence intervals. Relationships between criterion and predictor variables were examined through partial correlations after controlling for the influence of cognitive ability. Multiple regression analyses were used to examine the relationship between the predictor variables and each criterion variable for each gender group. Bonferroni adjustment was used to guard against experiment-wise error. The research sample was found to be similar to the norming samples of instruments used for data collection, except for mathematics and cognitive ability. There was no support for significant relationships between the environmental variables and the criterion variables. None of the bivariate correlations between the environmental and the criterion variables was statistically significant after Bonferroni adjustment for the control of Type 1 error. As well, none of the multiple regression analyses was statistically significant at the .0125 alpha level. However, the military environmental factors investigated in this study did not appear to be detrimental to the adolescents' school achievement and self-concept. It is speculated that cognitive ability may be a mediating variable in the relationship of military environmental variables and performance in school subjects. === Education, Faculty of === Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of === Graduate