The influence of family interaction patterns on attachment in middle childhood

The purpose of this study was twofold, 1) to assess and compare the family interaction patterns of families who home educate and those who send their children to public schools and 2) to determine the influence of family cohesion on the self-exposure and self-containment balance of children in middle childhood. In Phase I, 20 home schooled and 20 public schooled families were administered Faces III to assess their family interaction patterns. In Phase II, one child in each family was administered the Separation Anxiety Test to assess their overall emotional openness. Chi-square analyses were used to determine the differences in the level of mothers' scores on cohesion and adaptability between the home schooled and public schooled groups. Four separate T-tests were conducted to compare the means of the two groups for the perceived and ideal cohesion and the perceived and ideal adaptability scores. Discrepancy scores, differences between husbands' and wives' ideal and perceived scores for family interaction, were also compared for the two groups. None of the comparisons between the groups were found to be statistically significant. For Phase II, a series of separate-variance T-tests were conducted to determine differences between children from balanced and extreme families and between the home and public schooled children on the overall emotional openness score. No significant differences were found in any of the comparisons. In general, the findings did not support the notion that families who home educated their children represented closed systems and that such closure in family functioning was dysfunctional.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Family and Child Development

Department dc:contributor.department

Family and Child Development

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Year dc:date.issued

1986

Author dc:creator

• Hoskins, Winifred Anne

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10919/90941

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/90941