I. INTRODUCTION
Sociological precepts have adduced that the type of
kinship between parents and their children has a very significant impact on the
manner in which the learners perform in school. The “quality” of this
relationship, according to research, has a considerable effect on the
personality of the learner throughout the education curve (Hill, 2009). This
paper seeks to offer a consummate discourse on the type of relationship that
exists between parents and children (teenagers to be specific) in college. The
paper explores a statistical inference to outline the kind of relationship
between teenagers who are in college and their parents.
This research study
first sought to establish “how easy” the teenagers find the interaction with
their parts even as they approach the completion of their studies. As explored
by psychological principles, it is probable that the progressive development of
the students from freshmen towards the graduation will alter the manner in
which their parents relate to them. The maturity that one undergoes through
this evolution inherently shifts the way in which parents and their children
relate. This is a concept that this paper will try to outline.
Life decisions are
poignant issues in the life of teenagers. There is a tendency to seek for
independence in decision making as one approach the conclusion of his education
(Wild & Yotyodying, 2010). Is there any kinship between these decisions
regarding life and parenting systems? This will be equally established in this
work. The stress of the research study will be to affirm the role of the
parents in the decision making of important life decisions. How often are the
teenagers involved in the consultation of their parents for these decisions?
There is a postulation
that the gender of a teenage student is crucial in defining the way in which
they associate with their parents. The assumption is that the male students are
more contented with the manner in which their parents handle them. This has
been outlined by Benard (2010). According to him, the female gender is more
inclined to “rebel” against their parents. In his psychological disposition,
Hill (2009) attributes this unstable relationship to “emotional volatility”
that is intrinsic in the female gender. This assertion will be explored through
this research study. Are there any gender provisions in the understanding of the
peer-parent relationship? This work will outline this concept
II. METHODOLOGY
i.
Respondents
The responses used to make a statistical analysis
to answer the research question were gathered from a sample size of 275
students. Out of the 275 respondents from this institution, the females were
the highest with a cumulative percentage of (64.4%). The males who were
interviewed accounted for (35.5%) of the total respondents. Meanwhile, in terms
of the “class representation,” the survey study interviewed (14.9%) respondents
who represented the freshmen. Sophomores were represented by (35.7%)
representing the highest presentation in the study. Meanwhile, junior and the
senior years were represented by (25.0%) and (24.3%) respectively. This
distribution of respondents was quite even considering that no singular group
of interviewees accounted for more than half of the total representation. l
In terms of racial representation, the Caucasians
were the majority respondents with a percentage of (55.2%). The Asian
population interviewed accounted for (22.2%) of the interviewees while (13.0%)
of the respondents were Hispanics. The African Americans were represented by
(3.0%) while other, uncategorized races accounted for (6.7%) of the total
respondents. The study included several representatives of almost all the
disciplines in the College. The majority of the respondents were majors in
psychology (13.1%)
In relationship to the proposed research
hypothesis, the analysis will focus on establishing how students relate to
their parents when approaching graduation. To establish this, the analysis done
was independent sample T-test. This substantially compared the means of the
respondents (seniors and freshmen) regarding their relationship with their
parents. The T- test was equally performed
between the male and the female students to confirm whether the females
had a “complicated” relationship with their parents. Lastly, a correlation
analysis was done to establish the nexus between the fulfilments the learners
have when asking their parents regarding life decisions. The level of
significance for the comparison of the means of the variables will be set at
0.05
ii.
Materials
Several items were incorporated into the study to
help in the analysis process. 32 items were used in the study; these items
(variables) related the research questions to the phenomena under study. In
cases where the extent of the agreement was required, the application of Likert
scale provided a critical inclusion.
iii.
Research process
The research team did the designation of the
questionnaire. The structuring of the questionnaire took into account the
intended research philosophy and the research approach (Qualitative). The
questionnaire contained 32 items, which formed the central theme of the study.
These items were segmented into two larger sections with the first section
focusing on the biogeographical information of the respondents then followed by
the other 32 items relevant to understanding the study. The questionnaires were
distributed through random distribution to the respondents. Eventually, the
questionnaires were collected after which the collected data were sorted and
analyzed by SPSS for synthesis.
iv.
Results
The fresher group (N=58) is associated with lesser concern for parental “control” (M=2.33) and (SD=1.082). By comparison,
the seniors (N=50) was associated with a more “declined” relationship with
their parents (M=2.82, SD=1.004). To
test the hypothesis that the freshmen and the seniors were associated with a
statistically different mean relationship with their parents, an independent
sample t-test was performed. The independent sample test was associated with a
statistically significant effect t (106)
= -2.438, p=0.016. This essentially means that the freshmen are associated
with a statistically significantly larger mean parental relationship than the
senior students are.
In the second test, the interrogation was to
establish the gender disparity in parental relationships. The males (N=98) and (M=3.98 and SD=1.025) and the
females (N=176, M=4.05, and the SD=1.004)
compares to parental satisfaction (M=4.03
and the SD=1.011) with a statistical effect, t (272) - degrees of freedom=-0.561, p=0.575.
Correlating the nexus between satisfactions in
those decisions of life and asking parents about these decisions was made. This
analysis used the variables 13 and 30 to establish the extent of the
relationship between them. The positive association between responses to
variables 13 (M = 3.37, SD = 1.13)
and 30 (M = 3.7, SD = .859) was
significant, r (272) = .093, p =0 .05. If
p≤ 0.05. This means there is no significant correlation between these two
items (variables)
III.
DISCUSSION
The maturation of students means that the students
develop a sense of independence in their thinking. From the results of the data
analysis, there is sufficient evidence to deduce that as the students moved
closer to their graduation, their relationships with their parents become more
“complicated.” This essentially means that the students are developing a sense
of belonging and “sprouting” from the protection of their parents. The seniors
were found to be more “rebellious” as compared to the freshmen. Well, this can
be attributed to the fact that the senior men are evolving into a world where
they would like to be in charge of all they undertake. This falls down to the
aspect of “taking responsibility.”
As one develops and matures, there is a strong
inclination to remain independent. There is a need to start projecting one’s
trajectory in life without any “parental interference.” Probably, this explains
why the senior students are more inclined to have a poor relationship with
their parents. This research study ignored the racial attributes of the
learners in assessing how they relate to their parents and so no statistical
inference was made. Conversely, the freshmen have a relatively smooth
relationship with their parents as compared to the senior students.
In the second analysis, p=0.575. This value is higher than the significance level, α, =0.05, it means that the females were
likely to have issues with their parents at teenage as compared to the males.
As outlined earlier in this work, this may originate from the fact that the
emotional facet of the females is likely to influence their relationship with
their parents. The females are likely to have a feeble kinship with their
parents. In the last analysis, the correlation investigation of the two
variants revealed that there was no significant relationship worth studying.
This essentially means that the two variables that were subjected to
statistical analysis had no relationship of whatsoever kind. Thus the decisions
of the teenagers (life decisions) has no relationship to how the child related
to their parents at the college level
I.
REFERENCES
Hill, J. (2009). Relationships between parent‐teaching activities and emergent literacy in preschool
children. Early Child Development and Care, 215-228.
Barnard, K. (2010). Keys to Developing Early Parent-Child Relationships.
Nurturing Children and Families Building on the Legacy of T. Berry
Brazelton, 53-63.
Wild, E., & Yotyodying, S. (2011). Studying at Home: With Whom and
in Which Way? Homework Practices and Conflicts in the Family. The
Politicization of Parenthood, 165-180.
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