Impact of Parental Counselling on Child’s Personality and Scholastic Performance

Sahu, A.* and Baghel B.

Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics. Govt. Medical College, Jagdalpur, Bastar (C.G.) 494001, INDIA.

ABSTRACT:

A highly significant improvement was found towards positive sten scores in all 14 PFs studied in all four groups i.e. parent’s age, occupation, education, number of siblings. Those who were sleeping for 8-10 hours per days were more relaxed and attentive as compared to those who were sleeping less similarly children who played more than 2 hours/day were more confident and happy.

School teachers represent the second mother figure for children. The personality trait of teachers directly or indirectly has an impact on the development of child’s personality. Hence teachers selection must be done by a committee consisting of at least experienced Educationalist ,Psychologist ,Sociologist and the salaries must be higher even than those of Gazetted officers .There is a strong need to create awareness among parents about their psychosocial factors which have a strong influence on child’s future personality development and intellectual scholastic performance. Apart from parents, educational authorities, policy makers and all concerned should be sensitized to this with the help of mass media and information network. So they can effectively deal with specific situation like academic, social as well as emotional.

KEY WORDS: - Second mother figure, Counselling, Pegs

INTRODUCTION:

Educational Quality can’t be achieved by the schools alone, but the schools can make a major contribution towards ensuring “that all children should have an equal opportunity of acquiring intelligence”.

Early education brings benefit by two routes, first by direct effects on cognitive performance and second through non cognitive effects on children’s self esteem and self efficacy and on their attitude of learning on parents hope and aspirations and on teacher’s expectation of and response to the children .It was thought that early education experience may change children from passive to active learner who begin to take the initiatives in seeking information, help and interaction with others .When this motivation to learn is met by a positive response at home and at school long term cognitive gain can result Schweinhart, L.(1).

Counselling is the processes of inter personal interaction with the specific purpose of enabling the parents to find out various solutions for the problems. Counselling help in differentiating normal and abnormal, improving decision making, modification of behaviors, improving personal effectiveness improving achievement and promoting mental, emotional, social health, also very useful in resolving various problems.

It is very important for the parents to put the child at ease and talk to him, discuss with him the problem faced at school if any , find out what they feel about their teachers. Meet the teachers often and find out what disturbs the little one. The behaviour of the child in school should be discussed with the teacher.

Parents should not despair on an occasional deviation (bad bath) and should not be a cause of due concern during schooling. The child must be helped in growing up process. There should not be any hurry and worry. Train the child in various skills and responsibility and wait until he is ready to get advantage from such training, help and interaction with others, When this motivation to learn is met by a positive response at home and at school, long term cognitive gain can result .A review of literature reflects the paucity of such studies particularly post counselling on this subjects especially in Indian context and in 1957 a study group of World Health Organization (W.H.O.) has expressed the view that in order to get a comprehensive picture of disease (health problem) more and more studies have to be carried out, Garg Narendra K. (2). This prompted the authors to undertake this study to explore the extent of stress related to the environment mainly the home and to analyze the impact of parental counselling on child’s personality and their scholastic performance.

MATERIAL AND METHODS:

Five hundred students between the ages of 7 to 10 years of class 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th standard of three English medium schools in Jabalpur (India) and their parents took part in the pre counselling but in post counselling 12 students did not participative (Table-I) hence only 488 students constituted the material for this study. The study was conducted from July 2001 to November 2002.

Thirty students per batch were approached at a time in the absence of teachers and other staff .After being fully explained, a predrawn, pretested questionnaire, the students were asked to fill the same.

Questionnaire comprised of two sections - one was designed to gather general information from the parents eg. Parent’s occupation, age, educational qualification ,parent student relationship, parental help in study, number of siblings, birth order of the student, a few question about his / her hygienic habits, games, T.V. watching, tuition, sleeping hours, distance from school, school attendance, mode of conveyance, study hours and language spoken at home.

Section - II comprised the 14 P.F. CPQ personality questionnaire developed cattel. This is standard instruments which comprehensively test the personality of individual in fourteen dimensions. This is an objectively, scorable test devised by basic research in psychology to give the most complete coverage of personality, possibly in a brief time. This is more appropriate for the age group of 7 – 11 years. . 14 PF were studied in relation to 4 main Parental / Family factors:-

(1) No. of Sibling (1, 2, 3 or more).

(2) Age of Parents, both mother and father, divided in to 3 groups (25 – 30, 30 – 35 and more than 35 years).

(3) Educational status of parents Higher Secondary, Graduate and Post Graduate.

(4) Occupation – Occupation of parent (whether mother is working or non working, father in Govt. service / Private / Business). All these factors have direct and positive effects on the development and personality of the child.

These tests were hand scored with a stencil key. These scores were added separately for each fraction and the total was entered in the spaces indicted by a arrow on the stencil for the respective factors. These were the raw scores. Standardized table were used to convert the raw scores into what are called, Sten score which are distributed over 10 equal intervals. Standard score prints assuming normal distribution from 1 to 10 with the population average fixed at sten.

For each factor score < 4 means, negative sten scoring, while >7 implies positive score. A score of 5 – 6 was considered average.

Factor A - Low sten score (negative) include sizothymia, reserved, detached, critical, and cool. High sten score (positive) include cyclothymia, warmhearted, outgoing, easygoing, participating.

Factor B - Low sten score (negative) lower scholastic mental capacity. Less intelligent, concrete thinking. High Sten score (positive) include higher scholastic mental capacity .More intelligent abstract thinking, bright.

Factor C - Low sten score (negative) lower ego strength, emotionally less stable, easily upset, change able. High sten score (positive) higher ego strength, emotionally stable, faces reality, calm.

Factor D - Low sten score (negative) phlegmatic temperament, deliberate, inactive, stodgy. High sten score (positive) excitability, impatient, demanding, overactive.

Factor E - Low sten score (negative) Submissiveness, obedient, mild, confirming High sten score (positive) dominance, aggressive, independent, assertive, stubborn

Factor F - Low sten score (negative) Desurgency, serious, sober, prudent, taciturn. High sten score (positive) surgery, enthusiastic needless, happy go lucky.

Factor G - Low sten score (negative) weaker superego strength, disregard rules, undependable, by-pass obligations, High sten score (positive) stronger superego strength, conscientious, preserving.

Factor H - Low sten score (negative) threctia, shy, restrained, diffident, timid. High sten score (positive) parmia, venturesome, socially bold, uninhabited.

Factor I - Low sten score (negative) Harria, tough minded, self reliant, realistic the help of clinical psychologist was taken in planning and execution of study, the observations were scrutinized and checked by him.

Factor J - Low sten score (negative) including zeppia, vigorous, zestful, goes readily with group, given to action. High sten score (positive) include coasthemia, individualistic, doubting, obstructive, reflective, internally restrained, unwilling to act.

Factor N - Low sten score (negative) including artlessness, forthright, natural, artless, sentimental High sten score (positive) include shrewdness, shrewd, penetrating, worldly, calculating.

Factor O - Low sten score (negative) including untroubled adequacy, self-assured, placid, secure, serene. High sten score (positive) include guilt proneness, worrying apprehensive, depressed, trouble.

Factor Q₃ - Low sten score (negative) include low integration, casusl, careless of social rules, untidy rules, follows own urges. High sten score (positive) include high self-concept control, controlled, socially precise, self-disciplined, compulsive.

Factor Q₄ - Low sten score (negative) include low ergic tension, relaxed, tranquil, torpid unfrustrated. High sten score (positive0 include high ergic tension, tense, driven, overwrought fretful.

A thorough clinical examination of children were done, which included. Anthropometric measurement mainly height and weight, systemic examination, visual acuity and any other complaints regarding health.

Counseling was done by an expert in the field of child health and psychology with over two decades of experience in counselling methods .The personality of children was assessed after 8 – 12 weeks of counselling. Scholastic performance of students before and after counselling were compared.

Statistical Analysis: were expressed in terms of proportion, mean, standard deviation and “Z test “.

OBSERVATIONS:

On analysis of the collected data it was observed that majority of students (52.4 %) spent even less than 2 hours for playing followed by 29.4 % between 2 to 3 hours. and the remaining 18.4 % more than 3 hours every day (Table –II).

Regarding sleeping habits of the children 69.2 % of children used to sleep between 8 to 10 hours a day (Table –III) followed by 16.2 and 14.6 % children used to sleep for more than 10 hours and less than 8 hours a day respectively .

The difference between pre and post counselling values were found to be highly significant of the 14 PF’s studied in all the 4 groups i.e. parent’s age, occupation, education and number of sibling ( Diagram –I to VII ) ..

Factor A – Children were found to be less reserved and detached after counselling of parents irrespective to their educational status, age, occupation or no. of sibling.

Factor B – Better scholastic performance, increased mental capacity and concrete thinking was found after counselling.

Factor C – Children were more emotionally stable, mature and calm with higher ego strength.

Factor D – Temperament and activity was improved post counselling.

Factor E – Children were more accommodating and obedient, feeling of independence increased.

Factor F – Children were found more enthusiastic.

Factor G – Strong super ego strength and more rule bounded ness were observed.

Factor H – Shyness and timidity was decreased after counselling.

Factor I – Children were now less tough minded and over protected.

Factor J – Children became less vigorous and zestful.

Factor N – After counselling, children were less sentimental and more natural forthright.

Factor O – Feeling of security and self assurance was increased.

Factor Q₃ – Better integration and self control was found along with increased tendency to abide by social rules.

Factor Q₄ – Frustration decreased and better ergic tension was seen after counselling.

TABLE – I Distribution of Children (Cases) According to Different Study Classes

CLASSES	PRE COUNSELLING	POST COUNSELLING	DROP OUT
2^nd	160	155	5
3^rd	140	137	3
4^th	130	128	2
5th	70	68	2

TABLE – II Distribution of Children According To Different Duration of Sleep Hours

S. No.	DURATION	TOTAL NO.
1.	< 8 hrs.	73 (15%)
2.	8 – 10 hrs.	346 (69%)
3.	> 10 hrs	81 (16%)

TABLE – III Distribution of Children (Cases) According To Different Hours of Play (Play Time)

S. No.	TOTAL HOURS OF PLAY	TOTAL NO.
1.	< 2 hrs.	262 (51%)
2.	2 – 3 hrs.	146 (30%)
3.	> 3 hrs	92 (19%)

DISCUSSIONS:

According to National Council of Education and Research (N.C.E.R.T.), 1992, by appropriate environment is means a stimulating environment which is able to provide the child with experience and facilities that will foster his/her overall development.

A number of factors in the social and home environment determine the overall development, personality and scholastic and intellectual development of the child.

Frank says “part of the confusion arises from the old distinction between work and play with the feeling that while work is good ,play is somewhat questionable if not bad or sinful “Murlidharan et. al. (3). Play is the way the child learns what none can teach him .It is way to explore and orient himself to the actual world of space and time of things, animals, structures and people. Play is the child’s work. According to another theory not all the energy produced by the child is needed for growth and play is the result of an accumulation of surplus energy .The recreation theory maintains that through play, tension may be released and relaxed. Strang says that “the play life of a child is an index of his social maturity and reveals his personality more clearly than any activity. The teacher needs to know the developmental sequence of play “Sharma A. (4).

It was noted by the authors that middle class of mothers of infants were not higher than lower class mothers in overall amount of affectionate interaction but they were higher in stimulation of cognitive development especially verbal stimulation .Child is more influenced by maternal education as mother is in contact with most of the time. Wesik Barbara H. et. al. (5)Higher socio-economic status mothers tended to look at their children more than low socio-economic status mothers, high socio-economic status children have fewer glances unreciprocated by their mother. Leila Beckwith (6) found that the I.Q. scores of infants did correlate with their natural mothers’ socio-economic class. Traditionally it is usually supposed that I.Q. predicts scholastic attainment but it is evident that schooling and improved educational accomplishment may themselves lead to I.Q. gains .It has been found that relatively poor speaking pupils from a socially disadvantaged background tend to loss ground in their cognitive performance during the longer summer vacation when they are not at school but this doesn’t occure3 with those from more profound families Heyns, B.(7) Although there has been extremes claims that there are only minor environmental effects Munsinger H.(8) or near zero genetic effects ,the evidence clearly indicates that both genetic and non genetic effects are influential.

Intelligence is another factor which influence scholastic performance, Burt G. (9) observed that children with high intelligence were generally superior to those with low intelligence in linguistic and abstract subjects. Cranical L. (10) found that bright, non successful students are more interested in social life and less in academic achievements than their counterparts .Skinner D.(11) noted that though intellectual capacity of the individual can be increased by educational and other environmental means the highest limits to be reached by that individual is already set by hereditary factors which are beyond human control. Dubey A. et. al.(12) explained that positive relationship between scholastic performance and mother’s educational status is because of better mother child communication, more time available to help the child in his studies and that highly educated mother probably have better understanding of the educational needs of their children.

Abused mums kids may die before 5 years (13): Scientist from the Havard School of Public Health (H.S.P.H.) and University of Massachusetts Lowell (U.M.L.) have found a connection between domestic violence and under five mortality.

Scientists have found that children in India whose mother’s experience domestic violence are more likely to die before the age of 5 years.

With a sample size as big as 39,096 children (aged less than 6o months) from the 2005-2006 National Family Health Survey, the researchers have found that children whose mothers were beaten up by their husband or psychologically abused had a 21 %increased likely hood of dying before their fifth birth day as compared to children with no such family history of violence .This results was almost identical for infants aged less than one year and children aged 1 to five.

Infants, however, seemed particularly vulnerable to different forms of family abuse, as those aged less than one were nearly 50% more likely to die if their mothers suffered physical abuse in combination with sexual or psychological abuse .The authors further stated that” Domestic violence is a terrible ordeal for any woman to go through, and we have long known that such abuse has harmful effects on a women’s health. Here is strong evidence that violence against women has ripple effects that can have a detrimental, even lethal, impact on her children.”

Subramanian, S.V. (13) Associated professor society, human development and health at H.S.P.H. and senior author of the society, added “One possible explanation revolves around the health of the mother .Women who are abused are more likely to suffer from physical psychological illnesses .These illnesses may make a mother less able to access health care services for her child or to attend to her child’s daily health needs”.

Digram-1

Digram-2

Digram-3

Digram-4

Digram-5

Digram-6

Dr. Leland Ackerson, assistant professor of community health and sustainability, UML,(13) added, ”The second explanation is that the link between domestic violence and child mortality may also reflect the effects of psychological stress .Children who witnesses domestic violence tend to experience stress-related physiological changes, such as atypical cortisol production patterns, which could lower their immune defenses and make them more vulnerable to illness”.

National Family Health Survey (N.F.H.S.) –II , carried out in 29 states in 2005-2006, had found that 37 % women reported being physically or sexually abused by husbands some time in their lives.

Children of depressed mothers showed more emotional and behavioral disturbances and delay in expressive language development (14, 15, 16).

Group counselling is an excellent way to assess the effect of some important influences on the youngster (and also to influence him). Andrew, Fulmer (17) and Rutter, M. (18) found significant changes in attitudes as a result of participation by parents and youngster in group counselling. The researchers found that the behavior of the children did not significantly change. The most pronounced changes were in the way parents perceived their own behavior and how it related to the behavior of their children. The perceptions by parents of their children’s behavior changed from predominantly negative to predominantly positive.

Present study also found highly significant improvement towards positive Sten scores in all 14 PF’s in the 3 subgroups of different educational status of parents (both mother and father) .

In the subgroup of number of siblings and their influence previous studies have various opinions.

Provence, Sally et. al. (19) found that factors involved in the sibling experience include rivalry, competitiveness, and intellectual interest and enhanced social attractiveness of the younger sibling as he/she begins to smile, reach out and move about.

An examination of rivalry, envy and jealousy confirms the role of multiple objects in early life and its influence in consolidating the primary object representation on successive levels throughout development as discussed by Neubauer Reter B. (20).

The present study showed significant improvement post counselling reflected in eg. Feeling of Security and self assurances was improved (Factor ‘O’), Better integration and self control was found along with increased tendency to abide by social rules (Factor ‘Q3).

Study showed that about 15% children are taking less sleep i.e. (< 8 hrs.) while the normal recommended duration of total sleep for age 7-10 yrs. is 8-10 hrs. Children need complete sleep for better outcome.

Further in our study improvement was consistently found in all the subgroup of different parental ages and occupation. Children were more emotionally stable, mature and calm with higher ego strength (Factor C). Temperament and activity was improved post counselling (Factor D). Children were more enthusiastic (Factor F).

This study prominently makes a case for beneficial effects of counselling which is above all a cost effective method of bringing about change in Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices (KAP) of parents and better overall development of child Bansal A.K.et.al.(21) .The principal behind the K.A.P. study is to start where the people are and witn what they understand and then proceed to new knowledge. Use the existing knowledge as pegs on which to hang new knowledge (24).

Differences noted among children of different age groups can be analyzed as follows. In older children expectations of parents are increased and hence more of disciplinary strictness is there. These preteens and teens are passing through “Stormy” period of life with enhanced self expectation in relation to looks. Studies, career and peer pressure or influence. There is a tendency to question the authorities. In contrast children below 10 yrs are said to be passing through “period of Latency” and therefore their own behavior does not add to the problem. “Younger children are more for giving”.

Furthermore, elder children have been exposed to the KAP of parents and other environmental factors for longer duration and hence their own personality development and behavior has been influenced by them.

Hence, the great stress on school going children is mainly because of parental attitudes and it is this factor which can be considerably modified by appropriate counselling.

The need is to have personality assessment and parental counselling by expert right at the time of school entry so that they really realize and understand the “needs” of child.

Parents, teachers and children should be counseled as per their needs, level of understanding and role in promoting development of child.

There is a strong need to create awareness among parents about these psycho-social factors which have a strong influence as a child’s future personality development and intellectual / scholastic performance. Parents, educational authorities, policy makers all should be sensitized to this with the help of mass media and information networks (22and23).

The role of counselling especially group counselling in this regard as a timely intervention can’t be over stressed as reflected by present study.

All said and done it must be realized that counselling has short term effects and time course of events in child’s personality as all by counselling hence the importance of repeated counselling (Counselling is not a onetime processes, it’s a repeated hammering from time to time).

Finally, the need is to decrease pressure on the child. Relaxed childhood should be our motto.

Children must enjoy their childhood and studies so that they developed to the best of them genetic endowment into responsible and mature adults.

Last but not least, as teacher is the second mother figure for student, their service conditions must be at par of gazette officers similarly recruitment processes should be stricter so only dedicated teachers could be recruited.

REFERENCES:

1. Schweinhart, L.J. and Weilart D.P. (1980) young children grow up; The effects of preschool programme on young, through age fifteen, monographs of the high / scope education research foundation no. 7 Michigan: The High scope press.

2. Garg Narendra K. Evaluation of the impact of emesis and emesis plus purgation therapy; Research J. Pharmacology and Pharmacodynamics: 2 (2) March – April 2010; 201-202.

3. Murlidharan R. and Asthana, S.; Stimulation activities for young children, NCERT, 1991.

4. Sharma A.; Social and personal development of child, ECE Instructional Material Series, NCERT, New Delhi, 1984.

5. Wasik,Barbara H.and Wasik ,John L.:Performance of culturally deprived children on the concept assessment kit –conservation ;Child Development ;1971,42 :1586-1590.

6. Leila Beckwith; Relationship between attributes of mother and infants I.Q. score; Child Div. 1971; 42; 1083.

7. Heyns B. (1978) Summer learning and the effects of schooling; New-York; Academic Press.

8. Munsinger H. (1975). The adopted child’s I.Q.: A critical review. Pschy.Bulletin:82.626-659.

9. Burt C. Mental and Scholastic Tests: P.S. King and Sen .1921.

10. Cranical Lairen: Personality and Guidance Journal; XXC/12/64:641-642.

11. Skinner D.; Personality a gift: Journal of Educational Psychology, 67; No.IIIJan.88-89.

12. Dubey, A. and Maya Chansoria. Adolescent Growth, Intelligence, Personality correlates of Top and Poor scholastic performance. Thesis M.D., R.D.V.V., JBP, 1986-87.

13. Abused mums’ kids may die before 5 yrs; The Times of India, New Delhi; 15/10/2009; pp-08.

14. Love Joy; Maternal Depression; Effect on Social cognition and behaviors in parent child interaction: Child Psychology .1991 Dec.; 9(6):693-706.

15. Radke – Yerrow et. al. A effective interaction of depressed and non depressed mother and their children J. Abnorm. Child Psychol. 1993, Dec.21 (6):683-695.

16. Mufson et. al. The stability of temperament by child and mother, Reports of two years .J.Am.Acad.Adolesc.Psychiattry:1990 May, 29 (3):386-391.

17. Bernard and Fulmer; Counselling -contents and process; Education 1972, Thomson press India Ltd.

18. Rutter, M. (1985B); Family and school influences on behavioural development; J. of child Pschy. And Pschiat. In Press.

19. Provence, Sally; Solnit, Albert J. Development -promoting aspects of the sibling experience; Vicarious mastry; Psycoanalytic- Study of the child: 1983 Vol. 38; 337-351.

20. Neubauer, Reter, B. Rivarly, Envy and Jealousy; Psychoanalytic study of the child: 1982 Vol. 37; 121-142.

21. Bansal A.K. Chandorkar R.K., Knowledge, Belief, and Practice: A study of Tribal Mother about feeding of infants, Tribal Health Bulletin (I.C.M.R.) 1993; 2:3-4.

22. Garg Narendra K.and Bansal A.K. Management of information system in context of health care delivery .J of Ravishanker University; Vol 14:No. B (Science) 2001:35-40.

23. Bansal A.K and Garg Narendra K, Information, Education, Communication in context oh reproductive and child including HIV/AIDS. J. of Ravi Shanker University; Vol 14 No. B (Science) 2001:28-34.

24. J E Park : Text book of Preventive and S ocial Medicine 1^st.edition “Education for Health “585-598.M/S Banarsi Das Bhanot ,Publishers ,Jabalpur (India )

Received on 21.11.2011

Modified on 10.01.2012

Accepted on 25.03.2012

Research J. Science and Tech. 4(1): Jan.-Feb. 2012: 32-39