Date of Award

Summer 8-1-1993

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Communication Disorders and Counseling, School, and Educational Psychology

First Advisor

Reece Chaney

Second Advisor

Kenneth Walker

Third Advisor

William Barratt

Abstract

While the concept of resiliency is beginning to be addressed in the literature, little is known about gender differences among resilient children. The purpose of this study was to identify familial and environmental variables which would predict gender among resilient children. This study investigated gender differences between resilient boys and girls on the following variables: parental attitude toward education, educational level of the father, educational level of the mother, familial drug or alcohol use/abuse, incidence of physical and/or sexual abuse, and extracurricular activities. These variables were selected for study because of the importance of investigating factors in the family environment (Mooney, 1992; Williams, 1992). The participants were 118 fourth, seventh, and tenth grade at-risk children, 58 boys and 60 females, identified as resilient and selected from data provided by the Phi Delta Kappa Foundation (Frymier, 1989). Instrumentation used was the At-Risk Scale, which identified at-risk children and provided demographic data. A multiple discriminant analysis indicated that of the variables under study, familial drug or alcohol use/abuse was a significant predictor of gender group membership. Girls were found to be more resilient than boys with regard to this variable. Parental attitude toward education, educational iv level of the father, educational level of the mother, incidence of physical and/or sexual abuse, and extracurricular activities were not significant predictors of gender group membership. It was concluded that family drug or alcohol use/abuse differentiated between resilient boys and girls. Resilient girls were more likely than resilient boys to come from families with drug or alcohol use/abuse. The remaining family environmental variables did not differentiate between resilient boys and girls. The implications of these conclusions are discussed.

Download

Share

COinS