A descriptive study of the preadolescent in North Del Middle School and his problems with special reference to his parents

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether or not there is a discrepancy between the parents' perceptions of children's personal problems and those of their preadolescent children.The research was designed to test eight null hypotheses which were formulated to this effect. The instrument utilized in this research was the Mooney Problem Check List (Junior High School Form) for both parents and children. The Problem Check List has 7 sub-sections which include 30 items for each area. The seven sub-sections are: Health and Physical Development (HPD), School (S), Home and Family (HF), Money, Work, and the Future (MWF), Boy and Girl Relations (BG), Relations to People in General (PG), and Self-centered Concerns (SC).The subjects for this study were fifteen sets of both parents and their eighth grade children. The children were all Caucasians and came from a rural area.The following procedure was adopted to collect the data: packages of materials were prepared and sent to each of the 45 parents randomly selected from one school. These contained two copies of the Mooney Problem Check Lists, a parents' consent form, an application form for an individual interview or family conference, and two stamped, addressed envelopes. The parents were requested to complete the forms and to return them within two weeks. This resulted in response from six single parents and fifteen sets of both parents.The mean scores for each of seven areas and the totals were obtained for the children, their fathers, and mothers separately. The group means were compared and analyzed in order to accept or reject the null hypotheses. Analysis of variance technique was applied to compare the means of the three groups--children, fathers, and mothers-on each of the seven areas and the total. In order to determine if the differences were significant, the alpha level of .05 was used. When the differences between the means were found to be significant for a given variable, the post hoc Tukey HSD procedure was used to carry out the further analysis (Kirk, 1968).The findings obtained showed that the null hypotheses of Health and Physical Development and School were rejected. Therefore, the Tukey's HSD procedures were used to determine which pairs of means differed in these areas. Post hoc analyses of the means by the Tukey's HSD indicated that the children's reports of personal problems significantly differed from the parents' report. The children disagreed with father and mother but father and mother agreed with each other in Health and Physical Development and School areas. Null hypotheses 3 through 8 were not rejected. All three groups agreed in the children's personal problems checked in Home & Family, Money, Work, the Future, Boy & Girl Relations, Relations to People in General and Self-centered Concerns areas and the total.Based on these results several conclusions were made. Parents perceived their children's Health and Physical Development and School problems differently from the way the children perceived them. Parents agreed with their children concerning Home and Family, Money, Work, the Future, Boy and Girl Relations, Relations to People in General, and Self-centered Concerns and Total areas. Parents agreed with each other on all seven categories. The differences shown in the two areas of Health and Physical Development and School as viewed by children and parents is possibly attributable to lack of communication between them. However, this study had a small sample size and interpretation must be cautious.Thesis (Ed. S.