| Summary: | The purpose of this-thesis is to explore the relationships between (a) the behaviour disorders of a selected group of children who have been referred to the Vancouver Child Guidance Clinic and (b) some of the influences affecting their parents. As an essay in classification and analysis, it is hoped to point the way to further research in the field which will give attention to social work implication.
All material was gathered from case records made available by the Child Guidance Clinic. The sample is composed of forty-five boys and girls who were referred by private sources to the clinic between March 1948 and April 1951, and represents approximately one-sixth of all private referrals for that period. The sample was so chosen in respect to age, intelligence and home situation, as to be representatives of the majority of all children referred privately over that period.
The children were classified according to the nature of their behaviour disorders, and an attempt was made to depict some measure of the severity and complexity of each child's disorder. The adequacy of the respective parents was evaluated by the use of a schedule and a rating-scale; and the influences affecting parents were categorized and weighted. Comparison was then made between the children's disorders and the limiting influences affecting their parents.
The comparisons of the groups reveal many interesting features but the small size of the sample prevents any purely statistical conclusions. A number of features reveal themselves, however. In one sub-group of children, relationship was discernible between mothers who were considered inadequate and a certain kind and severity of behaviour disorders in the child. In another sub-group of children, there were indications of confused or disturbed parental identifications at an early age. Above all, the study emphasized the high incidence of emotional instability among the parents of these children, which points to the need in Vancouver for an adult or family mental health clinic. === Arts, Faculty of === Social Work, School of === Graduate
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