Journal of Youth and Adolescence, Vol. 14, No. 2, 1985
Family Learning Environment: The Subjective View of Adolescent Males and Females Rachel Seginer 1'2
Received September I, 1983;accepted April 30, 1985
This study investigates sex differences in two aspects o f family learning environment as subjectively viewed by adolescents: parents" educational expectations and relationships with parents. Analysis o f the data collected from 105 young Israeli adolescents (65 males and 40 females) shows sex differences in both aspects o f family learning environment. These differences are (a) a negative relation between idealistic expectations and academic performance f o r females and a positive relation between realistic expectations and academic performance for males, and (b) a positive relation between estimated similarity with father and academic performance f o r females and a negative relation between social emotional relationship with father and academic performance f o r males. These sex differences are viewed in light o f the greater complexity o f female identity as it is related to low achieving females' perceived pressure to improve academic performance and high achieving females'feeling closer to their fathers.
INTRODUCTION
F a m i l y l e a r n i n g e n v i r o n m e n t is a b r o a d area o f research p e r t a i n i n g to the effect of v a r i o u s aspects o f family e n v i r o n m e n t o n c h i l d r e n ' s cognitive abilities (Laosa a n d Sigel, 1982) a n d school o u t c o m e s ( M a r j o r i b a n k s , 1979).
*School of Education, University of Haifa, Israel. Received Ph.D. from Hebrew University of Jerusalcm. Current research interests include social aspects of adolescents' development and schooling with special emphasis on adolescents' self-image and future time orientation. -'Correspondence should be sent to Rachel Seginer, School of Education, University of Haifa, Haifa 31999, Israel. 121 0047-2891/85/0400-0121504,50/0
© 1985 Plenum Publishing Corporalion
122
Seginer
The present study investigates two aspects of adolescents' family environment as differentially experienced and reported by males and females: (1) parents' educational expectations and (2) the adolescents' relationships with parents. Before presenting the rationale for the selection of these aspects of family home environment, their nature, as it applies in this study, should be explicated. Expectations are a frequently used though rarely defined concept. Following Lewin et al. (t944), Hailer (1968) suggested that expectations are "the cognitive orientational aspect of goal directed behavior" (p. 484) set for a person by his or her "significant others." In other words, expectations can be described as pertaining to goal setting by other people occupying a central position in a person's life. Referring to earlier work of Lewin (1939), Hailer further suggested a distinction between idealistic and realistic expectations. Combining Lewin's distinction between "ideal goals" and "real goals" with Haller's 0968) definition of expectations as "connoting predictions, obligations, and hopeful anticipations for the other" (p. 484), it is suggested that in the realm of education, idealistic expectations pertain to the dreams, wishes, and hopeful anticipations that parents hold for their children's educational attainment. Realistic expectations pertain to the specific beliefs and standards of academic performance set by parents for their children. In the present study the distinction between idealistic and realistic expectations is further enunciated by the dimension of time: Realistic expectations are assessed by referring to the here and now of school performance, while idealistic expectations refer to the distant future of adult life. Review of the parents' educational expectations research (Seginer, 1983) indicates that some investigators define parental expectations by emphasizing either the realistic or the idealistic aspects of expectations. Entwistle and Hayduk's (1978) definition of mothers' expectations as the prediction of report cards exemplifies an emphasis on the realistic aspect, and Keeves' (1972) definition of parental expectations as ambitions for their child's future education and occupation is an example of an emphasis on the idealistic aspect. The extent to which mothers' predictions are affected by their dreams and hopes, and parents' ambitions are tempered by realistic evaluation of their child's performance, is usually unknown. Many researchers find it sufficient to relate the child's academic performance to a measure emphasizing either idealistic or realistic parental expectations. However, since parents communicate both types of expectations to their children, in focusing on parental expectations as perceived by adolescents, both types of expectations should be considered. Relationships with parents are described in this study by two dimensions employed in the analysis of adolescent development: similarity
Family Learning Environment
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to parents and social emotional relationships with parents. Similarity to parents has been considered by psychologists (Bandura, 1977; Heilbrun, 1981) to be the result of a long process of imitating the parent who is perceived by the child as powerful and successful. While in principle either parent could be attributed power and success, in reality, for many children this powerful and successful parent is the father. Girls, but not boys, face the contradiction between sex-appropriate behavior and success-appropriate behavior. The applicability of similarity to parents to the realm of adolescents' academic performance has recently been indicated by Hock and Curry (1983). Their results show that high achieving females identify with their fathers more than do low achieving females. Comparable differences were not found among adolescent males. The centrality of social emotional relationships with parents has been suggested by Coleman (1974), who pointed out that "adolescence may in some senses be effectively defined by the progress which is made in the relationship between the young person and his parents" (p. 69). The conceptualization and assessment of this relationship have taken different directions, the most notable being conflict with parents as reflected in projective techniques (see Coleman, 1974) and more overt aspects of the relationship such as nurturance, control, intimacy (Hunter and Youniss, t982), and felt security and proximity seeking (Greenberg et al., 1983). To the extent that positive relationships indicate the security and support adolescents gain at home, these relationships are expected to be positively related to academic performance. The reason for describing the family learning environment in terms of parents' educational expectations and the adolescents' relationships with their parents lies in the quest to understand the processes mediating parental educational expectations and their offspring's academic performance. In an earlier analysis, Seginer (1983) hypothesized that the moderately positive relation between parents' educational expectations and children's academic performance was in part mediated by parents' achievement-related behavior. Initial tests of this hypothesis on data collected from preadolescent boys and their mothers indicated that maternal behaviors (mediators) accounted for 40% of the relation between mothers' educational expectations and sons' academic performance (Seginer, in press). For the adolescent as the recipient of parents' educational expectations, a similar line of thinking was followed. That is, the relation between adolescents' perceived parental expectations and academic performance is mediated by the adolescents' relationships with their parents. However, preliminary analysis rejected the mediation hypothesis. The results showed that the two aspects of family learning environment had a direct effect (estimated by/3 coefficient) on academic performance (see Table II).
124
Seginer
The objective of the present analysis is to explore sex differences in the pattern of relations between perceived parental expectations by the adolescents and relationships between parents and adolescents, and academic performance. As noted by Douvan and Adelson (1966), students of adolescent psychology have long neglected the study of the different paths of development taken by adolescent males and females, so that in many of the major psychological writings, discussions focus on the adolescent; gender, when applied, has been masculine. However, following the work of Douvan and Adelson (1966), and with growing interest in the psychology of women reflected in adolescents' psychology (e.g., Dellas and Gaier, 1975; Gallatin, 1975), sex differences have ceased to be "nuisance variables" and have come to be studied in their own right. One field in which sex differences have been a central issue is identity development. Here, recent research has emphasized not only different identity patterns characteristic of males and females (e.g., Hodgson and Fischer, 1979) but also "the apparent greater complexity inherent in female identity" (Hodgson and Fischer, 1981). For the adolescent female, this greater complexity can be exemplified by three competing trends. One is the traditional yet still prevailing emphasis on life to be shaped by the female's future mate (Hodgson and Fischer, 1981). The second is the recent revival of an ideology advocating equality of the sexes. The third pertains to the nonlearning functions of education for females: keeping high school female students off the streets and offering college women a proper social setting for meeting a prospective husband. The present study postulates two hypotheses related to sex differences. The first pertains to differences in the relation between perceived parent al expectations and academic performance: (1) The relation between perceived parental expectations and academic performance is positive for males, and negative for females. The negative relation between perceived parental expectations and academic performance for females in general can be traced mainly to the conflict experienced by low achieving females between learning and nonlearning functions of school. The resultant pressure exerted by parents of low achieving females through setting high expectations is thus hypothesized to be counterproductive. The second hypothesis pertains to sex differences in adolescents' relationships with parents. Drawing on the greater complexity of female identity, we hypothesize that (2a) despite the tendency of adolescents to prefer the same-sex parent (Douvan and Adelson, 1966), high achieving females will tend to report themselves closer to their fathers than to their mothers. That is, estimated similarity to father and academic performance will be related positively for females, while estimated similarity to father will not be related to academic performance for males. The tendency of high achieving females to feel closer to their fathers might suggest the early
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signs of masculine or bimodal identity (Hodgson and Fisher, 1981) found among women choosing an independent career. Drawing on findings indicating positive relations between the perceived quality of adolescents' relationships with parents and self-concept (Greenberg et al., 1983), and regarding self-concept as an indicator of personal adjustment and coping with social demands, we also hypothesize the following: (2b) For both males and females the relation between social emotional relationships with parents and academic performance will be a positive one.
METHOD
Subjects and Procedure One hundred and five seventh- and eighth-graders (60 males and 45 females) from a predominantly middle class urban residential area in Israel participated in this study. Questionnaires for the following measures were collated into a booklet and administered in classrooms during one school session.
Measures Perceived Parents" Educational Expectations. Idealistic expectations were assessed by the completion of two sentences: " M y parents want me to be " " I t is extremely important for my parents that I ~ . " A sentence completed by reference to higher education or the professions was scored 2. A sentence completed by reference to any other theme was scored 1. Realistic expectations were assessed by the following two items: " M y parents are satisfied when I get an A / B / C grade." " M y parents are not satisfied when I get an A / B / C grade." Scores ranged from 1 ("not at all important to my parents") to 4 (A for the first item, and less than A for the second item) for each item. Relationships with Parents. Estimated similarity to father/mother was assessed by semantic differential of Myself, Father, and Mother (Rabin and Beit-Hallahmi, 1982). D values (Osgood and Suci, 1952) of Myself versus Father, and Myself versus Mother were computed (the lower the D value, the higher the estimated similarity). Social emotional relationships with father/mother were assessed by the Hebrew version of the Winch and Gordon (1974) identification scale
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(Cronbach's alpha for father's and mother's scales is 0.73 and 0.68, respectively). The questionnaire consists of 15 statements representing three areas of parent-adolescent relationships: nurturance, authority, and perceived similarity. Scores range from 1 (father/mother least resemble statement) to 4 (father/mother most resemble statement). Academic Performance. Scores for academic performance were computed by averaging the final grades in Hebrew, English, and mathematics.
RESULTS The matrix of interrelations presented in Table I for males (above diagonal) and for females (below diagonal) shows that of the two measures of perceived parental expectations, idealistic expectations is negatively related to females' academic performance, while realistic expectations are positively related to males' academic performance. Thus, the first hypothesis, postulating a positive relation for males and a negative relation for females between perceived parents' educational expectations and academic performance, is confirmed. It should be noted, however, that for males the relations between perceived parental expectations and academic performance are expressed through realistic expectations, while for females these relations are expressed through idealistic expectations. Table I also shows that of the four measures of relationships with parents, only the two measures pertaining to relationships with father are related to academic performance. Specifically, estimated similarity to father is positively related to females' academic performance, and social emotional relationships with father are negatively related to males' academic performance. Thus, the first part of the second hypothesis (2a)-postulating a positive relation between estimated similarity to father for females and no relation for males--is supported. The second part of the hypothesis (2b) postulating positive relation for both males and females between social emotional relationships with parents and academic performance--is rejected. The findings in Table I indicate a negative relation between social emotional relationships with father, and no relation between social emotional relationships with mother and academic performance for males. For females, social emotional relationships with both father and mother are not related to academic performance. Table II, presenting the results of multiple regression analysis, indicates the independent effect of perceived parental expectations and of relationships with parents on academic performance for both males and females.
-06
-35 c 7.16 1.41
-06
05
1,49 0.51
25
- 16
13
8.84 2.08
-4I a
21
-21
-
02
6.11 2.43
08
-31 ¢
-
34 c
02 -08
4
5
2.57 0.58
17
-31 ~
-
15
-08
- 12 12
rs for variables -02 07
3
04 2.93 0.44
-
0
-06
- II
0 -01
6
5.33 1.58
--
16
-26 c
-10
- 10
18 29 c
7
,~
5.36
2,65
3.08
9.61
6.73
1.55 7.76
1.62
.44
.60
2.14
2.21
.50 1.56
SD
dp < 0.01.
"Decimal points of correlation coefficients have been omitted. bBased on D values; the lower the D value the higher the estimated similarity. Hence, in reading the tables, the sign of the correlation coefficients between estimated similarity with father and mother, respectively, and the other variables should be reversed. ~p ~ 0.05.
.~ SD
04
28 c -18
21
09
-
1. Idealistic expectations 2. Realistic expectations 3. Estimated similarityb with father 4. Estimated similarityb with mother 5. Social emotional relations with father 6. Social emotional relations with mother 7. Academic performance
2 08 --
1
Variables
Table I. Males' and Females' Means, Standard Deviations, and Correlation Coefficients of Study Variables (N = 60) a
O
la
128
Seginer Table 11. Zero-Order Correlations (r), Multiple Correlations (R), Standard Regression Coefficients (/~) of Academic Performance on Measures of Perceived Parental Expectations and o f Relationships with Parents ° Males (N = 60) Expectations Realistic expectations Relationships with parents Social emotional relations with father Females (N = 45) Expectations Idealistic expectations Relationships with parents Estimated similarity b with father
r
R
R2
/~
29
32
10
36 c
-26
44
19
-32 c
- 35
50
25
- 29 ~
-41
42
18
-32 c
"Decimal points have been omitted. bBased on D values; the lower the D value, the higher the estimated similarity. Hence, in reading tables, the sign of the correlation coefficients between estimated similarity with father and mother, respectively, and the other variables should be reversed. cp _< 0.05.
DISCUSSION
The Relation Between Perceived Parental Expectations and Academic Performance
The finding that for males the relation between perceived parental expectations and academic performance is both positive and anchored in the reality of school performance, while for females the same relation is both negative and expressed through ideal expectations raises two issues. One pertains to the purportedly different avenues through which males and females perceive their parents' educational expectations. The other pertains to the psychological repercussions of academic performance for females. Haller's (1968) caution to distinguish between idealistic and realistic expectations has evidently been ignored by investigators; many employ the two interchangeably. The present findings indicate that though both dimensions pertain to demands parents set for their child, idealistic and realistic expectations are unrelated for both males and females. Whether the separation of the two dimensions of expectations resides in parents' communication, in the adolescents' perception, or in the interaction between the two remains undetermined by these data. The results of the
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129
present study indicate, however, the desirability of defining educational expectations using both the idealistic and the realistic dimensions. At the same time, these results call for further exploration of the interplay among sex-differentiated parental practices, sex-linked identity, and the pertinent social norms in affecting the differential relation between perceived parental expectations and academic performance. The psychological repercussions of academic performance for females have been discussed by Rollins and Thomas (1979), who review socialization practices and suggest that "academic achievement is perhaps negatively valued for girls in contemporary American society and thus girls with high academic achievement are the products of malsocialization" (p. 340). The relation between perceived parental expectations and academic performance among Israeli females leads to the opposite conclusion; that is, academic performance has a positive value for females. Those who fail to achieve evidently feel under pressure to improve. The different conclusions from American and Israeli studies may have two different interpretations. One is that American adolescent females are more strongly aware of the toll subsequently paid by high achieving women choosing bimodal or masculine identity (Hodgson and Fisher, 1981). The other is that compulsory high school education in the United States takes the pressure off low achieving females. The two interpretations are not incompatible and together suggest that while American adolescent females are threatened by doing too well at school, their Israeli counterparts are threatened by doing too poorly, especially during the junior high school years. In the Israeli setting, junior high school is considered a crucial stage in one's educational career, since admission to academic, college-bound senior high school is primarily determined by performance in the junior high school. At the same time, the greater pressure presumably felt by Israeli females, relative to Israeli males, may reflect a more general developmental tendency, as reported by Simmons and colleagues (see Blyth et al., 1983). That is, adolescent females may be more vulnerable to the effects of junior high school transitions than are adolescent males.
The Relation Between Relationships with Parents and Academic Performance
The first part of the hypothesized relation (2a) between relationships with parents and academic performance was supported. That is, estimated similarity to ~father is positively related to the academic performance of females, but not of males. The second part of the hypothesis (2b), postulating a positive relation between social emotional relations with
130
Seginer
parents and academic performance for both males and females was not supported. Only one relationmbetween social emotional relations with father and males' academic performancemis significant and that is a negative relation. Thus, the social support effect of parents on their offspring's academic performance, underlying this hypothesis, is not confirmed. Instead, this measure presumably reflects adolescent males' social independence (see Douvan and Adelson, 1966) from the family. Though respondents of this study fall into the category of early adolescence, these findings may be regarded as a first step toward autonomy and search for identity. If, as suggested by Josselson e t al. (1977a), high achievement is one aspect of adolescent males' psychosocial maturity, then the tendency, found in this study, of high achieving males to move away from father is not only expected but also in line with earlier findings (Douvan and Adelson, 1966) that males tend to achieve autonomy at an earlier age than do females. In studying adolescent experience, Douvan and Adelson have also suggested that for males the road to independence passes through a temporary reliance on friends rather than on parents (as in the past) or on themselves (as in the future). Thus, it is possible that the relatively strong negative relation between relationships with father and relationships with friend (r = - 0 . 5 5 ) found in this study for males could be considered an additional support to treating a negative relation between relationship with father and academic performance as an indicator of early signs of independence. The comparable finding for females that high achieving girls tend to describe themselves and their fathers similarly--was also observed by Josselson et al. (1977b) and by Hock and Curry (1983) andmtogether with the finding that regardless of their academic performance, adolescent females tend to describe themselves as similar to their mothers--may be interpreted as a precursor of the bimodal identity path these females may develop in maturity (Dellas and Gaier, 1975; Hodgson and Fisher, 1981). In conclusion, the findings of this study indicate that perceived parental expectations and relationships with parents are related to the academic performance of adolescent males and females independently and differentially. The main implication of these sex differences seems to be that demands for academic performance are more stressful for females than for males, which adds yet another perspective to the hypothesis of greater vulnerability of early adolescent females.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The author wishes to thank Tami Steiner for her help in collecting and analyzing the data, and Amos Handel, John E. Hofman and the
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a n o n y m o u s reviewer for their helpful c o m m e n t s on an earlier draft o f the manuscript.
REFERENCES Bandura, A. (1977). Social Learning Theory, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J. Blyth, D. A., Simmons, R. G., and Carlton-Ford, S. (1983). The adjustment of early adolescents to school transitions. J. Early Adoles. 3: 105-120. Coleman, J. C. (1974). Relationships in Adolescence, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London. Dellas, M., and Gaier, L., E. (1975). The self and adolescent identity in women: Options and implications. Adolescence 10: 399-407. Douvan, E., and Adelson, J. (1966). The Adolescent Experience, Wiley, New York. Entwistle, D. R., and Hayduk, L. A. (1978). Too Great Expectations: The Academic Outlook o f Young Children, Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Md. Gallatin, J. E. (1975). Adolescence and Individuality: A Conceptual Approach to Adolescent Psychology, Harper & Row, New York. Greenberg, M. T., Siegel, J. H., and Leitch, C. J. (1983). The nature and importance of attachment relationships to parents and peers during adolescence. J. Youth Adoles. 12: 373-386. Hailer, A. O. (1968). On the concept of aspiration. Rur. Sociol. 33: 484-487. Heilbrun, A. B., Jr. (1981). Human Sex-Role Behavior, Pergamon Press, New York. Hocks, R. A., and Curry, J. F. (1983). Sex-role identification of normal adolescent males and females as related to school achievement. J. Youth Adoles. 12: 461-470. Hodgson, J. W., and Fischer, J. L. (1979). Sex differences in identity and intimacy development in college youth. J. Youth Adoles. 8: 37-50. Hodgson, J. W., and Fischer, J. L. (1981). Pathways of identity development in college women. Sex Roles 7: 682-690. Hunter, F. T., and Youniss, J. (1982). Changes in functions of three relations during adolescence. Dev. PsychoL 18:806-811. Josselson, R., Greenberger, E., and McConochie, D. (1977a). Phenomenological aspects of psychosocial maturity in adolescence. Part I. Boys. J. Youth Adoles. 6: 25-32. Josselson, R., Greenberger, E., and McConochie, D. (1977b). Phenomenological aspects of psychosocial maturity in adolescence. Part 11. Girls. J. Youth Adoles. 6: 145-167. Keeves, J. P. (1972). Educational environment and student achievement. Stockhobn Stud. Educ. 20: 1-309. Lewin, K. (1939). Field theory and experiment in social psychology: Concepts and methods. Am. J. Sociol. 44: 868-897. Lewin, K., Dembo, T., Festinger, L., and Sears, P. S. (1944). Level of aspiration. In Hunt, J. McV. (ed.), Personality and the Behavior Disorders, Ronald Press, New York. Laosa, L. H., and Sigel, 1. E. (1982). Families as Learnblg Environments f o r Children, Plenum, New York. Marjoribanks, K. (1979). Families and Their Learning Environments: A n Empirical Analysis, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London. Osgood, C. E., and Suci, G. J. (1952). A measure of relation determined by both mean difference and profile information. PsychoL Bull. 49: 251-262. Rabin, A. 1., and Beit-Hallahmi, B. (1982). Twenty Years Later: Kibbutz Children Grown Up, Springer, New York. Rollins, B. C., and Thomas, D. L. (1979). Parental support, power and control techniques in the socialization of children. In Burr, W. R., Hill, R., Nye, F. 1., and Reiss, 1. L. (eds.), Contemporary Theories About the Family, Vol. 1, Free Press, New York. Seginer, R. (1983). Parents' educational expectations and children's academic achievement. MerrillPabner Quart. 29: 1-23. Seginer, R. (in press). Mothers' behavior and boys' performance: An initial test of an academic achievement path model. Merrill-Palmer Quart. Winch, R. F., and Gordon, M. T. (1974). Familial Structure and F,mction as Influence, Lexington Books, Lexington, Mass.
Family Learning Environment: The Subjective View of Adolescent Males and Females Rachel Seginer 1'2
Received September I, 1983;accepted April 30, 1985
This study investigates sex differences in two aspects o f family learning environment as subjectively viewed by adolescents: parents" educational expectations and relationships with parents. Analysis o f the data collected from 105 young Israeli adolescents (65 males and 40 females) shows sex differences in both aspects o f family learning environment. These differences are (a) a negative relation between idealistic expectations and academic performance f o r females and a positive relation between realistic expectations and academic performance for males, and (b) a positive relation between estimated similarity with father and academic performance f o r females and a negative relation between social emotional relationship with father and academic performance f o r males. These sex differences are viewed in light o f the greater complexity o f female identity as it is related to low achieving females' perceived pressure to improve academic performance and high achieving females'feeling closer to their fathers.
INTRODUCTION
F a m i l y l e a r n i n g e n v i r o n m e n t is a b r o a d area o f research p e r t a i n i n g to the effect of v a r i o u s aspects o f family e n v i r o n m e n t o n c h i l d r e n ' s cognitive abilities (Laosa a n d Sigel, 1982) a n d school o u t c o m e s ( M a r j o r i b a n k s , 1979).
*School of Education, University of Haifa, Israel. Received Ph.D. from Hebrew University of Jerusalcm. Current research interests include social aspects of adolescents' development and schooling with special emphasis on adolescents' self-image and future time orientation. -'Correspondence should be sent to Rachel Seginer, School of Education, University of Haifa, Haifa 31999, Israel. 121 0047-2891/85/0400-0121504,50/0
© 1985 Plenum Publishing Corporalion
122
Seginer
The present study investigates two aspects of adolescents' family environment as differentially experienced and reported by males and females: (1) parents' educational expectations and (2) the adolescents' relationships with parents. Before presenting the rationale for the selection of these aspects of family home environment, their nature, as it applies in this study, should be explicated. Expectations are a frequently used though rarely defined concept. Following Lewin et al. (t944), Hailer (1968) suggested that expectations are "the cognitive orientational aspect of goal directed behavior" (p. 484) set for a person by his or her "significant others." In other words, expectations can be described as pertaining to goal setting by other people occupying a central position in a person's life. Referring to earlier work of Lewin (1939), Hailer further suggested a distinction between idealistic and realistic expectations. Combining Lewin's distinction between "ideal goals" and "real goals" with Haller's 0968) definition of expectations as "connoting predictions, obligations, and hopeful anticipations for the other" (p. 484), it is suggested that in the realm of education, idealistic expectations pertain to the dreams, wishes, and hopeful anticipations that parents hold for their children's educational attainment. Realistic expectations pertain to the specific beliefs and standards of academic performance set by parents for their children. In the present study the distinction between idealistic and realistic expectations is further enunciated by the dimension of time: Realistic expectations are assessed by referring to the here and now of school performance, while idealistic expectations refer to the distant future of adult life. Review of the parents' educational expectations research (Seginer, 1983) indicates that some investigators define parental expectations by emphasizing either the realistic or the idealistic aspects of expectations. Entwistle and Hayduk's (1978) definition of mothers' expectations as the prediction of report cards exemplifies an emphasis on the realistic aspect, and Keeves' (1972) definition of parental expectations as ambitions for their child's future education and occupation is an example of an emphasis on the idealistic aspect. The extent to which mothers' predictions are affected by their dreams and hopes, and parents' ambitions are tempered by realistic evaluation of their child's performance, is usually unknown. Many researchers find it sufficient to relate the child's academic performance to a measure emphasizing either idealistic or realistic parental expectations. However, since parents communicate both types of expectations to their children, in focusing on parental expectations as perceived by adolescents, both types of expectations should be considered. Relationships with parents are described in this study by two dimensions employed in the analysis of adolescent development: similarity
Family Learning Environment
123
to parents and social emotional relationships with parents. Similarity to parents has been considered by psychologists (Bandura, 1977; Heilbrun, 1981) to be the result of a long process of imitating the parent who is perceived by the child as powerful and successful. While in principle either parent could be attributed power and success, in reality, for many children this powerful and successful parent is the father. Girls, but not boys, face the contradiction between sex-appropriate behavior and success-appropriate behavior. The applicability of similarity to parents to the realm of adolescents' academic performance has recently been indicated by Hock and Curry (1983). Their results show that high achieving females identify with their fathers more than do low achieving females. Comparable differences were not found among adolescent males. The centrality of social emotional relationships with parents has been suggested by Coleman (1974), who pointed out that "adolescence may in some senses be effectively defined by the progress which is made in the relationship between the young person and his parents" (p. 69). The conceptualization and assessment of this relationship have taken different directions, the most notable being conflict with parents as reflected in projective techniques (see Coleman, 1974) and more overt aspects of the relationship such as nurturance, control, intimacy (Hunter and Youniss, t982), and felt security and proximity seeking (Greenberg et al., 1983). To the extent that positive relationships indicate the security and support adolescents gain at home, these relationships are expected to be positively related to academic performance. The reason for describing the family learning environment in terms of parents' educational expectations and the adolescents' relationships with their parents lies in the quest to understand the processes mediating parental educational expectations and their offspring's academic performance. In an earlier analysis, Seginer (1983) hypothesized that the moderately positive relation between parents' educational expectations and children's academic performance was in part mediated by parents' achievement-related behavior. Initial tests of this hypothesis on data collected from preadolescent boys and their mothers indicated that maternal behaviors (mediators) accounted for 40% of the relation between mothers' educational expectations and sons' academic performance (Seginer, in press). For the adolescent as the recipient of parents' educational expectations, a similar line of thinking was followed. That is, the relation between adolescents' perceived parental expectations and academic performance is mediated by the adolescents' relationships with their parents. However, preliminary analysis rejected the mediation hypothesis. The results showed that the two aspects of family learning environment had a direct effect (estimated by/3 coefficient) on academic performance (see Table II).
124
Seginer
The objective of the present analysis is to explore sex differences in the pattern of relations between perceived parental expectations by the adolescents and relationships between parents and adolescents, and academic performance. As noted by Douvan and Adelson (1966), students of adolescent psychology have long neglected the study of the different paths of development taken by adolescent males and females, so that in many of the major psychological writings, discussions focus on the adolescent; gender, when applied, has been masculine. However, following the work of Douvan and Adelson (1966), and with growing interest in the psychology of women reflected in adolescents' psychology (e.g., Dellas and Gaier, 1975; Gallatin, 1975), sex differences have ceased to be "nuisance variables" and have come to be studied in their own right. One field in which sex differences have been a central issue is identity development. Here, recent research has emphasized not only different identity patterns characteristic of males and females (e.g., Hodgson and Fischer, 1979) but also "the apparent greater complexity inherent in female identity" (Hodgson and Fischer, 1981). For the adolescent female, this greater complexity can be exemplified by three competing trends. One is the traditional yet still prevailing emphasis on life to be shaped by the female's future mate (Hodgson and Fischer, 1981). The second is the recent revival of an ideology advocating equality of the sexes. The third pertains to the nonlearning functions of education for females: keeping high school female students off the streets and offering college women a proper social setting for meeting a prospective husband. The present study postulates two hypotheses related to sex differences. The first pertains to differences in the relation between perceived parent al expectations and academic performance: (1) The relation between perceived parental expectations and academic performance is positive for males, and negative for females. The negative relation between perceived parental expectations and academic performance for females in general can be traced mainly to the conflict experienced by low achieving females between learning and nonlearning functions of school. The resultant pressure exerted by parents of low achieving females through setting high expectations is thus hypothesized to be counterproductive. The second hypothesis pertains to sex differences in adolescents' relationships with parents. Drawing on the greater complexity of female identity, we hypothesize that (2a) despite the tendency of adolescents to prefer the same-sex parent (Douvan and Adelson, 1966), high achieving females will tend to report themselves closer to their fathers than to their mothers. That is, estimated similarity to father and academic performance will be related positively for females, while estimated similarity to father will not be related to academic performance for males. The tendency of high achieving females to feel closer to their fathers might suggest the early
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signs of masculine or bimodal identity (Hodgson and Fisher, 1981) found among women choosing an independent career. Drawing on findings indicating positive relations between the perceived quality of adolescents' relationships with parents and self-concept (Greenberg et al., 1983), and regarding self-concept as an indicator of personal adjustment and coping with social demands, we also hypothesize the following: (2b) For both males and females the relation between social emotional relationships with parents and academic performance will be a positive one.
METHOD
Subjects and Procedure One hundred and five seventh- and eighth-graders (60 males and 45 females) from a predominantly middle class urban residential area in Israel participated in this study. Questionnaires for the following measures were collated into a booklet and administered in classrooms during one school session.
Measures Perceived Parents" Educational Expectations. Idealistic expectations were assessed by the completion of two sentences: " M y parents want me to be " " I t is extremely important for my parents that I ~ . " A sentence completed by reference to higher education or the professions was scored 2. A sentence completed by reference to any other theme was scored 1. Realistic expectations were assessed by the following two items: " M y parents are satisfied when I get an A / B / C grade." " M y parents are not satisfied when I get an A / B / C grade." Scores ranged from 1 ("not at all important to my parents") to 4 (A for the first item, and less than A for the second item) for each item. Relationships with Parents. Estimated similarity to father/mother was assessed by semantic differential of Myself, Father, and Mother (Rabin and Beit-Hallahmi, 1982). D values (Osgood and Suci, 1952) of Myself versus Father, and Myself versus Mother were computed (the lower the D value, the higher the estimated similarity). Social emotional relationships with father/mother were assessed by the Hebrew version of the Winch and Gordon (1974) identification scale
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(Cronbach's alpha for father's and mother's scales is 0.73 and 0.68, respectively). The questionnaire consists of 15 statements representing three areas of parent-adolescent relationships: nurturance, authority, and perceived similarity. Scores range from 1 (father/mother least resemble statement) to 4 (father/mother most resemble statement). Academic Performance. Scores for academic performance were computed by averaging the final grades in Hebrew, English, and mathematics.
RESULTS The matrix of interrelations presented in Table I for males (above diagonal) and for females (below diagonal) shows that of the two measures of perceived parental expectations, idealistic expectations is negatively related to females' academic performance, while realistic expectations are positively related to males' academic performance. Thus, the first hypothesis, postulating a positive relation for males and a negative relation for females between perceived parents' educational expectations and academic performance, is confirmed. It should be noted, however, that for males the relations between perceived parental expectations and academic performance are expressed through realistic expectations, while for females these relations are expressed through idealistic expectations. Table I also shows that of the four measures of relationships with parents, only the two measures pertaining to relationships with father are related to academic performance. Specifically, estimated similarity to father is positively related to females' academic performance, and social emotional relationships with father are negatively related to males' academic performance. Thus, the first part of the second hypothesis (2a)-postulating a positive relation between estimated similarity to father for females and no relation for males--is supported. The second part of the hypothesis (2b) postulating positive relation for both males and females between social emotional relationships with parents and academic performance--is rejected. The findings in Table I indicate a negative relation between social emotional relationships with father, and no relation between social emotional relationships with mother and academic performance for males. For females, social emotional relationships with both father and mother are not related to academic performance. Table II, presenting the results of multiple regression analysis, indicates the independent effect of perceived parental expectations and of relationships with parents on academic performance for both males and females.
-06
-35 c 7.16 1.41
-06
05
1,49 0.51
25
- 16
13
8.84 2.08
-4I a
21
-21
-
02
6.11 2.43
08
-31 ¢
-
34 c
02 -08
4
5
2.57 0.58
17
-31 ~
-
15
-08
- 12 12
rs for variables -02 07
3
04 2.93 0.44
-
0
-06
- II
0 -01
6
5.33 1.58
--
16
-26 c
-10
- 10
18 29 c
7
,~
5.36
2,65
3.08
9.61
6.73
1.55 7.76
1.62
.44
.60
2.14
2.21
.50 1.56
SD
dp < 0.01.
"Decimal points of correlation coefficients have been omitted. bBased on D values; the lower the D value the higher the estimated similarity. Hence, in reading the tables, the sign of the correlation coefficients between estimated similarity with father and mother, respectively, and the other variables should be reversed. ~p ~ 0.05.
.~ SD
04
28 c -18
21
09
-
1. Idealistic expectations 2. Realistic expectations 3. Estimated similarityb with father 4. Estimated similarityb with mother 5. Social emotional relations with father 6. Social emotional relations with mother 7. Academic performance
2 08 --
1
Variables
Table I. Males' and Females' Means, Standard Deviations, and Correlation Coefficients of Study Variables (N = 60) a
O
la
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Seginer Table 11. Zero-Order Correlations (r), Multiple Correlations (R), Standard Regression Coefficients (/~) of Academic Performance on Measures of Perceived Parental Expectations and o f Relationships with Parents ° Males (N = 60) Expectations Realistic expectations Relationships with parents Social emotional relations with father Females (N = 45) Expectations Idealistic expectations Relationships with parents Estimated similarity b with father
r
R
R2
/~
29
32
10
36 c
-26
44
19
-32 c
- 35
50
25
- 29 ~
-41
42
18
-32 c
"Decimal points have been omitted. bBased on D values; the lower the D value, the higher the estimated similarity. Hence, in reading tables, the sign of the correlation coefficients between estimated similarity with father and mother, respectively, and the other variables should be reversed. cp _< 0.05.
DISCUSSION
The Relation Between Perceived Parental Expectations and Academic Performance
The finding that for males the relation between perceived parental expectations and academic performance is both positive and anchored in the reality of school performance, while for females the same relation is both negative and expressed through ideal expectations raises two issues. One pertains to the purportedly different avenues through which males and females perceive their parents' educational expectations. The other pertains to the psychological repercussions of academic performance for females. Haller's (1968) caution to distinguish between idealistic and realistic expectations has evidently been ignored by investigators; many employ the two interchangeably. The present findings indicate that though both dimensions pertain to demands parents set for their child, idealistic and realistic expectations are unrelated for both males and females. Whether the separation of the two dimensions of expectations resides in parents' communication, in the adolescents' perception, or in the interaction between the two remains undetermined by these data. The results of the
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present study indicate, however, the desirability of defining educational expectations using both the idealistic and the realistic dimensions. At the same time, these results call for further exploration of the interplay among sex-differentiated parental practices, sex-linked identity, and the pertinent social norms in affecting the differential relation between perceived parental expectations and academic performance. The psychological repercussions of academic performance for females have been discussed by Rollins and Thomas (1979), who review socialization practices and suggest that "academic achievement is perhaps negatively valued for girls in contemporary American society and thus girls with high academic achievement are the products of malsocialization" (p. 340). The relation between perceived parental expectations and academic performance among Israeli females leads to the opposite conclusion; that is, academic performance has a positive value for females. Those who fail to achieve evidently feel under pressure to improve. The different conclusions from American and Israeli studies may have two different interpretations. One is that American adolescent females are more strongly aware of the toll subsequently paid by high achieving women choosing bimodal or masculine identity (Hodgson and Fisher, 1981). The other is that compulsory high school education in the United States takes the pressure off low achieving females. The two interpretations are not incompatible and together suggest that while American adolescent females are threatened by doing too well at school, their Israeli counterparts are threatened by doing too poorly, especially during the junior high school years. In the Israeli setting, junior high school is considered a crucial stage in one's educational career, since admission to academic, college-bound senior high school is primarily determined by performance in the junior high school. At the same time, the greater pressure presumably felt by Israeli females, relative to Israeli males, may reflect a more general developmental tendency, as reported by Simmons and colleagues (see Blyth et al., 1983). That is, adolescent females may be more vulnerable to the effects of junior high school transitions than are adolescent males.
The Relation Between Relationships with Parents and Academic Performance
The first part of the hypothesized relation (2a) between relationships with parents and academic performance was supported. That is, estimated similarity to ~father is positively related to the academic performance of females, but not of males. The second part of the hypothesis (2b), postulating a positive relation between social emotional relations with
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parents and academic performance for both males and females was not supported. Only one relationmbetween social emotional relations with father and males' academic performancemis significant and that is a negative relation. Thus, the social support effect of parents on their offspring's academic performance, underlying this hypothesis, is not confirmed. Instead, this measure presumably reflects adolescent males' social independence (see Douvan and Adelson, 1966) from the family. Though respondents of this study fall into the category of early adolescence, these findings may be regarded as a first step toward autonomy and search for identity. If, as suggested by Josselson e t al. (1977a), high achievement is one aspect of adolescent males' psychosocial maturity, then the tendency, found in this study, of high achieving males to move away from father is not only expected but also in line with earlier findings (Douvan and Adelson, 1966) that males tend to achieve autonomy at an earlier age than do females. In studying adolescent experience, Douvan and Adelson have also suggested that for males the road to independence passes through a temporary reliance on friends rather than on parents (as in the past) or on themselves (as in the future). Thus, it is possible that the relatively strong negative relation between relationships with father and relationships with friend (r = - 0 . 5 5 ) found in this study for males could be considered an additional support to treating a negative relation between relationship with father and academic performance as an indicator of early signs of independence. The comparable finding for females that high achieving girls tend to describe themselves and their fathers similarly--was also observed by Josselson et al. (1977b) and by Hock and Curry (1983) andmtogether with the finding that regardless of their academic performance, adolescent females tend to describe themselves as similar to their mothers--may be interpreted as a precursor of the bimodal identity path these females may develop in maturity (Dellas and Gaier, 1975; Hodgson and Fisher, 1981). In conclusion, the findings of this study indicate that perceived parental expectations and relationships with parents are related to the academic performance of adolescent males and females independently and differentially. The main implication of these sex differences seems to be that demands for academic performance are more stressful for females than for males, which adds yet another perspective to the hypothesis of greater vulnerability of early adolescent females.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The author wishes to thank Tami Steiner for her help in collecting and analyzing the data, and Amos Handel, John E. Hofman and the
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a n o n y m o u s reviewer for their helpful c o m m e n t s on an earlier draft o f the manuscript.
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