Date of Award

1995

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Psychology

Abstract

The focus of this study was to determine if children in parent-present and parent-absent extended homes could be differentially described by a subset of the following variables: self-esteem, school performance (grade, absences, conduct), and psycho-social adjustment (relationship, personal growth, system maintenance). The sample comprised standard six students from ten parochial schools in Belize City. One hundred seventy-two students were identified as living in extended families. Seventeen of these cases had missing information on at least one discriminating variable and were excluded from the study. Of the resulting sample, 55 were identified as living in parent-present extended and 42 in parent-absent extended homes. The remaining 58 were living in single-parent extended homes. The null hypotheses stating that no subset of the predictor variables of self-esteem, school performance (grade, absences, conduct), and psycho-social adjustment (relationship, personal growth, system maintenance) discriminates significantly between children from parent-present extended and parent-absent extended families was tested by a stepwise discriminant analysis. Tests of significance were computed ascertaining the most efficient subset of discriminating variables. The criterion groups were significantly differentiated by three of the seven predictor variables. The children in parent-absent extended families were found to have lower levels of self-esteem and higher number of absences (measure of school performance). These children also perceived higher levels of system maintenance (measure of psycho-social adjustment) within their home. The variables that did not contribute to group differences were measures of school performance (grade and conduct) and measures of psycho-social adjustment (relationship and personal growth). Conclusions, implications for practice and recommendations for further research are discussed.

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