The Relationship Between Parent Status and the Home Learning Environment, Self-Esteem, and Academic Achievement of Fifth- to Eighth-Grade Students from Ohio Conference Seventh-day Adventist Schools
Problem. The social issues at the end of the 20th century have not left the Seventh-day Adventist church untouched. This present study sought to determine the differences that may exist between one- and two-parent students in the area of home learning environment, self-esteem, and academic achievement. Method. Eighty-eight male and female students from 14 Ohio Seventh-day Adventist schools in grades 5-8 were studied. Data for the study were collected from three instruments: the Hare Self-Esteem Scale, the modified Henderson Environmental Learning Process Scale, and the Family Survey. Additional data were gathered from the Iowa Test of Basic Skills student scores. The Hare Self-Esteem Scale is a 30-item instrument that measures self-esteem of school-age children 10 years old and above in three areas: peers, school, and home. Students involved in the study completed the survey at their own school administered by the researcher. The modified Henderson Environmental Learning Process Scale is a 55-item questionnaire that was reduced to 40 items to match the students in this study. The scale was sent to each participating family and completed and sent back to the researcher. The Family Survey is a 12-item demographic instrument designed to obtain information about the families participating in this study. The survey was sent to each participating family and completed and sent back to the researcher. Students’ test scores from the 1995 Iowa Test of Basic Skills were used for the study. The scores were gathered by the researcher from the Ohio Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. The Spearman rho for two ordinal variables and t-test for two independent samples were used to analyze the data for this study. Results: There was found to be a significant difference between one- and two-parent students in one area. Two-parent students’ home learning environment was found to be more positive than that of their one-parent peers (p_< .05). No significant differences were found in the Subject scores and Composite scores of the Iowa Test of Basic Skills of one- and two-parent students (e < .05). No significant difference was found in the self­ esteem o f one- and two-parent students (g < .05). No significant difference was found in the time that one-parent students spent with their relatives and the influences o f that time on the student’s academic performance (e < 05). Conclusion. No significant differences in academic achievement and self-esteem were found between students from one-parent families and their two-parent peers. No significant differences were found between the duration a student had been part of a one-parent family and their academic performance. No significant differences were found between the academic performance of students from one-parent families and the frequency o f contact with their relatives. Significant differences in the home learning environment do exist between one- and two-parent Seventh-day Adventist students of Ohio. The Church’s educational leadership should look at the whole system so as to determine how we can assist one-parent students at school and support their single parent at home.
Christian Denominations and Sects, Education, Family, Life Course, and Society
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