Publication Date

1966

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

Wells, Philip C.||Yankow, Henry G.

Degree Name

M.S. (Master of Science)

Legacy Department

Department of Education

LCSH

Paternal deprivation; Educational psychology

Abstract

Statement of the problem. The problem was to investigate the status of children from broken homes to determine to what extent they were low achievers and to what extent they were discipline problems, as compared with children from unbroken homes in the same grades. Design of the study. The study was conducted, and all information gathered from one school district using grades four, five, and six of five elementary schools. A survey sheet was sent out to the teachers asking them to give the following information on each child: the IQ range, achievement level, whether or not he is a discipline problem, and if he is from an unbroken or a broken home. The broken homes were designated to include homes broken by divorce, those broken by the death of one parent; and whether or not the remaining parent has remarried. Also included were foster and adoptive homes. The teacher used the child’s permanent records for this information, and obtained the scholastic ratings from the basic school subjects. The complete study involved 831 children. There were 711 from unbroken homes and 120 from broken homes. The broken homes amounted to about 14 1/2 per cent of the total. All the surveys and information were totalled by grades and then combined into the two main home situations, and tallied according to achievement abilities, IQ ranges, and discipline. The broken and unbroken homes were then compared. Findings and conclusions. In comparing the children from broken and unbroken homes, the figures show a higher percentage of children from broken homes are in the low IQ range as well as the low achievement group. In the middle IQ range and the middle achievement level, there is no real significant difference between the children from the two types of home. About two-thirds of the total number of children are in this group. In the high IQ range, a somewhat greater number of children were from unbroken homes. This was also true of the above average achievement level. In the children from broken homes, there is a definite relationship between low IQ and low achievement in connection with discipline. In the middle and high achievement ranges, the discipline problems were still evident, but were not as great. In comparing the children in the lower IQ range, the broken homes have a higher percentage of discipline problems, particularly in the low achievement level. In the middle IQ range, the children from broken homes show a higher per cent of discipline problems in all achievement ranges, with a sharp increase in the low achievement range. There was also a higher percentage of discipline problems from broken homes in the high IQ range. The study shows that, academically, children from broken homes should be capable of performing on an equal basis with children from unbroken homes because a majority of both groups are in the middle IQ range. In the area of discipline, those children from broken homes are more consistently discipline problems in all IQ ranges and in the low achievement range. With children from unbroken homes, the discipline problems are greatest in the low achievement group. Consequently, the children from broken homes, as a group, are more inclined to be discipline problems than those from unbroken homes.

Comments

Includes bibliographical references.

Extent

62 pages

Language

eng

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

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