Graduate Thesis Or Dissertation
 

Assessment of changes in behavioral understanding, marital role expectations, self-concept and ideal mate in high school students

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  • The major purpose of this study was to assess changes in behavioral understanding and attitudes students may have experienced in association with their participation in a high school child development course. In addition, assessments were made of changes in subject's perceptions cf: 1) marriage role expectation, 2) self-concept, and 3) their ideal marriage partner. The subjects, a total of 57 sophomore, junior and senior high school students enrolled in a child development course, were divided into three groups on the basis of the number of terms enrolled. This resulted in the following treatment groups: Group I (N=28) completed one term, Group II (N=16) completed two terms and Group III (N=13) completed three terms. The course was planned to be a full year class, however, it was designed for each term to be a relatively self-contained unit. Therefore, a student could enter the class at the beginning of any term and leave after completing one term of study and still receive a reasonably comprehensive course of study. All students elected the course and further, elected to complete one, two or three terms. Non-parametric analyses were used to test five null hypothesis generated for this study. Four hypotheses were related to changes in behavioral understanding, marriage role expectation, self-concept and ideal marriage partner. Data were collected in a pretest posttest situation using the Film Test for Understanding Behavior (FUB), the Dunn Marital Role Expectation Inventory (DMREI) and the Interpersonal Checklist (ICL). Each hypothesis was tested independently for each of the three groups using the Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-ranks test. The Kruskall-Wallis one-way analysis of variance was used to test a fifth hypothesis by comparing the amount of change recorded in each dependent variable with respect to the number of terms enrolled in the course. The findings in this study reveal that eleven of the twelve difference scores for the three groups on the FUB showed an increase and six of these eleven were significant. Group II showed the greatest amount of change, followed by Group I in both quantity and significance of change and finally by Group III. Overall, the results clearly indicate that students did experience an increase in the understanding of the behavior of young children as a result of their association with the child development class. Pretest scores for each of the groups indicated a clear preference for an egalatarian relationship in marriage. Over time, each group increased in its preference for this role relationship; for Group I and Group II that shift was significant. In this study, self-concept, as measured by the ICL remained relatively stable with only one of the six change scores for the three groups, reaching significance. Subject's perceptions of an ideal mate indicated a desire to find mates who were less dominant and loving than pretest scores revealed although there were no significant change scores associated with this trend. Comparisons of the amount of change evidenced by the three groups for Hypothesis V showed that there was a significant difference in one area; that associated with the Film Test Score. Two other scores approached significance level; that for the Knowledge subscale and the Dunn Egalatarian subscale. Possible explanations for the observed changes were discussed with particular emphasis on the significant findings regarding behavioral understanding. Limitations of the study and suggestions for further research are discussed.
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