llLl!ll'lllflilfllljfllllflflljlfljjllflllflllllfllflll um R y Michigan State University ' This is to certify that the thesis entitled Separating from the Family: A Study of Perceptions of Home-Leaving in Late Adolescence presented by Deborah F. Hotch has been accepted towards fulfillment of the requirements for 1311-11 Jegree in 11mm Major professor / M Date _April.49_rl919—— 0-7639 OVERDUE FINES ARE 25¢ PER DAY PER ITEM I Return to book drop to remove this checkout from your record. *4 \ 3". A. t l w spa :‘fl ,- .T' C } ink “Q: J SEPARATING FROM THE FAMILY: A STUDY OF PERCEPTIONS OF HOME-LEAVING IN LATE ADOLESCENCE BY Deborah F. Hotch A DISSERTATION Sumitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of Psychology 1979 ABSTRACT SEPARATING FROM THE FAMILY: A STUDY OF PERCEPTIONS OF HOME-LEAVING IN LATE ADOLESCENCE BY Deborah F. Hotch In this investigation survey research methods were used to study late adolescents' perceptions of home-leaving. There were three aims of this research: (1) to obtain descriptive and attitudinal data concerning home-leaving among a group of adolescents; (2) to test the idea that adolescents differ in their style of perceiving home-leaving; and (3) to determine whether the major predictor of differ- ences in style of perceiving home-leaving was the inter- action between two specific variables, viz. self-sufficiency and relatedness. The idea of a style of perceiving home-leaving represented a specific application of engagement style, a general personality construct recently deve10ped by McKinney (1978). Self-sufficiency referred to the degree to which the individual has begun to assume the direction, attitudes and responsibility necessary for life as an adult. Related- ness referred to the degree to which a close, positive relationship with parents was experienced. Deborah F. Hotch A 76-item questionnaire consisting primarily of Likert-scale items, was administered to 94 high school seniors (54 males, 40 females). In addition to items designed to obtain information about respondents' plans and attitudes concerning the future, two item pools were included to enable indexes measuring self-sufficiency and relatedness to be constructed. Two open—ended projective items were constructed to assess respondents' styles of perceiving home-leaving. A multiple regression analysis (hierarchical model) in which respondents' scores on the measure of style of perceiving home-leaving served as the criterion variable was performed. In this way it was possible to determine whether, as expected, the most important predictor of the style variable was the interaction between self-sufficiency and relatedness (i.e., the product of these two indexes). To determine the existence of nonlinear patterns of associ- ation, the square of each of the two indexes was included as a predictor variable. The sex of the respondent was also incorporated as a predictor. As a secondary analysis, the regression analysis was repeated separately on the males' and females' data. Descriptive analyses involving the computation of cross- tabulations and bivariate correlations for such variables as style of perceiving home-leaving, self-esteem, prestige of parents' occupations, and family size were also performed. Deborah F. Hotch Results indicated that style of perceiving home— leaving could be reliably assessed and was a useful research tool for describing the home-leaving perceptions of a group of late adolescents. For the group as a whole, almost 27 percent of the variance in the measure of respondents' style of perceiving home-leaving was accounted for by the predictor variables. Relatedness and the nonlinear component of this measure emerged as the most important predictors. Contrary to what was expected, the interaction of the measures of relatedness and self-sufficiency was of negli- gible importance as a predictor variable. For males, the self-sufficiency measure was more important as a predictor of style of perceiving home-leaving than it was for females. A total of 42 percent of the variance in the measure of style of perceiving home-leaving was accounted for by the predictors for males; 24 percent was accounted for in the females' data. Implications of the findings for hypotheses and strategies for future research concerning adolescents' perceptions of separating from their families were discussed. To 6.8. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This research was conducted while I was a recipient of an NIMH National Research Service Award (training grant no. 1 T32 MB 14622). I gratefully acknowledge this support. Many thanks are due the members of my dissertation committee, Ellen Strommen, Neal Schmitt, and Lucy Ferguson, for their guidance and helpful recommendations. I am especially indebted to John McKinney who chaired my committee and stimulated my interest in adolescent separation. His teaching, support, and enthusiasm throughout my graduate training have been essential and I will always be grateful to him. I also want to acknowledge the participation of all who were respondents and pilot study respondents in this research. Their help and the cooperation of their teachers, principals, and superintendents were essential and in addition made conducting this study particularly enjoyable. I also appreciate the help of Kurt Koetsier and Jeff Brown who coded the data. Throughout my work my friends and family have been unceasingly supportive. Many thanks are due DeWayne Moore iii for his advice. I am very thankful too to Irene Mann, whose help and warm hospitality have been invaluable. To Gus, again thank you. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF TABLES o o o o o o o o o o o o o Vii Chapter I. INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Early Normative Research Concerning Separation from the Family . . . . . 2 Clinical Literature Concernig Problematic Separation. . . . . . . . . . . 4 Ecological Research Concernig Dispersal. . 5 Separation in Sociology of the Family Literature. ., . . . . . . . . . 7 Recent Normative Research Concerning Separation from the Family . . . . . 8 Engagement Style as a Construct for Studying Adolescents' Perceptions of Home-LeaVing o o o o o o o o o o 11 I I 0 PURPOSE 0 O O O O O O O O O O O O 17 Accounting for Variation in Styles of Perceiving Separation from the Family. . 18 Descriptive Phase . . . . . . . . . 24 I I I 0 METHOD 0 O O O O O O O O O O O O 2 6 Respondents . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Questionnaire . . . . . . . . . . 28 open-Ended Itms o o o o o o o o o 2 8 Items for Index Construction. . . . . 31 Items Measuring Parental Willingness for Separation. . . . . . . . . 32 Information Items . . . . . . . . 33 Procedure. . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Chapter IV. ANALYSIS 0 O O O O O O 0 Index Construction . . . . Regression Analysis. . . . Secondary Analyses . . . . Descriptive Analyses. . . V. RESULTS . . . . . . . . Styles of Perceiving Separation. Indexes of Relatedness and Self- Sufficiency. . . . . . Regression Analysis. . . . Secondary Analyses . . . . Regression Analyses of Females Males' Data . . . . . Descriptive Analyses. . . Plans and Attitudes Self-Esteem . . . Residence Groups . Style Groups. . . Family Differences. VI. DISCUSSION . . . . . . . Styles of Perceiving Separation from the Fami 1y I O O O O O 0 Discussion of the Results of the Regression Analyses . . . . Leaving . . . . . . Discussion of the Results of the Remaining Descriptive Analyses. . . Implications for Future Research Studying Perceptions of Other Separations Summary. . . . . . . . APPENDICES A. Student-Parent Permission Letter. B. Student Questionnaire . . . Discussion of the Results of Other Analyses Involving Styles of Perceiving Home- C. Correlation Tables for Selected Variables. LIST OF REFERENCES . . . . . . . vi Page 83 s3 108 110 122 127 LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. Results of Regression Analysis Performed on Style of Perceiving Separation from the Family (Hierarchical Model) (Both Sexes; N=64) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 2. Percentage and Number of Respondents in Each Style Group in Relation to Perceived Parental Willingness for Separation (Respondents High on Relatedness Index and Low on Self- Sufficiency Index; N=l8). . . . . . . . 54 3. Results of Regression Analysis Performed on Style of Perceiving Separation from the Family (Hierarchical Model) (Females;N=33). . 57 4. Results of Regression Analysis Performed on Style of Perceiving Separation from the Family (Hierarchical Model) (Males, EF31) . . 59 5. Percentage and Number of Respondents in Each Category of Item #Dl: What Will You Most Likely Be Doing Next Year? (EF94)- . . . . 62 6. Percentage and Number of Respondents in Each Category of Item #Dl4: How Far From Your Family Will You Most Likely Be Living Next Year? (N=94). . . . . . . . . . . . 63 7. Percentage and Number of Respondents in Each Category of Item #018: Where Will You Most Likely Be Living Next Year? (3:94) . . . . 64 8. Percentage and Number of Respondents in Each Category of Item #D15 and Item #D16: How Happy, in General Are You This Year? and How Happy Do You Think You Will Be Next Year? - (§=94)..............66 vii Table Page 9. Percentage and Number of Respondents in Each Category of Item #D17: Compared to This Year, How Different Do You Think Next Year Will Be For You? (Ne94) . . . . . . . . . . 68 10. Percentage and Number of Respondents in Each Category of Item #D19: How Likely Would It Be For You to Be Living With Your Parents in Five Years? (N=94) . . . . . . . . . 68 11. Percentage and Number of Respondents in Each Category of Item #DZO: How Happy Do You Think You Would Be If You Were Living With Your Parents Five Years From Now? (Né94) . . . 70 12. Percentage and Number of Respondents in Each Category of Item #Dl9: How Likely Would It Be For You to Be Living With Your Parents in Five Years? (Respondents in Three Residence Groups; N=64) o o o o o o o o o o o o o 71 13. Percentage and Number of Respondents in Each Category for Item #20: How Happy Do You Think You Would Be If You Were Living With Your Parents Five Years From Now? (Respondents in Three Residence Groups; Né64) . . . . 72 14. Percentage and Number of Females and Males in Each Style Group (N=71) . . . . . . . 73 15. Percentage and Number of Respondents in Each Style Group Who Report Low, Moderate and High Relatedness (N=69) . . . . . . . . . 74 16. Percentage and Number of Respondents in Each Style Group in Each Category of Item #D14: How Far From Your Family Will You Most Likely be Living Next Year? (N=70) . . . . . . 75 17. Percentage and Number of Respondents in Each Style Group Who Desire Careers Lower, Equal, or Greater in Prestige Than Those of Their Fathers (N=55) . . . . . . . . . . 76 18. Percentage and Number of Respondents in Each Style Group Who Scored Low, Moderately Low, Moderately High, and High on the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (Scored as an Index) (§=71) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 viii Table Page 19. Percentage and Number of Respondents in Each Style Group in Each Category of Item #Dl6: How Happy Do You Think You Will Be Next Year? (Respondents Who Will Not Be Living With Parents; N;55) . . . . . . . . . . . 78 C-1. Correlations Between Selected Variables (Both Sexes; All Available Data; Original N=94) . . 124 C-2. Correlations Between Selected Variables (Females; All Available Data; Original N=40) . . . . 125 C-3. Correlations Between Selected Variables (Males, All Available Data; Original N=54) . . . . 126 ix CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Independence, both individual and collective, appears as a pervasive theme in American society and culture. Not surprisingly, the pattern and style of family life is consistent with and encourages this value. Unlike traditional societies, the identity of a mature adult in contemporary American culture does not reside in one's being a member of an extended kinship structure. Rather, one's identity depends on the attainment of a separate status. In quite general terms, the concern of the present investigation was to develop and test a means for describing how late adoles- cents who are facing adulthood conceptualize separating from the family as this is represented by the issue of home- leaving. In addition, several constructs presumed to be important concommitants of these conceptualizations were considered. Since psychologists typically consider adolescence a period of preparation for adulthood, the paucity of investigations of home-leaving, a key demarcation of adult status, is surprising. The vast amount of attention paid by developmentalists to attachment and dependency in the earliest years of life, in some senses the developmental opposites of separation or "detachment," similarly makes the relative absence of investigations of separation unexpected.1 Indeed, as will become apparent, similar deficiencies in research in tangentially related areas may also be noted. Earlnyormative Research Concerning Separation from the Family Mention of the developmental importance of becoming independent from parents' control at the end of adolescence is evident at least as early as the turn of the century when Hall (1904) delineated the boundaries of the subdiscipline that is now adolescent psychology. At that time, as now, adolescence was defined as the period of transition from childhood to adulthood. The gradual loosening of the type of dependency on parents characteristic of children has been a defining feature of this developmental era. Successful psychological weaning from parents was and still is discussed as a central component of the definition of adulthood and thus one of the major tasks of adolescence. Surprisingly, then, developmental research interest concerning the issue of independence from parents was not 1One area within the domain of attachment theory and research has at times been designated "separation" research. This area grew from Spitz‘s (1946) early studies of the psy- chological development of infants who were forced to separate from their mothers and subsequently experienced severe emotional deprivation. Fonmulations concerning normative patterns of separation from the family at the end of adoles- cence do not appear to have been made within this area. nearly so evident. One of the few exceptions was work done in the 19308 by McDill reported by Dimock (1937). McDill developed the Emancipation from Parents Scale (EFP Scale), a questionnaire comprised of 120 items considered by a group of judges as being indicative of dependence or independence from parents. Respondents (1753boys, ages 10 to 18) were asked to respond "yes," "no," or "don't know" to such items as "Decide things for myself," and "Have dates with girls" in three conditions: "What I do"; What I want to do"; and "What my parents want me to do." Correlations between re- spondents' scores and such variables as strength, weight, height, intelligence, socioeconomic status, and religion were computed and were quite low. A few years later Sherman (1946) constructed a similar instrument for use with male and female university students. As in the earlier research by McDill the primary interest was in determining the relationship between respon- dents' emancipation scale scores and various subject charac- teristics such as sex, intelligence, social class, religion, age, and time at college. Comparisons with regard to these variables were made between the most emancipated group and those who scored lowest on the measure. But here again, the relationships between respondents' scores and the various characteristics considered were slight, leading the author to conclude that future investigations in the area would be best advised to focus on the relationship between respondents and their parents. It appears, however, that with the exception of the limited work conducted since 1960 which will be discussed in a later section, no further normative research would be forthcoming in this area. In view of this scarcity, some consideration of related literature in other disciplines is particularly useful. Clinical Literature Concerning Problematic Separation The importance of personal autonomy and gaining independence from parents during adolescence has been stressed by clinicians working with troubled adolescents. Home- leaving, which becomes salient at this time activates a number of concerns and needs that are likely to be proble- matic for their clients. In therapeutic settings, consider- ation of parents' and childrens' perceptions, behaviors, and the events surrounding impending or actual separation appears to enhance the effectiveness of therapy conducted with troubled adolescents (Elson, 1964; Stierlin, et al., 1974; Shapiro, 1969). In contrast to these clinical reports and discussions, the present study was a beginning effort to examine perceptions of home-leaving in a nonclinical group of late adolescents. In other clinical work, Hansburg (1972) developed an instrument to assess ”separation anxiety" during adolescence. Believing that how one reacts to various kinds of separation is of key importance for understanding personality develop- ment and adjustment in early adolescence, Hansburg's test was designed to elicit responses to ten separation situations a child might encounter. Of particular interest to him as a practicing clinician was that certain patterns of response appeared to distinguish clinical from nonclinical groups. But importantly the purpose of his work was to operationalize the psychoanalytic idea of individuation. Adolescents' per- ceptions or anxieties concerning the specific task of separating from parents were not considered in Hansburg's work. Ecological Research Concerning Dispersal It is interesting to note that the process in which an animal moves from its birthplace to another locality, known as dispersal, has been the subject of wide and recent study in the natural sciences (Bekoff, 1977; Kleiman & Brady, 1978). In mammals dispersal typically occurs at puberty and appears to be related to some or all of a variety of factors including hormonal activity, social pressure, limited food supply, and inherited propensity (Stonm, et al., 1976). In contrast to research regarding separation from parents after adolescence by developmental psychologists, descriptive accounts of the dispersal patterns of a wide range of species are available in numerous natural histories. In view of this lack, providing a rudimentary description of the separation pattern and attitudes in one group of late adolescents was a goal of the present study. Having descriptions available, ecologists and zoolo- gists are now interested in specifying the causes or mechanisms underlying dispersal. A number of researchers favor explanations of dispersal among animals in terms of influences other than overt aggression by adults against the juveniles in the population (e.g., Storm, et al., 1976; Armitage, 1974; Yeaton, 1972). Reports by others, however, place more emphasis on the importance of aggressive behavior by adults (e.g., Steiner, 1976; Broadbrooks, 1970). In an attempt to reconcile the above conflicting reports and interpretations in this area, Bekoff (1977) has recently proposed that individual animals who interact least with their littermates will be the most likely to disperse since they will have formed the weakest social bonds. He advances a similar argument to account for the fact that some species are characterized by a considerable degree of dispersal while others are not. Aggression directed against juveniles, Bekoff sug- gests, may facilitate dispersal but is not a requirement for it. Rather, he argues, selection patterns determine whether the range of individual types will prompt greater specie sociality or a pattern in which some individuals disperse early, some remain longer, and some remain permanently in the home area. But as yet, in spite of the many descriptive accounts of dispersal patterns in animal species, research that would provide zoologists with a better understanding of the mechanisms involved are conspicuously lacking (Bekoff, 1978; Kleiman & Brady, 1978). Separation in Sociology of the Family Literature In the context of the family, the departure of a child at maturity represents a "contraction" of the family (Blood, 1972). In his discussion of this aspect of family life, Blood has asserted that while the birth of the first child generally causes a crisis because s/he profoundly alters the lives of the parents, the departure of children, even that of the first and last born, does not seem to warrant being labeled a crisis. The gradualness of the home-leaving pro- cess, the lessening of strain once children have left, the maintenance of ties in the form of visiting, calling, and gift-giving, and not having to develop new skills, Blood has argued, all suggest that for most the separation phase will be a relatively easy one for parents. Available work concerning the quality of family life after offspring have separated supports the contention that in general the time of "launching" is a relatively nonstress- ful one. Deutscher (1968) interviewed 49 urban, middle-class respondents whose children had separated. The vast majority reported that their present time in life, with their children grown and out of the home, was better than (22 cases) or as good as (15 cases) any time before. Only five indicated that postparenthood was a stressing and painful time for them, being either as bad as (2 cases) or worse than (3 cases) any other era. In related work, Blood and Wolfe (1960) had gathered data concerning marital satisfaction at different stages in the family life-cycle. Respondents who were parents of un- launched adult children (i.e., children over the age of 18 who were still living in the home) were found to be notably less satisfied in their marriages than their postparental counterparts. In fact, it was this group that reported the least satisfaction of any of those surveyed. In some regards, the present work complements the above work by sociologists of the family. Here, attention has been directed to examining "launching" from the perspec- tive of the adolescent who is confronting this issue. Future research designed to incorporate the interacting, mutually dependent perspectives of the "launchee" and those of the parents would be a fascinating and valuable undertaking. Recent Normative Research Concerning Separation from the Family As noted earlier there is little evidence of any research interest in the issue of separating from parents from the time of McDill's and Sherman's studies until a number of years later. In the 19605, as part of a project designed by researchers at the National Institute of Mental Health to study the development of competent adults, Coelho and his associates began investigating how students adjusted to separation from parents and life at residential colleges. In particular, the report of this researCh by Murphey et a1. (1963) is an important source of information in this area. While being potentially limited in its generalizability due to the select nature of the sample involved (viz. superior students from upper middle-class homes in a Washington, D.C. suburb) this study nonetheless provides useful guidance in delineating the variables that seem likely to be involved in the separation process in a nonclinical population. The students and parents involved in this research were interviewed by the research team on several occasions during the students' last year in high school as well as four times during the first year of college. The 19 students were grouped with regard to their relative position on two dimensions: autonomy and relatedness. Nine were evaluated as high on both dimensions, three were low on both dimensions, and six were high in autonomy and low in relatedness. Only one participant was low in autonomy and high in relatedness. Thus, the authors discussed the patterns associated with only the first three groups: high autonomy-high relatedness, low autonomy-low relatedness, and high autonomy-low relatedness. Autonomy was considered to be the ability of the student to make "separate, responsible choices." This ability, the researchers suggested, "is demonstrated by the feeling of being a separate person rather than an extension of others, an awareness of freedom to make choices in selecting or rejecting outside influences, and assuming responsibility for one's own decisions" (p. 645). The criteria used to assess students' relative standing on this dimension included their abilities to makeexesponsible 10 decisions about the use of time, maintaining academic competency, choosing a major and vocation, managing money, and establishing standards of sexual behavior. Relatedness, the second dimension on which students were assessed, was defined as the student's expressed satis- faction "in a predominantly positive relationship with his parents" (p. 645). The criteria used to assess this dimension clarify the construct as it was defined by these authors. Students' "expressed feelings of growing equality with the parents," interest in parents' well-being, a desire to com- municate with parents, and a desire to have parents be emotionally close, were considered the basis of the related- ness dimension. "Autonomous-relatedness" was the term used by the authors to designate the capacity for integration of inde- pendent behavior and positive family ties. Specifically, these investigators were interested in examining how differ- ences in adolescents' integration of the two factors related to patterns of interaction with parents and adjustment to life separated from them. Interviews with the students and parents revealed quite marked differences between the groups of students and their relationships with their parents. Subjects said to be high in both autonomy and relatedness appeared, in the inter- viewers' judgments, to be making an adjustment to life away from the family that was the least conflicted and the most comfortable. In particular, this group was said to appear 11 to convey to their parents an ability to accept and handle responsibility and challenge. The parents of this group of students, in comparison with the other parents, expressed confidence and pleasure in their childrens' abilities, as well as secure and consistent values and autonomy in their own lives. In addition, parents of the students said to be low in relatedness (i.e., the remaining two groups discussed in the study) were said to reflect difficulty in communi- cating and in recognizing the needs and interests of their separating children. The preceding review reveals that in several critical regards separation from the family at the end of adolescence as yet remains unexplored. As a result, today a develop- mentalist interested in this area, after considering pertinent research, still faces both the task of offering a useful framework on which to structure research, and the need to provide at least a rudimentary description of how home-leaving is perceived and carried out. The present research was designed as a beginning effort in both these regards. Engagement Style as a Construct for Studying Adolescents‘ Perceptions of Home-Leaving' Recent work by McKinney (1978) concerning variation in individuals' general styles 0f perceiving the self's re- lationship to the environment can provide a useful framework within which to consider the specific issue of separating from the family. As it has been developed, this construct, designated engagement style, involves how individuals 12 perceive themselves in interactions with others. Of inter- est is whether an individual views him/herself either as: l--one who is a "doer," i.e., expresses an "agent" style of engagement, or 2--one who is acted upon, "done to" by others, i.e., expresses a "patient" style, or 3—-one who is both actor and acted upon, i.e., expresses a "communal" style. It may be suggested that to adjust with maximal ease in a complex environment, an individual who holds a view of him/herself as both actor and acted upon will be most com- petent and comfortable. Thus, an amalgamation of the styles, namely that style designated communal, has been presumed optimal within the present formulation of engagement style. Unlike locus of control (Rotter, 1964) with which engagement style has at times been mistakenly identified, this construct is not related to a notion of reinforcement expectancy. Furthermore, the theoretical basis of the present concept suggests that a moderate level on the dimension would be optimal. Locus of control is not con- ceptualized in such terms: No typology is implied nor is any level of the variable presumed to be optimal (Rotter, 1975). Research concerning locus of control, however, has often involved the implicit or explicit presumption of an optimal level. But unlike the engagement style construct which stipulates an optimal midrange level, the optimal level with respect to the locus of control dimension has been presumed to be a relatively high degree of internal control. 13 The projective measure used to asess engagement style as a general personality variable has been proven to be reliable, easily administered, easily scored, and not prone to the demand characteristics that are often associated with personality assessment instruments. It has also been validated with findings from age-group comparisons in developmental research. Early adolescents were found to show a more "patient" style than second graders and adults (McKinney, 1978). But in addition to the construct's psychometric properties and its potential as a general or developmental personality variable, the concept of engagement style has considerable usefulness as a means for conceptualizing specific situations involving interpersonal interactions. It was in such a specific sense that the idea of differing engagement styles was used in the present examination of separation from the family. In viewing separating from the family with reference to a style of engagement in this research it was expected that some adolescents would perceive separation as being forced on an individual (i.e., "done to" an individual) con- stituting a patient perception of separation. In contrast, others were expected to focus on the self's activity, on ”doing," and thereby express an agent perception of separa- tion. Still others were expected to perceive the process as a joint venture--something that an individual does, but with others' prompting, help, and/or assurance. This final 14 perspective has both agent and patient components and thus reflects a communal perception of separation. Previous work shares some common ground with the above distinctions among styles of perceiving separation from the family. Douvan and Adelson (1966) in their exten- sive monograph concerning adolescent development, The Adoles- cent Experience, suggested the family's task is "to allow the child to abandon it without allowing him to feel that he is himself abandoned or an abandoner" (p. 119). In the present conceptualization, feeling abandoned suggests a patient style of perceiving the situation. Feeling oneself to be an abandoner suggests the opposite extreme: an agent style of perception. Neither view would be expected to result in maximum ease of adjustment. In other work Coelho and his associates (Coelho, et al., 1969) employed a projective technique to predict coping behavior in college students at a large state uni- versity. In that study 347 entering freshmen were asked to write 11 stories in response to 11 slides depicting various college-life scenes. Of particular relevance to the present research were the examples of the protocols of high and low scoring Cases. The stories told by Case 1, a student who had received consistently high ratings on the measure, suggesting she would be likely to make a favorable adjustment to college, revealed a consistent theme of seeking and expecting support from peers and parents while striving on her own to succeed at school. In contrast, the stories of a student whb 15 consistently scored low and later did in fact withdraw from school in the second semester of her first year, did not illustrate such a pattern. Rather, her expectations conveyed a clear impression of being lost and overcome in the situa- tions depicted. In terms of the construct of a style of per- ceiving life at college, away from home, it would be said that the first subject expressed a communal style of per- ception and the second a patient style. An important feature of Bowlby's (1973) theoretical work concerning attachment and forced separation in the early years of life also has a bearing on the idea of there being engagement styles of perceiving home-leaving. He has con- cluded that people of all ages appear happiest and most capable when they are confident that one or more trusted people are available if support is needed. The truly self- reliant person, he has suggested, is not so independent as cultural stereotypes imply. "A well-founded self-reliance," he has written, "is not only compatible with a capacity to rely on others but grows out of and is complementary to it" (p. 359). In connection with the above aSpect of Bowlby's work, it is valuable to note that it was he who suggested the term "autonomous-relatedness" to describe the capacity for both independent behavior and the maintenance of parental ties that was the basis of the research conducted by Murphey et al. Consequently, with regard to separation, both Bowlby's theoretical perspective and the more empirical perspective of 16 Murphey et a1. stressed the importance of the ability to act and to be independent, and also the ability to be one on whom and for whom others act. This dualistic view is reflected as well in the idea of engagement styles of per- ceiving separation from the family that is the basis of the present work. Specifically, in terms of the present formula- tion, the ability to act and be independent represents an agent component; the ability to be one on whom or for whom others act represents a patient component. The idea that a communal style of perceiving home- leaving, involving perception of both agent and patient components, would be the perspective most likely to be associated with the easiest adjustment to separation similarly receives support from the above work by Bowlby and that of Murphey et a1. Bowlby's statement concerning the truly self- reliant individual is pertinent in this regard. Specifically, as noted above, he has stressed that well-founded self- reliance involves an ability to be helped as well as the ability to do for oneself. Consistent with this, the parti- cipants in the research conducted by Murphey et al. who were high in both autonomy and relatedness were those found to be c0ping most easily with separation from parents. CHAPTER II PURPOSE The focus of the present research was on the indi- vidual confronting the issue of separating from his or her family at the end of adolescence. More specifically, a major purpose of the study was to determine whether empiri- cal support existed for the idea that adolescents varied with regard to style of perceiving separation. Thus, at issue was whether this construct could be reliably measured, and, if so, whether it would be found to vary across indi- viduals. Further, if such a construct did appear to be a meaningful descriptor, it was also of interest to determine what might be associated with such styles of perceiving separation from the family. In addition to these goals, obtaining basic descriptive information about home-leaving and related issues from respondents in late adolescence was another intent of the research. In light of these aflms and the limited amount of previous research in the area, survey research methods were used. 1 An important advantage of the use of survey research methods in social scientific investigations of areas that 17 18 are as yet relatively unexplored is that a dual analytic strategy is feasible. In one phase of the analysis, multiple regression techniques may be used while in another phase attention may be devoted to descriptive analyses and inter- pretations of the data obtained (see, for example, Bachman, et al., 1971). The issues of interest in the present investigation demanded both types of consideration and thus survey research techniques were well-suited here. Responses to questionnaire items provided descriptive information concerning home-leaving as well as the means for constructing the measure of style of perceiving separation and the other variables used in regression analyses. In this way both descriptive and regression analyses could be performed on the same data set. Accounting for Variation in Styles of Perceiving Separation from the Family Four hypotheses were formulated for testing in a multiple regression analysis. The goal of this stage of the investigation was to examine the relationship between the previously discussed concept of a style of perceiving separation from the family and several predictor variables. While the details of the measurement procedures used to operationalize these variables are provided in the next chapter, presentation of the hypotheses and their rationale is pertinent here. Of special relevance is the work of Murphy et a1. (1963) reviewed earlier in which highlighted the" 19 importance of "autonomy" and "relatedness" as two apparently interacting dimensions that are of value in understanding the adjustment of college freshmen to separation from their parents. In the present study, variables similar to the constructs discussed by Murphey et a1. were operationalized in terms of distinct index scores of "self-sufficiency"and "relatedness" computed from responses to several question- naire items. Here, self-sufficiency refers to the degree to which the respondent has begun to assume the direction, attitudes, and responsibility necessary for life as an adult. Relatedness pertains to the perceived closeness of the respondent's relationship with parents. Thus while "related- ness" as a research variable in the present study was not strictly comparable to the more general and abstract con- struct discussed by Murphey et al., the term was adOpted in recognition of the basic similarity of the two. In addition, the patterns of autonomy and related- ness Murphey et al. found to be associated with adjustment to separation from parents in the college students they interviewed provided some guidance for developing hypothe- ses concerning differences in style of perceiving home- leaving. High degrees of self-sufficiency and relatedness were expected to be associated with a communal style of perceiving separation. That is, security and emotional support reflected in high relatedness, in combination with "autonomous" self-sufficiency, was expected to facilitate 20 a perception of the self as one who is both self-reliant and yet comfortable with (unthreatened by) existing and developing attachments. Low degrees of self-sufficiency and relatedness suggested a quite different style. With little warmth and support in the relationship with parents, and little inner motivation and direction, a sense of being set adrift was expected and thus a patient style of perceiving home leaving was hypothesized for individuals who were low in both self- sufficiency and relatedness. A high degree of self-sufficiency accompanied by a low degree of relatedness suggested that an agent style of perceiving separation would be most characteristic. That is, where little or no closeness to parents or emotional supportiveness is felt, but the individual has mobilized his/her resources to direct him or herself to prepare for leaving home, an agent style of perceiving separation was hypothesized. Here, a sense that "I'm my own now; 'It's me' against the world" was presumed, implying a perception that focused on the self as doing. Although Murphey et a1. did not discuss the pattern of high relatedness/low autonomy because only one of their subjects was considered to fall within this classification, it seems important to note that this may well have been a function of the quite small and select sample they studied. In the terms of the present study, high relatedness and low self-sufficiency may be an indication that while interest 21 in and emotional support for the adolescent on the part of the parents is high, the adolescent does not have a clear sense of direction and competence. In some instances this pattern seems likely to be characteristic of an individual who is as yet in transition, that is, one who is as yet some- what "immature" for the home-leaving situation s/he is facing. One might expect in this situation, that when the parents are viewed as being willing for the adolescent to separate, the family would encourage him/her to become better organized and more competent to be on his/her own. But the adolescent, lacking the maturity to manage well when separate, would be likely to need frequent assistance from parents and others. This need, when coupled with the desire to be competent and adult, prompted the expectation that, with regard to leaving home and becoming separate, the adolescents in this category would express an agent style of perception. The sentiment presumed to be the basis for this perception is of the form: "I'll show you, I'll_make it on my own; I won't need or ask for help." The focus is thus on the self, and the perception of separation is presumed to be that of a situation that an individual must face and handle alone to prove to self and to parents that s/he is no longer a child. In this case, then, it was expected that the home, while being a continual source of emotional as well as other kinds of support, and while regarded positively, would not be acknowledged as the key resource that it is. The agent style of perception expected given such a view was 22 a defense-based agency. Thus, while similar in form to the agent style expected for adolescents who are high in self-sufficiency and low in relatedness, the basis of this style is presumed to be different for adolescents who are low in self—sufficiency and high in relatedness. In other instances of the pattern of high related- ness and low self-sufficiency, namely where parents were viewed as being unwilling for the separation to occur, the combination of high relatedness and low self-sufficiency was expected to be associated with a patient style of perceiving separation. That is, in this restricting situation, when an individual confronts the task of home-leaving, it seems likely that s/he would View separation as a demand from out- side, presumably from norms which demand that individuals beyond adolescence be self-supporting and live apart from parents. Under such circumstances, perceptions of separa- tion were expected to reflect a sense of being forced out-- a patient style. This expectation in conjunction with that immediately preceding it, implied that the mean for a group of adoles- cents characterized by a low degree of self-sufficiency and a high level of relatedness on a measure of style of separa- tion-perception would be in the midrange of the measure. Specifically, it was hypothesized that two subgroups within this group, differentiated in terms of the adolescents' perceptions of parents' willingness for them to separate, would have scores at the ends of the dimension. Reiterating, 23 it was expected that for the subgroup in which parents were perceived to be willing for the adolescent to separate, an agent style of perception would be characteristic. For the other group, in which parents were perceived to be unwilling or threatened by the individual's impending separation, a patient style of perceiving separation was hypothesized. The preceding formulations were the basis for the four hypotheses summarized below: Hypothesis 1: Adolescents with high degrees of both self-sufficiency and relatedness will have a communal style of perceiving separation from the family. Hypothesis 2: Adolescents with low degrees of both self-sufficiency and relatedness will have a patient style of perceiving separation from the family. Hypothesis 3: Adolescents with a high degree of self-sufficiency and a low degree of relatedness will have an agent style of perceiving separation from the family. Hypothesis 4: Adolescents with a low degree of self- sufficiency and a high degree of relatedness will have either an agent or patient style of perceiving separation from the family. Those who perceive parents as willing for separation to occur will have an agent style; those who per- ceive parents as unwilling for separation to occur will have a patient style. It is important to note that the four hypotheses posit a single style characterized by an interaction between two predictor variables: self-sufficiency and relatedness. In cases such as this, in which an interaction between two variables is of interest, the incorporation of an inter- action term, namely the product of the two variables, has been recommended as a solution for adapting regression models to accommodate this situation (Blalock, 1972; Cohen & Cohen, 1975). Thus, a product of the indexes used to assess 24 the two variables was expected to emerge as the most impor- tant predictor of respondents' styles of perceiving separa- tion in the regression analysis performed. As an important influence on social and personality development in this culture, the sex of the respondent also warranted inclusion as a predictor variable in the regres- sion analysis. Although research concerning sex differ- ences in styles of perceiving separation from the family has not been conducted, the theoretical conceptualization of this variable suggested that traditional male socialization practices, because they stress "doing," would encourage a style among males that was relatively agent in comparison to that of females. (See, for example, Baken, 1966). It should be noted, however, that in recent work concerning sex differences in engagement style as a general personality variable, no sex differences in adult males' and females' scores were found (Moore & McKinney, 1978). Descriptive Phase In addition to the above aspects of the study, it was also intended that the investigation provide descriptive data that would help explicate findings from the regression analysis and also provide some direction to future research. To this end, the means for assessing such variables as prestige of parents' occupations (as a rough indicator of social class), family size and self-esteem were included in the questionnaire that was completed by the respondents. 25 In analyzing these data, it was of interest to determine the nature of the relationship between these variables and respondents' styles of perceiving separation, and some of their plans and attitudes concerning the future. The results of cross-tabular and correlational analyses provided this information. CHAPTER III METHOD Respondents The participation of all members of the graduating class of the high school in a small town in mid-Michigan was solicited by a letter distributed in mid-April, 1978 to all seniors (see Appendix A). Ninety-four of the 148 members of the class completed and returned the necessary permission forms and were the participants in the study. Forty (42.6%) of the participants were female; 54 (57.4%) were male. All were Caucasian and between 17 and 19 years of age. As is true of the community in which they live, the participants were a quite homogeneous group with respect to such demographic characteristics as race and ethnicity. The community (1975 population: 2,376) is a semi-rural, white, working-class town. While still small in size, over the last eight years there has been a shift in population size and composition due to the influx of middle-class respon- dents from the Detroit area. The socioeconomic background of the respondents, as indicated by the average prestige rating for parents' 26 27 occupations on the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) prestige scale (NORC, 1977), is close to that for the United States as a whole. For the respondents, the mean prestige rating for fathers' occupations was 41.88 (standard devia- tion, 9.76). For mothers' occupational prestige the mean was 38.75; the standard deviation, 12.13. On the same scale, which ranges from a low of 9 to a high of 82, the mean rating for occupations held by a national sample of respondents surveyed in 1975 by NORC was 38.48 (standard deviation, 13.42).1 For the purposes of the present study, conducting research in this community provided a number of advantages. Its homogeneity with regard to such variables as ethnicity and socioeconomic status served to control the effects of these variables thus making possible a more direct consider- ation of variation stemming from individual factors. In addition, by not conducting the study in one of the com- munities near the university, a group of participants for whom participation in research was a novel experience could be surveyed. It was therefore possible to avoid studying an elite group, or one that may have become jaded with research participation. lComputed from NORC 1975 General Social Survey data, on tape at the University of Chicago. 28 Questionnaire Open-Ended Items The following two open-ended items appeared early in the questionnaire, before any of the attitudinal questions concerning family or future plans were asked (see Appendix B). B1. Think of this situation. Someone who has just recently finished high school is living away from home (away from parents). Write a story about this situation in the space below. Tell gpy you think it happened, what happened in the past, what will happen in the future. Write 6 sentences in your story. B2. Now think of this situation. Someone who has been living away from home for a while is now visiting at home. Write a story about this situation in the space below. Tell what you think is happening, what happened in the past, what will happen in the future. This method of assessing perceptions of separation offered several important advantages. By structuring the assessment in terms of open-ended questions, responses were not inadvertently funneled into potentially inaccurate or misleading forced options. This consideration was of parti— cular importance in the present study because the area has received so little previous examination. In addition, respondents were free from having to structure their responses into prespecified categories--a practice which is likely to generate inaccurate and often haphazard responding. 29 The two items used were created for this'study with the above considerations in mind. It was further intended that the two items be designed as loosely as possible in order to elicit a wide variety of responses to the general topic of home-leaving. It was also necessary to carefully avoid wording the items in any way that might unintentionally structure responses into grammatical forms that could facilitate either an agent, patient or communal conceptuali- zation of the issue. In addition, reference to the sex of the person in each situation was deliberately avoided in order not to interfere with respondents' identifying with the figure. Similarly, constructions necessitating the use of "his" or "her" or "his/her" were avoided as additional potential sources of bias. Requesting fewer than six sentences in response to each item did not seem advisable given the desire to construct as reliable a measure as possible. On the other hand, requesting more than six sentences, or including more than two items, seemed likely to tax the interest and cooperation of the respondents. As became evident from the results of a pilot study, the intent to score each of the two items as a composite of six sentence units was not feasible given the considerable variety in the sentence structures used by the students in their responses. An alternative scoring method was thus devised. A coding scheme was developed in which each of the two paragraphs could be independently rated on a five- point scale. A score of five was assigned if the individual 30 described in the story was said to be acting in a completely self-initiated way, i.e., emphasis was placed on the figure's actions, attitudes and behaviors, with no reference to others' needs, attitudes, or behaviors acting on him or her. A score of one was assigned for the opposite depiction: the figure was described as reacting to others' actions and attitudes or circumstances. A score of three was given to descriptions which portrayed the figure as both "doing" in a self-initiated sense, but also as being "done to," acted on, by others. Scores of four and two were assigned for descriptions which fell respectively, between the middle of the dimension and the "agent" and "patient" endpoints. Respondents' scores on this measure of style of perceiving separation from the family were the sums of the scores assigned to each of the paragraphs written by the respondent. Thus, style scores as assessed with this measure could range from a low of 2 (extreme patient) to a high of 10 (extreme agent). Scores in the middle of the range, indicating that both agent and patient features were incorporated in the stories, reflected a communal style. Using descriptions written by respondents in the pilot study, two undergraduate psychology majors were familiarized with the idea of a range of styles of perceiving separation and were trained by the investigator in the use of the scoring scheme. One of these assistants, who had had previous research experience and was familiar with scoring McKinney's measure of engagement style, provided 31 the scores that were used as the respondents' scores on the measure. The other scored the protocols to provide the necessary reliability information. To maximize the consistency of the scoring and to assure that each paragraph written by a respondent was assigned a score independently of the other, first, the first paragraphs were read and scored; then, the second descriptions were read and scored. In this study, unlike a large scale survey, the relatively small number of cases enabled the coder and the reliability coder to score all the paragraphs provided by the respondents. Thus, each assistant independently read and scored the paragraphs and intercoder reliability was assessed on the basis of all the data rather than only a sample of it. Inter-coder reliability was sufficiently high (paragraph #1: 5:.80; pargraph #2: £=.75). Items for Index Construction Reference to the work concerning autonomy and relatedness in the study by Murphey et a1. (1963) provided the basis for the self-sufficiency and relatedness constructs in the present study. As previously noted, self-sufficiency was conceptualized as an assessment of the degree to which the respondent indicates s/he had had experiences or developed attitudes indicative of an ability to care for him/herself. Relatedness was defined as a measure of the degree to which a warm, positive relationship with parents was expressed by the respondent. 32 In constructing the self-sufficiency and related- ness items, the early questionnaire developed by McDill for boys aged 10 to 18 and adapted by Sherman (1946) for college students provided suggestions for the content of some of the questions. Here again, pretest and pilot test results were important for refining the wording and structure of the items. Thus, 16 items, the majority of which were Likert-scale items, were created as an item pool from which an index of respondents' self-sufficiency could be con- structed. Similarly, 17 other items, also involving a Likert-scale format, provided the pool for constructing a measure of relatedness. These items did not appear as a unit or as two separate units in the questionnaire. Rather, the question- naire was organized into six topic units (e.g., school, family, future plans) and the items designed as possible index components appeared under the topic which was most descriptive of the their content. Questions A5,C10,Cll, C12,C17,C18,Cl9,C20,C23,C24,D5,D,8,E1,F4,FS, and F6 were the sixteen items designed as possible items for the self- sufficiency index. The pool of possible items for the relatedness measure was comprised of items: Cl-C9,C13,C14, C15,C16,C25,C26,D6, and D7. Items Measuring Parental Willingness for Separation Two items concerning respondents' views of how willing their parents are for them to separate were included 33 to examine the fourth hypothesis. These two items appeared as questions D11 and D12 and were worded as follows: D11. If you wanted to live on your own next year, how willing would your mother be about this? 1 2 3 4 5 not at all very does willing willing not apply D12. If you wanted to live on your own next year, how willing would your father be about this? 1 2 3 4 5 not at all very does willing willing not apply To use these items to examine Hypothesis 4, an indicator of parental willingness for separation was con- structed by summing respondents' answers to the two items and then forming two groups--one high with regard to per- ceived parental willingness, the other low in this regard (see Chapter V). Information Items The remaining questions were designed to obtain both demographic information about the respondent (e.g., sex, number of siblings, parents' occupations) and infor- mation that could potentially be related to respondents' perceptions of home-leaving, or future plans (e.g. distance of older siblings from home, respondents' desired careers, 34 how far respondents were planning to be from home during the next year).1 In addition to the above kinds Of informational questions, the ten Likert-scale items comprising the Rosen- berg Self—Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965) were included in the questionnaire as items E2 through E11. This measure, originally designed for use in research with adolescents, lends itself to scoring either as an index or as a Guttman scale. Documentation supplied from previous research indi- cates a test-retest reliability (over two weeks) of .85, and a Guttman reproducibility coefficient of .92 (Robinson & Shaver, 1973). Parents' occupations as listed by respondents in response to items F10 and F11 were coded in terms of occupa- tional prestige in accordance with the NORC prestige hierarchy of occupations (NORC, 1977). This hierarchy, ranging from 9 to 82, has been incorporated in NORC's analysis of their national survey data since the mid-19605 and serve as a useful indicator of one aspect of socio- economic status. The same method was used to code respon- dents' desired occupations. (See, for example, Bachman et al., 1971). 1I am indebted to Dr. G. Coelho (personal communi- cation) for having suggested several of the items included in this section. 35 Procedure To assure that the participants had either already made or were as close as possible to making their decisions concerning their future plans, it was desirable to administer the questionnaire late in the academic year. Thus, student/ parent permission letters explaining the research and soliciting the students' help were distributed in early May, approximately two weeks before administering the questionnaire. Participants completed the questionnaire during school hours, in their American Government class. The testing of all participants was completed by the investi- gator on one day about two weeks before graduation. For each of the seven class groups, the investi- gator introduced the study by referring to the letters distributed earlier and reiterating that the purpose of the research was to learn some things about how people think and plan for the future. It was stressed that responses would remain anonymous and that the questionnaire was in no way a test. It was also emphasized that it was important to answer all the items. The instrument was then distributed to all who had returned the required form signed by parents (for those under 18 years of age) and themselves. Any questions were answered. Respondents were allowed as much of the 50-minute class period as needed to complete the questionnaire. Most 36 completed the items within 30 minutes; all finished within the class period. When all had finished, questions were answered and the investigator provided a general explanation of some of the specific issues that would be considered when analyzing the data. It was also explained that a report of the major findings would be provided for each of them and that this would be left with the principal of their school before the end of the summer. CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS Index Construction The first step in the analysis of the questionnaire data was the construction of the two index measures which were the key independent variables in the subsequent regression analysis. Babbie's (1973) chapter on index con- struction provides a helpful summary of most of the pro- cedures followed in the construction of the two indexes used in the present study. Indexes, by combining information obtained from several indicators, are constructed to enhance the predictive power of the variable under examination. To help assure sufficient variability of the composite measures that are constructed, items selected for inclusion should be charac- terized by sufficient variance. Examination of the distri- bution of responses across the response categories provided the information necessary at this stage. Where needed, items were recoded so that all were scored in the same direction. Then, a correlation matrix, constructed for all items being considered for inclusion in indexes, was obtained. Possible index items were selected 37 38 by examining the inter-item correlations for two features: l--Items in each index were to be positively correlated with each other, though not so highly that it was likely that the two were conveying the same information, and 2-- Items for use in one of the indexes were not to be highly correlated with items to be used in the other. Based on these considerations, potential indexes were constructed by summing respondents' choices for the pertinent items. In doing this, to make component items comparable, since some differed with regard to the number of response Options, the respondent's choice was divided by the number of response categories for the item. (So, for example, if a respondent were to select options 4, 3, and 2 in answer to three items that were to be summed to form an index, the score on this measure would be computed as 4/5 + 3/3 + 2/4 or 2.3). Then, for each potential index, the RELIABILITY sub- program of the SPSS computer package (Nie, et al., 1975) was employed to calculate coefficient alpha as a measure of the internal consistency of the composite. In addition, this package provided the item-total correlations needed to refine the composite. As an alternative method of index item selection, and as a check on the thoroughness of the construction pro- cedure undertaken as outlined above, the potential index items were also entered in a hierarchical cluster analysis (Johnson, 1967). The results of this analysis together with 39 the previous information pointed to the construction of a nine-item index of relatedness and a four-item measure of self-sufficiency. A list of the items included in these indexes as well as their reliabilities appear in the next chapter. Regression Analysis In View of the intent to gain an understanding of the interrelationship characterizing a number of variables, multiple regression analysis was selected as the primary means for data analysis in the study. With this technique it is possible to learn how well and in what relationship the specified predictors describe the system under con- sideration. Here, it was of interest to consider three predictor variables, relatedness, self-sufficiency, and sex of the respondent, in terms of how well these variables were able to predict respondents' scores on the measure of separation perception style. The hypotheses set forth posited a system of vari- ables with a number of features that had important impli- cations when performing a regression analysis. First, a high level of self-sufficiency was expected to be associated with a high degree of agency (i.e., an agent style of per- ceiving separation) if relatedness were low. But a moderate degree of agency (communal style) was expected if both self- sufficiency and relatedness were high. Given the combination of a low level of self-sufficiency and a low level of 40 relatedness, perceptions of separation were expected to be patient in style (i.e., low scores). A respondent who was low in self-sufficiency and high in relatedness was expected to have either a high or a low agency score (i.e., have either an agent or patient style of perceiving separation). As noted previously, in cases in which such interactions are expected, regression models, which presume strictly linear systems, can handle such departures from linearity by the incorporation of a multiplicative interaction term (Blalock, 1972; Cohen & Cohen, 1975). In the present study, then, it was necessary to compute the product of the self-sufficiency and relatedness index scores for incorporation in the regression analysis. The need to incorporate a product in the model as well as having hypothesized that the interaction would be the most important predictor of respondents' styles of per- ceiving separation, made use of the hierarchical form of regression advisable (Cohen & Cohen, 1975). This variation of multiple regression requires that the researcher specify the order in which predictors are inserted into the model. It thus provides the means for testing the viability of a hypothesized formulation. With this approach, the contri- bution of each predictor to the overall predictive power of the model is assessed in a specified order in terms of only previously entered predictors. One may thus obtain a measure of how well each predictor functions in the model when the input of the previously inserted variable or 41 variables is controlled. This approach, then, stands in contrast to simultaneous multiple regression which provides its assessment of each predictor's contribution to the predictive power of the model while controlling for all the variables in the system at the same time. When incorporating an interaction term into a regression model, Cohen and Cohen have stressed the impor- tance of assuring that the impact of the product term be assessed while controlling for the contribution made by its two components. This is vital, they note, because rather than "being" the interaction of the component variables, the product term is better viewed as the carrier of the inter- action in the system. As a result, it has meaning as a source of variance only after that attributable to its com- ponents has been controlled (Cohen & Cohen, 1975, p. 295). With this consideration in mind, then, the order of input of predictor variables into the regression analysis is con- strained such that the interaction term is inserted after the individual components. To detect the presence of a possible nonlinear pattern in data analyzed with regression techniques the inclusion of two additional, quadratic, terms in the analysis has been recommended (Cohen & Cohen, 1975; Tatsuoka, 1976). Here again, use of a hierarchical model is necessitated so that the squared terms may be inserted after the contribution of the unsquared predictor to which it corresponds has been controlled (Cohen & Cohen, 1975). 42 The above stipulations together with the intent to incorporate sex into the model as a final predictor of style of perceiving separation resulted in entering the predictor variables into the hierarchical analysis in the following order: relatedness, self-sufficiency, interaction (i.e., relatedness X self-sufficiency), relatedness squared, self- suficiency squared, and sex of respondent. Support for the hypotheses presented on page 23 and the system they posit would thus be evident in the emergence of the interaction term as the most powerful predictor in the model. Secondary Analyses While the regression analysis detailed above could indicate whether the interaction between relatedness and self-sufficiency was, as specified by the hypotheses, of primary importance in accounting for respondents' scores on the separation perception measure, a secondary analysis was performed to determine whether support existed for the stipulations of the fourth hypothesis. At issue was the group of respondents characterized by a high degree of relatedness and a low degree of self-sufficiency. It was hypothesized that the separation perception scores for the respondents in this group would be bimodally distributed. Those in this group who perceived parents to be willing for them to separate would have an agent style of perceiving separation (high scores); those who perceived parents to be unwilling for them to separate would have a patient style 43 of perceiving separation (low scores). To consider this, a Chi-square analysis of the frequencies in each parental willingness X style of perception cell was performed for the cases in which index scores indicated the respondents to be high on relatedness and low on self-sufficiency. In this way it could be determined whether this group conformed to the pattern predicted, namely, that respondents with high scores (agent style) would be those whose parents were reported to be the more willing for the child to separate and those with low scores (patient style) would be those whose parents were seen as being less willing. In addition, to determine whether females and males differed with regard to the usefulness of the postulated model in accounting for style of perceiving home-leaving, regression analyses were performed on the males' and females' data. These analyses also provided information concerning sex differences in the pattern of association among the variables in the model. Descriptive Analyses A number of descriptive analyses were performed. In this way, a description of the group of respondents in terms of their plans and attitudes concerning the future was possible. Comparisons of separation perception styles across various respondent groups were of particular interest here. To this end, cross-tabulations and correlations between separation perception style and such variables as 44 family size, birth order position, prestige of parents' occupations, and self-esteem were computed. Where necessary for the cross-tabular analyses, respondents' scores on the variables of interest were grouped into distinct categories. Thus, self-esteem, as measured by the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (index form) was considered in terms of four ranges: high, moderately high, moderately low, and low self-esteem scores. Scores on the measure of separation perception were divided into groups corresponding to agent, communal, and patient styles. When cell size permitted, grouped variables were also employed as control factors (Rosenberg, 1968). However, as often happens, limitation due to the overall number of respondents, compounded by the relative scarcity of certain subgroups (e.g., respondents who expressed a patient style), tended to create too many empty cells, thus precluding many such analyses. CHAPTER V RESULTS Styles of Perceivinngeparation As is often the case in research of this kind, some respondents chose not to respond to all items. The problem of missing data was not so marked for the closed-ended, descriptive items, but did reduce the amount of usable, open-ended data necessary for the regression analyses. Thus, results of the regression analyses concerning styles of perceiving separation were based on the responses provided by the 64 respondents who answered the two open-ended questions designed to measure style of perceiving separation and all the items needed to compute the measures of related- ness and self-sufficiency. As data reported in subsequent sections will show, scores of these 64 respondents on the index measures used as predictor variables were not markedly different from scores of the total group. Similarly, the results of the other analyses were based on all available data. While the scores on the style variable were skewed toward the upper (agent style) end of the range, responses 45 46 were nonetheless distributed across the entire scale. For the group of 71 respondents for whom data were available to assess style of perceiving separation, the mean on the measure which ranged from 2 to 10, was 7.37, and the standard deviation was 2.22. In addition, the correlation between respondents' scores on the two paragraphs was neither so low as to cause concern that each was measuring a different variable, nor so high as to imply that one of the two items was simply conveying redundant information (£=.34). For the group of 64 respondents who could be included in the regression analysis, the mean was 7.30 and the standard deviation. 2.21. The correlation between the two paragraphs was .31 (reliability coefficient: .47). To obtain an indication of the length and range in length of the descriptions that were written, 29 of the 64 complete questionnaires were randomly selected and the number of words in each story was counted. The mean length of the response to each open-ended question was approxi- mately 50 words. Here as well there was a considerable range. Some descriptions were as short as 10 or 15 words, while others were as long as 80 or 90 words (paragraph 1: x=s4.76, §p=18.7o; paragraph 2: i=45.55, §p=18.55). As a check on the possibility that length might be related to score, the correlation between the paragraph score and the number of words was also computed. No rela- tionship was evident. For the first paragraph £=-.02; for the second, £=-.03. 47 The following selection of a few of the descriptions written in answer to the two questions illustrates the type and range of response obtained.l (See page 26 in the previous chapter or page 94 in Appendix B for the wording of the items.) Respondent A (male, total score 2, patient style): B1. B2. The parents in the home yelling and bitching about very (sic) thing every time you turn around. They don't like the things you do. I know because it is happening to me right now. So now I'm moving out of the house and moving into a(sic)apartment. That the parents don't give the kids a chance to find out what the world is about instead [they] kick the kids out of the house and they don't give the kids a chance. So it makes it hard on the kids. Then the kids have to make a living on there (sic) own. Respondent B (female, total score 10, agent style): Bl. B2. The person has decided to move out into the world on her own. She has found a job and is enjoying life as it comes to her each day. She is faced with new experience(sic) on her own without her parents. She is visiting her parents and family. She is interested in how they are doing and what has happened since she has moVed away. Respondent C (female, total score 6, communal style): Bl. B2. They probably wanted to go to a college that was far away. Their counselor advised the student that this college was the best for their field. The college was hard to get used to at first (being so far away from home--but she eventually got used to the new Environment(sic) and friends. She is coming through the door. She greets Mom and Dad with big hugs. Her parents always made it possible for her to be active and independent so 1In some instances punctuation and capitalization have been changed slightly from the original to facilitate reading the paragraph. Original spelling and word usage have been maintained. 48 their child could run her own life some day. She will grow up to be a secure, mature women who is involved in her community. In addition to their differences in score, the preceding descriptions also differ in tone. The tone of the responses provided by Respondent A is negative in both paragraphs. In contrast, Respondent C's second description is positive in mood or tone. The remaining three stories are neutral in tone, as were most of the paragraphs written by the respondents. The sixteen paragraphs that were notable for their negative tone varied across the range in terms of score. In contrast to the patient style of perception of Respon- dent A is the following paragraph by Respondent D which is similar in its negative tone, but which reflects an agent style. Respondent D (female, total score, 10, agent style): B2. The kid has no plans for the future. He is very mixed up. He probably can't find the right kind of job. He misses the family's support. He needs to get his ideas, plans together. He isn't ready for the business life yet. Though only four of the stores were notable for a markedly positive tone the two stories by Respondent E are both of this type: Respondent E (Female, total score 10, agent style): Bl. The person has graduated with high honors from a grand high school. She received many scholarships and is now attending the U of M and plans to go to medical school. After she graduates she will travel around then settle back in near her parents and set up practice. Her gross income will be about $86,000 annually. 49 B2. The person is visiting from college. The parents and family shower her with attention because of the long separation. The person feels mature and content; happy to be back in familiar surroundings. Indexes of Relatedness and Self-Sufficiency From the pool of 17 items pertaining to family relatedness and the 16 items that concerned various instances of self-reliance, a nine-item relatedness index and a four- item self-sufficiency index were constructed as described in the previous chapter. The nine items found to form the most reliable composite measure of relatedness were the following: Cl. My parents are interested in what I do (l-never to 5-a1ways) C2. I feel sure my parents like me (l-never to 5-always) C4. How often do you like to sit down and just talk to your mother or your father (l-never to S-always) C5. How close would you say your relationship to your parents is? (l-not at all close to 5-very close) C7. How well do you and your father get along? (1-very badly to 5-very well) C9. How alike are you and your father? (l-not at all alike to 5-very much alike) C13. Would you be likely to go to your mother or father if you were feeling lonesome (l-very unlikely to 5— very likely) C14. Would you be likely to go to your mother or father if you needed to find someone who understands how you feel? (l-very unlikely to S-very likely) C16. When you are away from your parents how much do you miss their company (1-not at all to 5-very much) For all nine, higher numbered response categories indicate higher relatedness. For the 91 respondents for whom data were complete on all nine items, the mean was 6.12, and the standard deviation, 1.63. The reliability of the measure was high (a=.90). For the subgroup of 64 respondents whose data 50 were included in the regression analysis, the mean, standard deviation, and reliability of this index were comparable to that for the group as a whole: i=6.l6; §2;1.68, a=.9l. The index of self-sufficiency was comprised of the following four items. (An asterisk appears before the response option that indicates the highest degree of self— sufficiency.) C17. When you hve needed money in the past where was it most likely to come from, for example, from parents, a job, relatives, etc. . (Coded as: 1- other people; 2-self and other peOple; or, *3-se1f only, i.e., a job). C24. Do you buy your clothes with your own money? (*always; usually; sometimes; seldom or never) D5. Will you be receiving money from your family next year to live on or to go to school with? (yes; *no) F5. Do you pay for your own automobile insurance? (no; *yes) For the 87 respondents who provided responses to all four items, the mean for this composite was 2.71 and the standard deviation was .70. The reliability was relatively low: a=.59. The 64 respondents for whom data were complete on the style and index measures and who could therefore be included in the regression analysis were again comparable to the larger group: i=2.65, §Q=.70; o=.63. The correlation between the two measures for the entire group of respondents was -.16. For the subgroup of 64 respondents included in the regression analysis the correlation was slightly lower (r=-.10). 51 Regression Analysis The results of the regression analysis are reported in Table 1. As detailed earlier, respondents' scores on the open-ended items served as the criterion variable, while predictor variables were relatedness, self-sufficiency, the interaction term (i.e., relatedness X self-sufficiency), sex, and the two terms formed by squaring the relatedness and self-sufficiency indexes. Table 1 shows that the predictor variables together explained about 27 percent of the variability in respondents' 2=.2676). In styles of perceiving separation (i.e., 3 addition, the p value obtained for the regression suggested that the observed relationship between these variables was a meaningful one (F;3.47, p=.005). Of the six predictors, clearly it was relatedness that emerged as the one making the most crucial contribution to the variance explained by the set. Over and above the 11.5 percent (i.e., 52 change=.1151) explained by related- ness, the remaining predictors contributed about 15 percent to the total explained. Of this 15 percent, almost 12 per- cent was attributable to the quadratic term formed by squaring the measure of relatedness. Thus, both linear and nonlinear aspects of relatedness were related to respon- dents' styles of perceiving separation. In comparison to the relatedness index, the pre- dictive power of the self-sufficiency index was slight. Only about 2 percent of the total variability in respondents' 552 .ucoAOAMuooo :ofimmouuou pouwpumpcmumau .ucoflowuwooo sawmmoumou powwoumpcmumcba .mom.ma. Aucoumcouv moo. ha.m om. ma.e New. HMH.H oame.- amam.u m~oe.- mean. mafia. whom. acmuaoamom mo xmm concavm «co. mm.m mm.m vm.h HNm. oao. mmom.u mth.I HHhH.I omom. Hooo. ommm. hocowowmwanlwamm poumsvm «cc. mm.v mv.mH oo.Hv moo. mom.a om~.NI Hmmm.| hamw. mmom. mead. mNmN. mmOGGOumem .aocmaoeuwamumeom x mmocpoumHmz. «no. ma.m m~.o o~.ma cum. moo. ehhm.| hvo~.I owed. omen. Hooc. cmma. coMuomumucn xopcn «Ho. hh.v on. mw.~ 5mm. omv.H comm. onm.a mwnH.I whom. Homo. mmMH. >OCOHOkuomIMHom . xoch moo. no.m mw.H ma.o woo. boo.» Hoc.m vmm.m mamm. mmmm. HmHH. HmHH. mmocpoumHom m m m omcmno N Hacuo>o om m m M aacuom cm onEam .uH52 NM ~m manmwum> .1aonm ammxwm zoom. .Hopoz amoflnoumuoamv >Hflficm any Eouw coflumuooom mcw>fiooumm mo oaaum co poEHOHHom memxamc< conmoumom mo muaomomuu.a wanna 53 styles of perceiving separation was attributable to this variable. The variance accounted for by its square was negligible: only 1/100 of 1 percent. Thus, neither the linear nor the nonlinear (quadratic) component of this variable could account for much of the variation in the criterion variable. Although it was expected to emerge as the most powerful of the predictors, the interaction of relatedness and self-sufficiency was a very weak contributor to the total variance explained by the model. Considerably less than 1 percent of the variance was attributable to this factor. The sex of the respondent made a slight additional contribution, explaining somewhat over 1 percent of the variance in the measure of style of perceiving separation. Females and males were thus not markedly different with regard to their scores on the measure of style. (Females: i=7.51; §p=2.18; Males: X=7.06; §p=2.25). Secondary Analyses The fourth hypothesis, it will be recalled, con- cerned the subgroup of respondents who were high in related- ness but low with regard to self-sufficiency. It was expected that the scores on the measure of style of per- ceiving separation for this subgroup would be high (agent) if parents were viewed as willing for the adolescent to separate, or low (patient) if parents were viewed as un- willing. 54 The frequency table and results of the Chi-square analysis that was performed to test Hypothesis 4 are pre- sented in Table 2. Respondents whose scores on the related- ness index were at or above the median on this variable (Mdp=6.40) and whose scores on the self-sufficiency index were at or below the median (Mdp=2.69) were included in this analysis. The subgroup of respondents who met these criteria thus comprised the high relatedness--low self- sufficiency group of concern in the fourth hypothesis. Table 2.—-Percentage and Number of Respondents in Each Style Group in Relation to Perceived Parental Willing- ness for Separation (Respondents High on Related- ness Index and Low on Self-Sufficiency Index; N=18). Perceived Parental Willingness Style Group Low High % (p) % (2) Patient 20% (1) 0% (0) Communal 20% (l) 54% (7) Agent 60% (3) 46% (6) x2=3.67; $32, p=.16 As previously discussed, perceived parental willing- ness was a dichotomous variable constructed by summing respondents' answers to two five-point Likert-scale items which asked respondents how willing would their mother/ father be if they wanted to live away from home next year? 55 For the high willingness group, sums ranged from 8 to 10, while for the low willingness group sums were from 2 to 7. Eighteen respondents who met the group criteria also provided responses to the two willingness items and the open-ended items used to assess style of perceiving separation. Respondents' styles of perceiving separation were divided into three groups in this and several subse- quent analyses. Low scores (indicating a patient style) ranged from 2 through 5; moderate scores (indicating a communal style) ranged from 6 through 8; high scores (agent style) ranged from 9 to 10. It can be seen in Table 2 that the pattern of response in this group did not conform to that predicted in Hypothesis 4. That is, respondents were not exclusively agent or patient in their styles. Indeed, nearly half were in the midrange. The Chi-square analysis indicated that the pattern of observed frequencies did not diverge from that which would be expected by chance (x2=3.67; g§=2; p= .16). Regression Analyses of Females' and Males' Data To determine whether different patterns for males and females were evident with regard to the variables analyzed in the regression analysis, separate hierarchical regression analyses were performed on the females' and males' data. In viewing the results of these analyses, the necessarily sharp decrease in the numbers of respondents in 56 each analysis must be recognized. The analysis of the females' data included 33 respondents, while 31 respondents were included in the analysis of the males' data. It will be recalled that while no Specific hypothe- ses were formulated with regard to sex differences in the variables studied, it was suggested that socialization factors might make it more likely for males than females to perceive separation in an agent manner. As previously noted in connection with the small percentage of variance accounted for by sex in the combined regression analysis, this specula- tion was not confirmed. Reiterating, for the females, the mean of the measure of style of perceiving separation was 7.51, the standard deviation, 2.18. The correlation between the two predictor variables was low (£=-.06). For males these figures are similar: X=7.06; §Q=2.25 . The correla- tion between relatedness and self-sufficiency for these males was -.16. The results of the separate regression analyses, however, suggest the pattern of association of the variables under consideration here may be different for males and females. For males a total of 42 percent of the variance in the criterion measure was accounted for; for females 24 percent of the variance was accounted for by the same variables. Table 3 contains the results of the regression analysis of the females' data. It will be noted that, in terms of the pattern of the relationship between the pre- dictor variables, these results are not markedly different 57 .usowowuwwoo scammoumou pouwpuwpcmumac .ucowowuuooo scammoumou nonwpumpccuucaa .vmmo.. Aucmumsouv counsvm nma. mn.H mv.¢ mm.o mom. moo.a mmm.a move. mmvoo.u mmvmv. «Home. hmvvm. aocofiowuuomnwaom voumsvm oma. Hm.H om.o~ mm.~v mmo. mnm.m mum.~n mmv~.| ohmmm. cmmmv. mmwca. vmvam. nmocpoucaom .sucmeoamuamnoamm X mmOGOOUMHOmv can. mH.H as.» mm.oe Nam. cam. eaeo.- maaH.- aNamo. ammmm. «heeo. GNSoH. coauoaumucu xenon m-. am.a ma. ao.~ Nam. smm. ame.e- -~.m- aaaHH.- aspen. mmmco. amvao. Rousseauuaanuemm xopCH cos. sm.~ ms.e a~.o coo. nom.~ mam.~ a.s.m aaoa~. aaoaN. cacao. seams. unaccouaemm a I I I m m mamaao I m Heaum>o om m a a .«aumm am «Assam .ueaz «a Na menaauu> .1mmum sausages. .Hmpo: Hmownoumuowzv hawemm 0:» Boom :oflumumoom mcw>wmouom mo maxum :o poEHOMHom mwmwaos< sawmmmumox no muHsnomln.n manna 58 from the results in Table l for the group as a whole. Here as well, the linear and nonlinear components of the related- ness index were the most powerful predictors of respondents' scores on the measure of style of perceiving separation. Unsquared, this variable accounted for somewhat over 8 per- cent of the total 24 percent of variance accounted for by all the predictors. The nonlinear component of this vari- able accounted for an additional 10.8 percent of the total. Importantly, however, while for the females it may appear that the variables included in the analysis accounted for a considerable proportion of the variance in the criterion variable, given the small number of respondents, it does not seem likely that 24 percent represents a meaningful amount (§=l.75; p=.157). For the males surveyed, the results of the regres- sion analysis differ from those for the females in both the magnitude of variance accounted for and the relative importance of the predictor variables. These results appear in Table 4. As can be seen in Table 4, for the males, the pre— dictor variables included in the analysis accounted for over 40 percent of the variance in the measure of style of perceiving separation. Even given the small number of respondents in this analysis, finding a relationship of this magnitude makes it likely that the pattern of associ- ation observed here is a meaningful one (§=3.58; p=.014). £59 .ucoaOkuooo cowmmoumou ponwpuopcmuwca .ucoaonumooo cenmmoumou omnwvumpccumcao anno.o~I. anonymooo. poumsvm aao. nn.n nv.n coo. on... na.n ann.n- ano.aI onnnn.- aaoao. nnaoa. oanaa. noaoauamuoaIuaum couoovm nno. on.n av.na nvo. non.e nn.nn ono.~- onnn.- nnnan. nnnnn. aanaa. oanan. aaooomuaamm .suaoauaoaomnaamm X mmmflBJMHOKv noa. -.~ ao.n onn. nan. ao.oa ann.a- anan.u anana. nooaa. noaao. nonna. coauomuouca xoch one. o~.n no. oon. ann.a no.n ann.n nnn.aa nnann.u anana. nanno. aoona. soawaoaamoaIwamm xOch nno. no.n ao.a nno. nao.n oo.o ano.o nno.n noann. oovnn. nnnaa. annaa. mmmaooumaox a I I I m m womago I m aamnm>o on a a m ..auwo .m maosam .uaoz no no manaaum> aaopox Havanoumuoamv hanEcm on» Scum COaucamoom mcn>aoouom wo mason .aanum “means. so poEHOMMQm mamaamcc canmmoumom mo nuasmomIIJv manna 60 The most striking difference between the results obtained for males and those for females was the consider- ably greater predictive value of the measure of self- sufficiency for males. Its linear as well as curvilinear component accounted for more variance in the criterion variable in the males' data than was the case in the females' and the group data. Although its contribution was not statistically significant, almost 4 percent of the variance in the measure of style of perceiving home-leaving was accounted for by the measure of self-sufficiency for males. For females this proportion was less than 1 percent. Similarly, the square of this measure, for males, accounted for somewhat over 10 percent of the variance in scores on the style measure, while for females this figure was only 3 percent. The importance of the measure of relatedness as a predictor of style was also greater for males. Nearly 15 percent of the variance was accounted for by relatedness and an additional 11 percent was accounted for by the square of this measure. The comparable figures in the analysis of the females' data were 8.5 percent and 11 percent, respectively. The findings concerning the measure of self- sufficiency in the analysis of the males' data are parti- cularly surprising in View of the quite low reliability of the measure for the males. That is, while for females the reliability of this measure was quite high (a=.77), for 61 males it was much lower (a=.46). Such a difference was not the case for the measure of relatedness. For females, a: .92; for males, a=.90. With regard to the consistency of the measure of style, however, a difference between males and females was also evident. For males the correlation between the two Open-ended items was relatively high (£=.39). For females this correlation was lower (£;.24). When considering the different patterns of results that emerged from the separate regression analyses, it must be recognized that a considerable amount of the seemingly great difference in variance accounted for in the males' and females' data is attributable to measurement error in the criterion variable. Correcting the 32 obtained for each sex for this attenuation (Nunnally, 1967), reveals that had the measure of style of perceiving separation been perfectly reliable, it would be expected that for males, approximately 86 percent of its variance would be accounted for by the predictor variables while for females only 79 percent would be accounted for by these variables. Descriptive Analyses Plans and Attitudes.--Table 5 summarizes the tabula- tionsl made concerning respondents' plans for the coming year. Nearly half reported they planned to be working; an additional 4 percent indicated they would be combining work 1In some tables totals may not add to 100 percent due to rounding. 62 Table 5.--Percentage and Number of Respondents in Each Category of Item #Dl: What Will You Most Likely be Doing Next Year? (N=94). Both Sexes Females Males Category % (2) % (2) % (2) Going to School 26.6%(25) 32.5%(13) 22.2%(12) Working 44.7%(42) 35.0%(14) 51.8%(28) Armed Service 5.3%(5) 5.0%(2) 5.6%(3) Traveling 3.2%(3) 0%(0) 5.6%(3) Work with Travel or 4.2%(4) 5.0%(2) 3.7%(2) School Miscellaneous 10.7%(10) 20.0%(8) 3.7%(2) Missing 5.3%(5) 2.5%(1) 7.4%(4) Total 100% (94) 100% (40) 100% (54) with traveling or school. Slightly over one-fourth of the respondents, about 27 percent, planned to continue their schooling. Five respondents (5.3%) planned to enter mili- tary service, and three others (3.2%) reported they would be traveling. Included in the miscellaneous category are plans that involve a combination of several activities (e.g., school, work, and home—making). There were only slight differences with regard to future plans for the males and females in the study. A somewhat larger percentage of females were planning to attend school while a slightly larger proportion of males were planning to have jobs. Table 6 reveals how far from their families respon- dents planned to be living during the next year. With 63 Table 6.—-Percentage and Number of Respondents in Each Category of Item #D14: How Far From Your Family Will You Most Likely Be Living Next Year? (N=94). Both Sexes Females Males Category ._______ % (p) % (p) % (p) 0-10 miles 27.7%(26) 27.5%(11) 27.8%(15) 11-30 miles 22.3%(21) 27.5%(11) 18.5%(10) 31-100 miles 17.0%(16) 25.0%(10) 11.1%(6) 101-200 miles 12.8%(12) 10.0%(4) 14.8%(8) 200+ miles 18.1%(17) 10.0%(4) 24.1%(13) Missing 2.1%(2) 0% (0) 3.7%(2) Total 100% (94) 100% (40) 100% (54) regard to distance, respondents were relatively evenly distributed across the range. Fifty percent planned to live within 30 miles of their families, while 18 percent expected to be living more than 200 miles away. A trend for the females to have planned to be nearer their families may also be noted in these data. Nearly 40 percent of the males reported planning to live more than 100 miles away from their families, the corresponding figure for females was 20 percent. When type of living situation planned by respondents was considered (Table 7) four main categories were evident. Approximately one-quarter of the respondents planned to live in an apartment with roommates and another 25 percent planned to continue to live with parents. Nineteen percent 64 Table 7.--Percentage and Number of Respondents in Each Category of Item #D18: Where Will You Most Likely be Living Next Year? (N=94). Both Sexes Females Males Category ———————- -——-—-—- % (p) % (p) % (5) With Parents 25.5%(24) 22.5%(9) 27.8%(15) In Apartment with 23.4%(22) 20.0%(8) 25.9%(14) Roommates In a Dormitory at 19.1%(18) 27.5%(11) 13.0%(7) College With Spouse 10.6%(10) 15.0%(6) 7.4%(4) On a Military Base 5.3%(5) 5.0%(2) 5.6%(3) With Girl/Boyfriend 4.3%(4) 2.5%(1) 5.6%(3) Own House/Apartment 2.1%(2) 2.5%(1) 1.8%(1) Married, with Parents 1.1%(1) 0% (0) 1.8%(1) Miscellaneous 7.5%(7) 5.0%(2) 9.3%(5) Missing 1.1%(1) 0% (0) 1.8%(1) Total 100% (94) 100% (40) 100% (54) 65 planned to be living in college dormitories; 10 percent would be living with spouses. The remainer planned such arrangements as military housing, living with girl or boy- friends, or living alone in a house or apartment. Such arrangements as a residence-apprenticeship, living with a friend's family, and living with relatives other than parents were included in the miscellaneous category. Consistent with the previous observation for more of the females to be planning to attend college was the large proportion of females reporting that they will be living in college dormitories in the next year. With this exception however no other marked differences in the resi- dence plans for the females and males were apparent. Tables 8 through 13 report respondents' answers to several questions related to their plans. For the correla- tions between these and other measures, see the correlation tables in Appendix C. Table 8 provides a comparison between how happy respondents reported being at present with how happy they thought they would be in the next year. Overall, the patterns of response for the two issues were quite similar and indicated a high degree of present and anticipated happiness. Sixty-seven percent rated their present happi- ness at 4 or 5 on the 5 point scale. Responses concerning anticipated happiness were skewed even farther toward the positive end of the scale. With regard to the relationship between the two questions, the correlation was positive and 66 Table 8.--Percentage and Number of Respondents in Each Category of Item #D15 and Item #D16: How Happy in General Are You This Year? and, How Happy Do You Think You Will be Next Year? (N=94) Both Sexes Females Males Category % (2) % (p) % (E) How happy, in general, are you this year? l--Very Unhappy 4.3%(4) 5.0%(2) 3.7%(2) 2 6.4%(6) 7.5%(3) 5.6%(3) 3 18.1%(17) 20.0%(8) 16.7%(9) 4 42.6%(40) 45.0%(18) 40.7%(22) 5—-Very Happy 28.7%(27) 22.5%(9) 33.3%(18) Total 100% (94) 100% (40) 100% (54) How happy do you think you will be next year? l--Very Unhappy 1.1%(1) 0% (0) 1.9%(1) 2 2.1(2) 0% (0) 3.7%(2) 3 23.4%(22) 25.0%(10) 22.2%(12) 4 41.5%(39) 45.0%(18) 38.9%(21) 5--Very Happy 31.9%(30) 30.0%(12) 33.3%(18) Total 100% (94) 100% (40) 100% (54) 67 relatively high (r=.44). Again, striking sex differences were not apparent in these data. Not only did most respondents anticipate being happy in the following year but they expected they would find the next year to be quite different from the present. This was evident in the results summarized in Table 9 which concern respondents' answers to the item, "How different do you think next year will be for you?" It may be noted that response to this item was also skewed toward the upper end of the scale: 54.3 percent responded 5 on the five point scale indicating they thought the next year would be very different from the present. Fewer than 10 percent gave ratings of 1 or 2. Here as well the pattern of response for males and females was quite similar. In Tables 10, ll, 12, and 13 responses to questions concerning the more distant future, specifically respondents' plans and attitudes regarding living with parents in five years, are reported. Table 10 reveals that relatively few of the respondents, regardless of sex, anticipated living with their parents in five years. On a five-point scale in which 1 was "very unlikely" and 5 was "very likely," only four respondents responded "5"; an additional four indicated "4" on the scale. More than half (57.4%) selected the lowest scale point, indicating they believed it very unlikely that they would be living with their parents in five years time. 68 Table 9.--Percentage and Number of Respondents in Each Category of Item #Dl7: Compared to This Year, How Different do You Think Next Year Will be for You? (N=94). Both Sexes Females Males Category _______. a (p) % (p) % (a) l-—Very Similar 2.1%(2) 2.5%(1) 1.8%(1) 2 5.3%(5) 5.0%(2) 5.6%(3) 3 10.6%(10) 10.0%(4) 11.1%(6) 4 26.7%(25) 22.5%(9) 29.6%(16) 5--Very Different 54.3%(51) 60.0%(24) 50.0%(27) Missing 1.1%(1) 0% (0) 1.8%(1) Total 100.1%(94) 100% (40) 99.9%(54) Table 10.--Percentage and Number of Respondents in Each Category of Item #019: How Likely Would it be For You to be Living With Your Parents in Five Years? (N=94). Both Sexes Females Males Category % (p) % (p) % (n) l--Very Unhappy 57.4%(54) 60.0%(24) 55.5%(30) 2 18.1%(17) 20.0%(8) 16.7%(9) 3 14.9%(14) 15.0%(6) 14.8%(8) 4 4.3%(4) 2.5%(1) 5.6%(3) 5--Very Happy 4.3%(4) 2.5%(1) 5.6%(3) Missing 1.1%(1) 0% 1.8%(1) Total 100.1%(94) 100% (40) 100% (54) 69 Responses to the question "How happy do you think you would be if you were living with your parents in five years?" (see Table 11) were not so skewed as in the previous question concerning the likelihood of the situation. Thirty-four percent selected the lowest point, indicating they would be very unhappy in such a situation. Seventeen percent selected the fourth or fifth scale point, indicating they thought they would be quite happy in this situation. Self-esteem.--A number of correlations were computed involving respondents' scores on Rosenberg's measure of self-esteem (a=.86). For these analyses several variables that could reasonably be expected to vary as a function of this personality construct were included. No relationship between self-esteem and how far respondents reported they would be living from their families was evident for the group as a whole, nor for either sex considered separately. (Both sexes, £=.11; Males, £=.09; Females, £=.10). Similarly, no association between respon- dents' self-esteem score and the prestige of his/her desired future occupation was evident. (Both sexes, £=.04; Males, £=.12; Females, £=-.Ol). It is interesting to note, however, that an associ- ation between respondents' scores on the measure of self- esteem and their reported closeness to parents (i.e., the relatedness index) did emerge. A quite high, positive association was evident for both sexes considered together 70 Table ll.--Percentage and Number of Respondents in Each Category of Item #D20: How Happy Do You Think You Would Be If You Were Living With Your Parents Five Years From Now? (N=94). Both Sexes Females Males Category ________ % (p) % (p) % (n) l--Very Unhappy 34.0%(32) 30.0%(12) 37.0%(20) 2 24.5%(23) 25.0%(10) 24.1%(13) 3 23.4%(22) 30.0%(12) 18.5%(10) 4 11.7%(11) 12.5%(5) 11.1%(6) 5--Very Happy 5.3%(5) 2.5%(1) 7.4%(4) Missing 1.1%(1) 0% (O) 1.8%(1) Total 100% (94) 100% (40) 99.9%(54) as well as separately. (Both sexes, 3:.48; Males, 5:.44; Females, £=.55). Residence Groups.--In addition to comparisons across sex made in the previous section, it is also interesting to contrast the response patterns of other subgroups of respon- dents. For the two questions concerning living with parents in five years, different patterns of response characterized the respondents in three of the major residence groupings. Tables 12 and 13 allow comparisons across these subgroups to be made. Table 12 reveals that for the respondents who will be living in apartments next year, living with parents in 71 Table 12.--Percentage and Number of Respondents in Each Category of Item #Dl9: How Likely Would It Be For You to Be Living With Your Parents in Five Years? (Respondents in Three Residence Groups; N=64). With Parents In Apartment In Dormitory Category % (p) % (p) % (n) l--Very Unlikely 50.0%(12) 77.3%(17) 38.9%(7) 2 25.0%(6) 7.1%(2) 22.2%(4) 3 12.5%(3) 13.6%(3) 22.2%(4) 4 12.5%(3) 0% (0) 5.6%(1) 5--Very Likely 0% (O) 0% (0) 11.1%(2) Total 100% (24) 100% (22) 100% (18) five years was believed to be less likely than for those who will be living with parents next year. But, of those planning to live at school, more reported that living with parents in five years was a likely prospect than was the case for the other two groups. Thus, it is interesting to note that the group who will be living with parents in the next year did not appear to regard living with them in five years as being as likely a situation as it was for those who will be away at school. A similar pattern emerged in Table 13. The overall pattern for the group of respondents who will be living with parents after graduation from high school indicated these respondents believed they would not be as happy as the college-bound group if they were living with parents in five 72 Table 13.--Percentage and Number of Respondents in Each Category for Item #D20: How Happy Do You Think You Would Be If You Were Living With Your Parents Five Years From Now? (Respondents in Three Residence Groups; N=64). Residence Group Category With Parents In Apartment In Dormitory % (p) % (p) % (p) 1--Very Unhappy 33.3%(8) 40.9%(9) 27.8%(5) 2 16.7%(4) 31.8%(7) 11.1%(2) 3 29.2%(7) 13.6%(3) 27.8%(5) 4 12.5%(3) 13.6%(3) 22.2%(4) 5--Very Happy 8.3%(2) 0% (O) 11.1%(2) Total 100% (24) 99.9%(22) 100% (18) Style Groups.--By dividing respondents into three groups on the basis of their scores on the measure of style of perceiving separation it was possible to learn whether these group differences were associated with variations in any of the other characteristics that were considered. As noted previously, the three groups, corresponding to the patient, communal, and agent styles of perceiving home- leaving, were comprised of respondents whose scores on the measures were in the ranges 2 through 5, 6 through 8, and 9 through 10 respectively. Of the 71 respondents who provided answers to the two open-ended questions used to assess style of perceiving separation, 22.5 percent were patient in 73 style, 36.6 percent were communal in style, 40.5 percent expressed an agent style. Table 14 reveals the breakdown of the three style groups by sex. Of the 16 respondents who expressed a patient style, 43.8 percent were females, 56.2 percent males. The communal group was evenly divided between males and females. 55.2 percent of the agent group was female; 44.2 percent was male. Table 14.--Percentage and Number of Females and Males in Each Style Group (EF71). Style Group Sex of Respondent Patient Communal Agent % (p) % (p) % (2) Female 43.8%(7) 50.0%(13) 55.2%(16) Male 56.2%(9) 50.0%(13) 44.8%(13) Total 100% (16) 100% (26) 100% (29) Table 15 reveals how the three style groups differ with regard to the relatedness variable. For each group the percentage and number of respondents whose score on the index indicated low (2.0-4.3), moderate (4.4-6.4), or high (6.5-8.8) relatedness is reported. In comparison with the other two groups, a noticably higher proportion of respon- dents in the patient group indicated a low degree of related- ness. Indeed, of those expressing an agent style, only one respondent was a member of the low relatedness group and in 74 Table 15.--Percentage and Number of Respondents in Each Style Group Who Reported Low, Moderate and High Relatedness (N=69). Style Group Relatedness Patient Communal Agent % (p) % (p) % (51) Low 33.3%(5) 20.0%(5) 3.5%(1) Moderate 26.7%(4) 36.0%(9) 31.0%(9) High 40.0%(6) 44.0%(11) 65.5%(19) Total 100% (15) 100% (25) 100% (29) that case the relatedness score was on the borderline between the low and moderate group. In addition, when compared with the agent group, considerably fewer respondents who expressed a patient style reported high degrees of relatedness. Table 16 provides an indication of how far from their families respondents in each group planned to live in the next year. Proportionately more members of the agent group planned to live very close (within 10 miles) or quite far (over 200 miles) from parents. For those with patient and communal styles, the distributions were somewhat more even. The pattern suggested a trend for the patient group to have planned to live somewhat farther from their families than the communal group. Overall, the level of association between scores on the style variable and how far from their families respondents planned to live was negligible (r=-.07). 75 Table l6.--Percentage and Number of Respondents in Each Style Group in Each Category of Item #D14: How Far From Your Family Will You Most Likely be Living Next Year? (N=70). Style Group Distance Patient Communal Agent a (p) % (a) % (a) 0-10 miles 12.5%(2) 24.0%(6) 36.0%(9) 11-30 miles 25.0%(4) 28.0%(7) 17.2%(5) 31-100 miles 25.0%(4) 24.0%(6) 17.2%(5) 101-200 miles 18.8%(3) 16.0%(4) 6.9%(2) 200+ miles 18.8%(3) 8.0%(2) 27.6%(8) Total 100.1%(16) 100% (25) 99.9%(29) By contrasting the prestige of a respondent's desired occupation with that of his/her father's present occupation, an approximate indication of one type of ambitious- ness was obtained. In Table 17 the percentage and number of respondents in each style group who desired careers lower, equal, or greater in prestige than those of their fathers is reported. This information suggests that, as a group, respondents with agent styles of perceiving home-leaving appeared to be more ambitious than either of the other two groups. Respondents with patient styles of perception appeared to be considerably less ambitious than were those with communal or agent styles. In general, the relationship between scores on the style measure and ambitiousness was a moderate one (3:.31). 76 Table l7.--Percentage and Number of Respondents in Each Style Group Who Desire Careers Lower, Equal, or Greater in Prestige Than Those of Their Fathers. Prestige of Style Group Desired Career Relative to Patient Communal Agent Father's Career % (p) % (p) % (2) Lower 36.3%(4) 10.5%(2) 12.0%(3) Equal 9.1%(1) 26.3%(5) 8.0%(2) Higher 54.5%(6) 63.1%(12) 80.0%(20) Total 99.9%(11) 99.9%(19) 100% (25) Group differences in self-esteem were apparent when the style groups were compared (Table 18). For this com- parison, respondents' scores on the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (scored as an index) were used to divide respondents into four groups: low self-esteem (scores from 19-26), moderately low self-esteem (27-30), moderately high self- esteem (31-34) and high self-esteem (35-40). As Table 18 indicates, of the 16 respondents with low scores on the style variable (i.e., the patient group), approximately 31 percent were in the lowest self-esteem group. Only one respondent in this style group was in the high self—esteem group. For the other groups (i.e., respondents with agent and communal styles), approximately one-fourth of each group was in the lowest and one-fourth was in the highest self- esteem group. Across the groups, the association between scores on the style variable and the grouped self-esteem 77 Table 18.--Percentage and Number of Respondents in Each Style Group Who Scores Low, Moderately Low, Moderately High, and High on the Rosenberg Self- Esteem Scale (Scored as an Index) (N=71). Style Group Self-Esteem Patient Communal Agent Group % (p) % (p) % (3) Low 31.2%(5) 26.9%(7) 24.1%(7) Moderately Low 31.2%(5) 30.8%(8) 24.1%(7) Moderately High 31.2%(5) 15.4%(4) 27.6%(8) High 6.3%(1) 26.9%(7) 24.1%(7) Total 99.9%(16) 100% (26) 99.9%(29) measure suggested a positive trend (£=.l7). A difference emerged when this association was considered for each sex separately. For males the association was a moderate one (£=.28). For females this was not the case (£=.07). (Correlations between style and the ungrouped measure of self-esteem for males and females were similar: Both sexes, 3:.19; Males, 5:.30, Females, £=.09). Table 19 contains information about the respondents who reported they would not be living with their parents in the next year. The answers to the question "How happy do you think you will be next year?" for this subgroup of respon- dents were considered for the three style groups. In this way it was possible to consider how respondents who would be physically separated from parents, and who differed in 78 Table l9.--Percentage and Number of Respondents in Each Style Group in Each Category of Item #D16: How Happy Do You Think You Will be Next Year? (Respondents Who Will Not Be Living With Parents; N=55). Style Group Category Patient Communal Agent % (p) % (p) % (n) 1--Very Unhappy 0% (0) 0% (0) 0% (0) 2 8.3%(1) 0% (0) 0% (0) 3 33.3%(4) 10.0%(2) 26.1%(6) 4 16.7%(2) 65.0%(13) 47.8%(11) 5--Very Happy 41.7%(5) 25.0%(5) 26.1%(6) Total 100% (12) 100% (20) 100% (23) their style of perceiving home-leaving, anticipated their future general contentment. The subgroup included in this and the subsequent two tabulations were quite similar to the entire group of respondents who provided answers to the two items used to assess style of perceiving separation. Specifically, 12 (21.8%) expressed a patient style of per- ceiving separation; 20 (36.4%) expressed a communal style and 23 (41.8%) expressed an agent style. These proportions are nearly identical to those for the group of respondents for whom style could be assessed: Patient style, 22.5 per- cent; communal style, 36.6 percent; agent style, 40.8 per- cent. 79 It is interesting to note the appearance of a cur- vilinear pattern in the data reported in Table 19. Approxi- mately 58 percent of the respondents who would be living apart from parents and who expressed a patient style anti- cipated being quite happy (i.e., responded 4 or 5 on the 5- point scale). About 74 percent of the respondents who would be living apart from parents and who expressed an agent style indicated they anticipated being quite happy in the next year. But 90 percent of those who WOUId be living apart from parents and who expressed a communal style of perceiving home-leaving indicated a "4" or "5" on this item. Family Differences.-—The degree of association between several family difference variables and pertinent study variables was generally low. The number of siblings in a respondent's family was not related to his/her style of perceiving separation (£=.06). Similarly, a respondent's position in the sibship as eldest, middle, or youngest was uncorrelated with style (£=-.04). Nor did family size appear to be associated with the degree to which respondents felt close to their parents (i.e., there was a low correla- tion between family size and the relatedness index: £=-.l3). In addition, for respondents who had siblings living away from parents, the siblings' distance was not highly corre- lated with how far from parents respondents planned to be living in the next year (£=.10). Lastly, no association was evident between whether or not the respondent was living in 80 a home with a step-parent and either how far from home the respondent planned to be living in the next year (£=.09), or the respondent's style of perceiving separation (£=.06). As an approximate indicator of family social status, the prestige of the father's and mother's occupation was used in the computation of several associations. The associ- ation between the prestige of parents' occupations and how far respondents reported they planned to be living from their families in the next year was not high. The correlation between distance and prestige of father's occupation was quite low (£=.13). With mother's occupational prestige it was slightly higher (£=.21). With regard to the association between this indi- cator of social status and respondents' styles of perceiving separation, the patterns of association were again not marked. Across all respondents the correlation between father's occupational prestige and respondents' scores on the measure of style of perceiving separation was negligible (£=-.08). That between mother's occupational prestige and scores on the style measure was also quite low (5:.17). A separate analysis of the females' and males' data revealed a difference with regard to the association between scores on the style measure and prestige of the respondent's mother's occupation. For females, the correlation between prestige of the mother's occupation and style of perceiving separation was .34. For males, however, there was no association between the two (5:.04). With regard to the 81 prestige of the respondent's father's occupation and its association with the respondent's score on the measure of style of perceiving separation, the correlations for the males and females were more similar. For males the corre- lation between prestige of father's occupation and scores on the style measure was negligible (£=-.004). For females the association was only slightly higher (£=-.15). CHAPTER VI DISCUSSION Several noteworthy findings emerged from the present investigation. It was apparent that the construct of a style of perceiving separation from the family could be reliably assessed and was useful in differentiating respon- dents. The predictors suggested by the hypotheses were able to account for an important amount of the variance in respondents' styles of perceiving separation. When the data were analyzed separately for males and females, these few variables emerged as particularly good predictors of males' perceptions of home-leaving. Furthermore, much valuable information germane to the formulation of future hypotheses, research designs, and research strategies in this area was also gained. Thus, while the data did not conform to the model specified by the hypotheses which initially structured the study, a number of the results nonetheless provide valuable information and direction. In this chapter, the nature of these findings, as well as some possible interpre- tations and implications of the results, are considered. 82 83 Styles of Perceiving Separation From the Family Discussion of the Results of the Regression Analyses In the regression analysis performed on the combined data for males and females, relatedness, self-sufficiency, and sex were of interest as predictors of style of per- ceiving separation from the family. A relatively large proportion of the variance in style of perceiving separa- tion, nearly 27 percent in the combined data for males and females, and approximately 42 percent in the males' data, was accounted for by the predictors. But contrary to initial expectations, the results of the regression analyses revealed that the separate contributions of relatedness and self- sufficiency were of more importance as predictors of respon- dents' styles of perceiving separation than their inter- action. Specifically, in the joint analysis of the males' and females' data the linear component of relatedness accounted for almost 12 percent of the variance in the measure of style. For males, almost 15 percent was accounted for by this variable, while for females the proportion was lower (8.5%). The simple correlations between this index and the criterion variable in all these analyses reveal that the relationship between the two is positive. That is, higher levels of relatedness tended to be associated with an agent style of perceiving separation from the family. 84 In addition to the linear relationship between relatedness and style of perceiving separation discussed above, it will be recalled that a curvilinear pattern also characterized the relationship between the two. Reference to a scatterplot revealed that the mean on the style measure for respondents who were low in relatedness was con- siderably lower than means for respondents who were moderate or high in relatedness. For the latter two groups the means were virtually identical. (Low relatedness group, X=5.64; moderate relatedness group, X=7.66; high group, X=7.63). Simply contrasting the means as above, however, does not indicate a specific feature of the curvilinearity in these data. In particular, the four respondents with the lowest scores (i.e., most extreme patient scores) on the style variable were either quite high or quite low in relatedness. That is, none of the respondents who indicated a moderate degree of relatedness expressed an extreme patient style of perceiving home-leaving. For the group as a whole, as well as for males and females separately, the relatedness variable was clearly the most critical component in the system. But by per- forming separate analyses for each sex it became apparent that for males the measure of self-sufficiency was not of such minor importance as in the group and females' data. In particular, for the males, this measure, in spite of its relatively low reliability (a=.46), appeared to be a quite 85 salient construct in that it emerged as a substantial predictor of style of perceiving separation. In the males' data, the linear component of the self-sufficiency variable accounted for nearly 4 percent of the total variance in the criterion measure. The contri- bution made by the curvilinear (squared) component was con- siderably higher: Over 10 percent of the variance was accounted for by that predictor. In contrast to the nature of the association between relatedness and style of perceiving separation, the simple correlation between self-sufficiency and style reveals the two are negatively related. Thus, in general, high levels of self-sufficiency tended to be associated with low (patient) scores on the style variable. Reference to a scatterplot of the males' data revealed the basis of the curvilinearity between self- sufficiency and respondents' styles of perceiving separation was a pattern in which moderate levels of self-sufficiency tended to be associated with quite high (agent) scores on the measure of style. The average score for males who were low in self-sufficiency was somewhat lower than for the moderate self-sufficiency group, while the average for those high in self-sufficiency was much lower than for the group that was moderate in self-sufficiency. (Low self-sufficiency group, X=7.09; moderate self-sufficiency group, X=7.87; high self-sufficiency group, i=4.20). 86 But for the females, it must be noted, the measure of self-sufficiency in either unsquared or squared form, did not emerge as an important predictor of styles of perceiving home-leaving. The difference in the reliability of this index for the two sexes suggests why this may have been so. It will be recalled that while the self-sufficiency measure did not prove to be a useful predictor of perceptions of home-leaving for the females, it was nonethless a quite reliable composite for them-~considerably more reliable, in fact, than it was for the males for whom it was a quite strong predictor. Thus, while measured well it was not a salient construct for females with regard to the issues under consideration here. Conversely, while measured relatively poorly, it proved quite salient to these issues for males. In view of the importance of financial self- sufficiency in this culture for the establishment of an identity as an adult male, it is not surprising that this index, composed of items that pertain to financial self- sufficiency, should emerge as a relatively strong predictor of perceptions of home-leaving among males. It is important to note, however, that financial considerations seem to be only a component of a general construct of masculine self- sufficiency. This then could have caused the reliability of the measure used here to be attenuated.1 1Applying the standard correction for attenuation (Nunnally, 1967), a correlation of -.37 between 87 Although only in future research will it be possible to determine if the linear and curvilinear patterns and the sex differences in these data are consistent features of late adolescents' perceptions of home-leaving, it is none- theless valuable here to consider briefly what may be the basis of these findings. For adolescents who are high in relatedness (i.e., report a close, positive relationship with parents), it may be suggested that the appeal and attractiveness of the home-environment makes the prospect of home-leaving less attractive than it is for adolescents who indicate lower degrees of relatedness. Consequently, a general pattern in which higher degrees of relatedness are associated with perceptions of home-leaving as a task that necessitates considerable effort on the part of the home-leaver could be expected. Conversely, where relatedness is low, the negative home-environment seems likely to be viewed as a force pushing the adolescent out--engendering a patient style of perceiving home-leaving. Differences in motivation to attain adult status, or perhaps differences with regard to factors such as achievement motivation and ambitiousness, could account for the curvilinear pattern in which respondents who expressed patient styles of perceiving home-leaving were either quite self-sufficiency and style of perceiving, home-leaving would be expected, if the measure of self-sufficiency has been perfectly reliable (-.25 was the correlation obtained). 88 high or quite low in relatedness. Specifically, adolescents who are high in relatedness and who feel highly motivated to attain adult status, or who are high in achievement motivation and ambitiousness, seem likely to perceive leaving the appealing home-environment as a task that is necessary in order for them to achieve their goals. An agent style of perceiving home-leaving, being consistent with the solitary, "doing," emphasis of this perspective thus seems likely to characterize individuals who have developed in this way. The moderate correlation between expressing an agent style and having a high degree of ambitiousness (£=.26) provides some support for this sug- gestion. Conversely, others who are also close in their relationships with parents but who are not so motivated with regard to attainment or achievement, seem likely to feel that one would leave the home-environment only when forces push one out. A patient style of perceiving home- leaving would reflect this perspective. Thus, viewed together, the above suggestions provide a rationale for the linear and curvilinear patterns found to characterize the relationship between style of perceiving home-leaving and relatedness. An interpretation of the linear and curvilinear associations between the measure of self-sufficiency and the style variable specific to the males' data may also be advanced. It will be recalled that a negative association between these two variables characterized their relationship 89 for the males in the study. It seems reasonable to speculate that a quite high level of self-sufficiency may be one way in which some males c0pe with pressures in their environ- ment. The negative correlation between self-sufficiency and relatedness for males included in the regression analysis (£=-.16), for example, suggests in some cases one such pressure may be a poor relationship with parents. Factors such as a marginal status and low family income may be suggested as other pressures. Thus, as a means for gaining freedom as an adult from a difficult childhood environment, a number of males may develop a high level of self-sufficiency since this is an important component of an adult male identity. In this context, leaving home, like other aspects 0f adult status, seems likely to be viewed as the result of what happens to oneself, i.e., a task demanded for escape from the negative situation in which one finds oneself. A patient orientation with regard to home-leaving, by reflecting the reactive emphasis of the above perspective, would thus be expected for these men. Correspondingly, those lower in self-sufficiency who may not have confronted such strong pressures would not be so likely to perceive home-leaving in such patient terms. Again, reference to individual differences in such characteristics as ambitiousness, goal orientation and achievement motivation, can provide a rationale for the curvilinear relationship between self-sufficiency and (males') styles of perceiving home-leaving. At issue here is the 90 pattern found in which males who were moderate in self- sufficiency received scores that tended to be considerably higher (more agent) than those who were high in self- sufficiency and somewhat higher than those who were low in self-sufficiency. It seems plausible to suggest that individuals who indicated moderate degrees of self-sufficiency, like those high in this regard, could be characterized by a high degree of achievement motivation or ambitiousness. But in contrast to a very high degree of self—sufficiency, a more moderate degree of self-sufficiency would be a reflection of a general striving, "doing" orientation, rather than a reaction to a difficult environment. Perceptions of the specific task of home-leaving for individuals in the moderate group would thus be expected to reflect this "doing" (agent) orientation. Where such an orientation is not so strong and consequently self-sufficiency is lower than in the moderate self- sufficiency group, perceptions of home-leaving would be expected to be less agent. The sex differences observed with regard to the role played by the self-sufficiency variable in accounting for variation in styles of perceiving home-leaving must also be addressed. Socio-cultural traditions which demand that young women move from the financial care of their fathers to that of their husbands seem likely to have mitigated the importance of the self-sufficiency construct as a predictor of style of perceiving separation. Consequently, while it 91 is apparently feasible to develop a quite reliable measure of financial self-sufficiency for the females who participated in this research, this construct was lacking in salience with regard to perceptions of leaving home. It may be, however, that in a study of nontraditional young women this construct would be as useful (if not more useful) than was the case for the males surveyed here. Indeed, in view of the relative weakness of the predictor variables in accounting for females' styles of perceiving home-leaving in this study, it may be suggested that the present formulation is inappropriate and in need of refinement for understanding the perceptions of young women who have adopted traditional values. For this subgroup, perceptions of separation from the family may well rest on a different basis than is true for men and possibly non- traditional women. The association between scores on the measure of style of perceiving separation and prestige of mother's occupation is pertinent here. It was found that among the females in this study, those who expressed an agent style of perceiving separation were more likely to be the daughters of mothers whose careers were relatively high in prestige (£=.34). The mothers of these respondents, it may be suggested, would seemingly be more likely to be working in pursuit of careers rather than working only to augment the family's income. If so, then, with regard to their daughters, they would be modeling a less traditional sex role orientation. It is thus consistent 92 that the perceptions of the daughters of these presumably less traditional women were found to diverge from the rela- tively patient perceptions presumed to be characteristic of the perspective of a traditional woman. Future investigations of perceptions of separation conducted with samples that are sufficiently large to assure adequate numbers of respondents with extreme patient styles of perceiving home-leaving, and women who have developed nontraditional values, are a reasonable next step. Only Such work could confirm the speculations advanced here regarding male-female differences in the importance of self- sufficiency as a predictor of home-leaving perceptions. Similarly, only such work could confirm whether, as the curvilinear patterns found here imply, respondents who express an extreme patient style of perceiving home-leaving are likely to be quite high or quite low with regard to relatedness. For males, such confirmation is also needed to determine if respondents who receive lower (more patient) scores are characteristically quite high or quite low in self-sufficiency. In addition, it would be desirable to examine the role of such characteristics as achievement motivation, goal orientation, and ambitiousness, and their roles with regard to perceptions of home-leaving since these variables might well prove to be closely associated with the above intra-group differences. 93 Discussion of the Results of Other Analyses Involving Styles of Perceiving Separation In other analyses involving respondents' styles of perceiving separation from the family it was possible to consider differences and similarities among the three style groups. The proportions of females and males in each group were quite similar. Similarly, no relationship between style of perceiving home-leaving and how far from their families respondents planned to be living in the next year was found. As association between style and an indicator of one type of ambitiousness, however, was found. As might be expected, given that an agent style of perceiving separation from the family implies a "doing" orientation, respondents who expressed an agent style were more likely to indicate they were hoping to pursue a career of higher prestige than that of their fathers. Perhaps for somewhat similar reasons an association between high (agent) scores on the measure of style of per- ceiving separation and a high level of self-esteem in males was noted. As suggested earlier, by implying "doing," an agent style may be thought of as embodying what has tradi- tionally been considered a masculine orientation. That males in the study who had relatively high degrees of self-esteem were more likely to express the style of perception presumed to be most closely identified with a traditional masculine orientation is thus consistent with what would be expected. 94 It is important to note that the failure to find sex differences in style of perceiving separation does not ncessarily invalidate either the above sex role based inter- pretation of the association between males' self-esteem and style of perceiving separation or that offered earlier as an interpretation of the association between females' scores on the measure of style of perceiving separation and prestige of mothers' occupations. That is, the subjective meaning of an agent, a patient, or a communal style of perception may differ for males and females--or for males and nontradi- tional females on one hand, and traditional females on the other. Subsequent research designed to determine whether such differences in meaning exist and, if so, what is associated with these differences, would be of value. Although in the formulation of the construct it was expected that evidence indicating a communal style of per- ceiving home-leaving would facilitate adjustment to separa- tion, support for this contention in this study has not been strong. For example, a communal style of perceiving separation was not associated with high levels of self- esteem, nor was it characteristic of respondents who indi- cated high levels of both self-sufficiency and relatedness. The results of the descriptive analysis summarized in Table 19, however, suggest that among those who will be living apart from parents in the next year, those who express a communal style anticipated being happier than respondents in either of the other two style groups. More specifically, 95 within the group of respondents who will not be living with parents, 90 percent of the reSpondents who expressed a communal style indicated 4 or 5 on the 5-point scale when asked "How happy do you think you will be next year." For the patient grup, 58.4 percent indicated 4 or 5 on the scale, while for the agent group 73.9 percent indicated 4 or 5. However, because the question assessed respondents' projected overall happiness in the next year rather than how their specific happiness concerning being separated from parents was anticipated, it is important to note that this is only a rough indicator of anticipated adjustment to separation from parents. Indeed, as will be discussed in a subsequent section, it could be argued that even though these respondents will be living apart from parents, many of them, notably those living at school, may not consider themselves to have "really" separated from parents. It is nonetheless interesting to note that, consistent with initial formulations, more of the respondents who expressed a per- ception of separation as involving elements of both "doing" and being "done to" anticipated being happy. In the future, a study designed to focus on this issue could help clarify whether the present pattern is a stable one or simply a spurious finding. Discussion of the Results of the Remaining Descriptive Analyses While there was some evidence of a difference in the results of the regression analyses for females and males, no 96 striking sex differences emerged from the descriptive analyses summarized in Tables 5 through 11. Similarly, family differ- ence variables such as family size, birth order position, and prestige of parents' occupations did not appear to be associated with how far respondents would be living from home, nor with style of perceiving separation from the family. A high correlation (£=.48) between the measure of relatedness and respondents' scores on Rosenberg's measure of self-esteem, however, was found and warrants consideration. The high association between the measures of related- ness and self-esteem is consistent with findings reported by Rosenberg (1965) in his discussion of the develOpment and validation of his measure of self-esteem. "With perfect regularity," Rosenberg noted, "a decreasing level of self- esteem is accompanied by an increasing proportion of indi- viduals who feel misunderstood by others" (p. 161). In a similar vein, Rosenberg observed that individuals with lower self-esteem were more likely to report feelings of loneli- ness. In addition, he found the degree of respondent- reported parental interest (viz. reported parental interest in respondents' schoolwork, friends, opinions) was related to self-esteem. Specifically, extreme parental indifference was associated with low levels of self-esteem. The nine items incorporated into the relatedness index all have some bearing on the above considerations. Specifically, the items concerned feelings of being under- stood (namely by parents), feelings that one is not alone 97 (i.e., that one's parents are available), and feelings that one's parents are "close" and interested. It is thus not surprising that respondents in the present study who indi- cated high degrees of relatedness should also receive high scores on Rosenberg's measure of self-esteem. Indeed, the high association between the two may be viewed as further support for Rosenberg's assumption that much of the basis of self-esteem is the product of the parent—child relation- ship. While the results of the majority of the descriptive analyses are self-evident and do not require discussion beyond that provided in the previous chapter, one other observed pattern warrants further review. This association, evident in Table 12, pertains to differences among respondents associated with the living arrangement planned for the next year. While Table 10 revealed that, overall, respondents envisioned there being little likelihood that they would be living with their parents in five years, there were differ- ences with regard to this issue when different residence groups were compared (see Table 12). Specifically, as has also emerged in subsequent research (Moore & Hotch, 1979), it appears that living apart from parents need not imply to the individual that he or she has yet or will soon have separated permanently. In the present study, the college separated group, moreso than the others, indicated some likelihood that they 98 would be living with parents in five years. In contrast, those who will be living in apartments, in many cases nearer to parents than those in dormitories, indicated the least likelihood of living with parents in the future. In addition, those who will be living with parents in the next year, clearly do not appear to view this arrangement as an indi- cation of life in the more distant future. In one sense, then, it may be suggested, some who will be living with parents in the next year seem more "psychologically separate" than those who, although they will be living away from home at college, now view returning to live with their parents in five years as quite likely. Thus, while in a number of regards separation from the family and moving away from home may be isomorphic issues, future consideration of the ways in which these differ seems likely to provide valuable information regarding both processes. Implications for Future Research This research has a number of implications for future work concerning both the general area of separation from the family and the specific construct of a style of perceiving separation. The differences in the results of the regression analyses performed on the males' and females' data suggest that such differences may be a factor in the results of future research concerning outlooks, attitudes and conceptualizations of home-leaving. Ideally, by having 99 indicated that some issues (viz. differences pertaining to self-sufficiency) may be associated with sex differences in home-leaving perceptions, the present study may prove help- ful in formulating future research hypotheses and designs. In View of this usefulness here, the specific constructs developed and tested in this investigation now warrant examination in a wider-scale study. That is, in the present work concerning home-leaving and the idea of style differences in perceiving this issue, a relatively homogeneous group of respondents served well as a control of sources other than individual variation that might influence attitudes toward, and styles of, home-leaving. Now, given the apparent utility of the measures developed here, it would be appropriate to determine the consistency of the patterns observed for diverse groups of respondents. Extension of this work to study a larger, heterogeneous group of respondents would be one of several ways to gain a better understanding of adolescents' perceptions of home-leaving. In addition, as noted earlier, incorporating the means for measuring such constructs as achievement motivation, ambitiousness, and goal orientation would provide some of the information needed to determine the degree of support for several of the interpretations offered here. First, refining (particularly lengthening) the measures of self-sufficiency and style of perceiving home- leaving to improve their reliabilities would be advisable. 100 Careful attention to selecting a large, stratified, sample would also be essential, since only with relatively large numbers of cases would it be possible to perform the kinds of subgroup analyses that would be of interest. With regard to such comparisons, contrasts between several subgroups might prove particularly valuable. Con- trasts across ethnic and socio-economic groups seem likely to reveal important differences. Research by Bart (1967), for example, not only suggests these factors would be per- tinent to consider but points to an additional considera- tion as well. Bart found sociocultural factors to be of key impor- tance in women's reactions to their children's leaving home. Housewives who experience loss of the maternal role and who had been over-protective and over-involved with their children were those who most frequently experienced severe depression in middle-age. In addition, ethnicity was closely related to depression: Of the 533 cases of first admission to hospitals for treatment, Black women had the lowest rate, Anglo-Americans a moderate rate, and Jewish women the highest rate. Insofar as such differences in mothers' reactions and perceptions are important influences on adolescents' perceptions of separation, these findings then also suggest that attempts to maximize the power of a model designed to predict perceptions of separation in the general adolescent population would be helped by inclusion of such factors as 101 parents' perceptions of their childrens' separation, as well as ethnicity and social class. The scope of future work in this area might also be extended by studying data that are not exclusively self- report in nature. It would thus be possible to learn if the associations observed between the constructs measured here with self-report data also hold when constructs such as self-sufficiency and relatedness are "externally" assessed (e.g., with parents', teachers' or researchers' evaluations). It is important to note that a number of factors could cause the two kinds of assessment to differ. Response biases such as social desirability may influence respondents' answers to the self-report assessments of such constructs and may thus cause a divergence between self-report data and an independent assessment. In addition, in this preliminary study of the issue of separating from the family, all the measures were self-report and were thus based on the same source. Consequently, the possibility remains that the associations observed here may have resulted from having drawn all the data from the same group. It is thus impor- tant to stress that as a preliminary finding in this area the observed association between respondents' styles of perceiving home-leaving and their perceptions of their self- sufficiency and closeness to parents is best regarded as providing necessary but not sufficient evidence that these constructs are related in the specified manner. 102 While considering these directions for future research which involve some or all of the constructs employed here, it is appropriate as well to reiterate the domain of the constructs developed. The measures constructed for this work‘have been formulated as tools for descriptive research. Obtaining an appropriate and reliable means for conceptualizing and examining a normative developmental process was the central interest. Their usefulness as diagnostic instruments or in a clinical context was not a concern. The small homogeneous group of respondents involved in this work in no way constituted the necessary standardi- zation group. Consequently, while as research tools these measures performed quite adequately, their use in diagnosis or counseling would be quite premature and inappropriate. StudyinggPerceptions of Other Separations While not the subject of the present investigationr it is nonetheless useful to consider other domains within which separations occur and for which the present conceputa- lization could provide a theoretical basis for future inquiry. Recent social scientific and therapeutic concern has been directed at achieving a better understanding of cultural and individual perceptions and attitudes toward death and »dying. The present conceptualization of different styles of perceiving separation seems potentially applicable within this domain as well. That is, both the dying individual's perceptions and those of the family might well be amenable 103 to an analysis in terms of the three styles outlined. A study of changes in perceptions, as death becomes more imminent, might be particularly worthwhile in conjunction with a stage-based interpretation such as that offered by Kubler-Ross (1969) or the symbolic interactionist perspective of Glaser and Strauss (1966). Similarly, a study of mourners and the mourning process in terms of the potential changes in individuals' styles of separation per- ception could provide the means for enhancing assistance. Moving to a new place of residence, a common cause of separation in contemporary society, may involve a proble- matic separation for those involved. In this instance again, the scheme advanced here could prove useful in structuring research in which separation in this domain is examined. Separations which, like home-leaving, influence individuals at different stages of the life cycle would also be amenable to this type of study. Having one's children separate (i.e., entering postparenthood), retirement, sending one's children to kindergarten, might all be approached in this way. Finally, Anthony's (1969) observations concerning terminations from psychotherapy are also pertinent to this point. Not only may such separations be difficult for the patient, but the therapist as well may experience consider- able difficulty. Anthony maintains, "Termination may become a crucial problem for the therapist with patients of all 104 ages, but particularly so at adolescence, when it may reactivate separation difficulties experienced by the therapist during his own adolescence" (p. 72). Consider- ations of how perceptions of separation and styles of per- ceiving separation may change and facilitate or hinder the termination of treatment may be of value. These separations, like that of home-leaving, are important and at times problematic tasks that confront many individuals at some times during their lives. But like separating from parents, most appear to have received little or no systematic consideration by researchers. Thus, while these issues have clearly not been of concern in the present study, they have been briefly mentioned in this section as areas in which the application of engagement style, as a situation-specific construct, may provide a useful framework on which to structure future work. Summary Although the specific model of adolescents' styles of perceiving home-leaving which posited the central importance of an interaction between self-sufficiency and relatedness was not supported, several key findings did emerge from this research. These may be briefly summarized as follows: As adopted here, McKinney's (1978) general per— sonality construct, engagement style, was found to provide a useful and meaningful description of late adolescents' 105 perceptions of the specific issue of home-leaving. At one extreme of the dimension considered here is the agent style of perceiving home-leaving which implies a perception of separation in terms of what one does, without reference to others. At the other extreme is the patient style, implying a perception of separation in terms of what is done to one- self. In the middle of the dimension is the communal style: Separation is perceived with reference to both the self's doing and being done to. Several predictors, assessed with self-report questionnaire items, accounted for an important amount (27%) of the variance in respondents' scores on the projective measure developed to assess style of perceiving separation from the family. Of these predictors, the relatedness index, assessing the degree to which respondents reported a close relationship with parents, proved most important. Higher degrees of relatedness tended to be associated with an agent style of perceiving separation. But a curvilinear pattern for these two variables was also evident. In particular, an extreme patient style of per- ceiving separation was associated with high and low degrees of relatedness but not with moderate degrees. For males, the variables included in the regression analysis were particularly powerful predictors of style of perceiving separation, accounting for 42 percent of the variance in the measure of this construct. In contrast to the data for females and for the group as a whole, the 106 measure of self-sufficiency, particularly its curvilinear component, was an important predictor of males' styles of perceiving home-leaving. For the females in the study, however, the predictors were not so strong: Only 24 percent of the variance in the style measure was accounted for. Furthermore, self- sufficiency was of negligible importance as a predictor of females' styles of perceiving separation. An explanation in terms of the sociocultural influences which make self- sufficiency salient with regard to home-leaving for males but not for (traditional) females was offered to account for the difference in the pattern of results for the two sexes. Descriptive analyses revealed a moderate association between an agent style of perceiving home-leaving and high levels of ambitiousness and, for males, high levels of self- esteem. In addition, a pattern emerged in which a larger proportion of respondents who expressed a communal style of perceiving home-leaving reported they expected to be happy in the next year than was true for those who expressed agent or patient styles. Also, in keeping with ongoing research, evidence indicating that moving away from the family and becoming "psychologically separate" are not always the same was noted. In conclusion, the constructs of style of perceiving separation from the family, relatedness, and self-sufficiency that were developed and examined in this study proved to be of considerable usefulness in describing perceptions of 107 home-leaving in a (nonclinical) group of late adolescents. Implications of this investigation for future studies of the issue of separating from the family were discussed. APPENDICES APPENDIX A STUDENT-PARENT PERMISSION LETTER APPENDIX A STUDENT-PARENT PERMISSION LETTER Michigan State University Department of Psychology East Lansing, MI 48824 Olds Hall Dear Students and Parents, We are researchers at Michigan State University in East Lansing and will be conducting a survey of high school seniors at High School. For this we have been given permission by the principal and superintendent to ask seniors to help by filling out a written questionnaire. Our survey is a study to learn how young people feel about and plan for the future and what the basis of their out- looks might be. The survey questions take about 1 hour to answer. No one's name will be asked at any time and in this way we can be sure that everyone's privacy is guaranteed. The question- naire is divided into several parts: general information, plans for the future, family, school, and sefl. If you are interested in helping in this study, please sign both the student and parent permission form below and return it to the teacher. We want to stress that no one is re- quired to complete the questionnaire--it is completely voluntary. Also anyone who decides to answer the question- naire is free to change his or her mind at any time. When the study is finished, we will be certain to provide enough copies of the survey findings so that all students who participated, as well as their parents, will be able to have one. Of course, since we will not know any student's name, our work and report will concern only the group of students as a whole. We will not have any individual infor- mation. 108 109 We welcome any questions you might have and hope you will be able to help us with this project. Sincerely, Deborah Hotch, M.A. John Paul McKinney, Ph.D. Please fill in both parts of the following form. I would like to take part in the student survey. Student's Signature Date My son/daughter has my permission to take part in the student survey. Parent's Signature Date APPENDIX B STUDENT QUESTIONNAIRE APPENDIX B STUDENT QUESTIONNAIRE In this study we are interested in finding out about high school seniors and about their plans and thoughts about the future. We are hoping to be able to better understand how people come to make their decisions and form their ideas. Some of the questions will ask for your opinions, while others will ask for general information about yourself. There are no right or wrong answers to any questions. This is not a test at all. We will not know your name. Any- thing you write is completely private, so you should feel free to answer the questions as honestly as you can. Please answer the questions in order. Try not to spend too long on any one question. Thank you very much for helping in this research. DIRECTIONS: For each question or part of a question, mark one answer, or write in the information that is asked for. Section A: School Al. When did you start going to this school? 9th grade 10th grade 11th grade 12th grade “AAA saws-«v A2. What are your favorite subjects in school? 110 A3. A4. A5. 111 Which grade is closest to your average in high school? A--90 to 100 ( ) ( ) B--89 to 80 ( ) C--79 to 70 ( ) D--69 to 60 How much do you like school? I dislike it very much I dislike it somewhat I like it somewhat I like it very much AAAA How often has it been necessary for you to turn in an assignment late in school this year? ( )always ( )usually ( )sometimes ( )never Section B: Two Situations One way to learn pe0ple's opinions is to ask them to think about certain real-life situations. In this section you will read about two situations and will be asked to write some sentences about them. Bl. B2. Think of this situation. Someone who has just recently finished high school is living away from home (away from parents). Write a story about this situation in the space below. Tell ppy you think it happened, what happened in the past, what will happen in the future. Write 6 sen- tences in your story. Now think of this situation. Someone who has been living away from home for a while is now visiting at home. Write a story about this situation in the space below. Tell what you think is happening, what happened in the past, what will happen in the future. In the circle ample, scale. on the number 112 Section C: Family next sections, for some questions you will need to one point on a scale to show your Opinion. For ex- if your opinion is "always" you would circle §,on the If your opinion is "never" then you would circle 1 scale. If your opinion is in between, circle the that best describes what you think. Some of the questions will not apply for you if one of your parents is not living. For these just mark the space, "Does not apply." Cl. My parents are interested in what I do. 1 2 3 4 5 never always does not apply C2. I feel sure my parents like me. 1 2 3 4 5 never always C3. How often do you go places with your family? AAAA about once a week or more about once a month several times a year about once a year or less vvvv C4. How often do you like to sit down and "just talk" to your mother or your father? 1 2 3 4 5 never very often C5. How close would you say your relationship to your parents is? l 2 ' 3 4 5 not at all very close close C6. How well do you and your mother get along? 1 2 3 4 5 very very does not apply badly well C7. C8. C9. C10. C11. C12. C13. C14. 113 How well do you and your father get along? l 2 3 4 5 very very does not apply badly well How alike are you and your mother? 1 2 3 4 5 not at very does not apply all alike much alike How alike are you and your father? l 2 3 4 5 not at very does not apply all alike much alike How likely are you to borrow money from your parents, friends, etc., even when it isn't an emergency. 1 2 3 4 5 very very unlikely likely Would you be likely to go to your mother or father about a problem with a teacher in school? 1 2 3 4 5 very very unlikely likely Would you be likely to ask your mother or father about what you should wear to a party? 1 2 3 4 5 very very unlikely likely Would you be likely to go to your mother or your father if you were feeling lonesome? l 2 3 4 5 very very unlikely likely Would you be likely to go to your mother or father if you needed to find someone who understands how you feel? 1 2 3 4 5 very very unlikely likely 114 C15. How much do you enjoy the time you spend with your parents? 1 2 3 4 5 not at all very much C16. When you are away from your parents how much do you miss their company? 1 2 3 4 5 not at all very much C17. When you have needed money in the past, where was it most likely to come from, for example, from parents, a job, relatives, etc. C18. How often do you ask your parents or other people to help with your homework? l 2 3 4 5 never very often C19. Do you ever ask your mother or father to do little things you could just as well do yourself? 1 2 3 4 5 never very often C20. How true is this statement of you: I seem to spend the money I get even when I think I should save some. 1 2 3 4 5 never true always true of me of me C21. Did you ever run away from home? ( )no ------- If no: Did you ever think about running away? ( )no ( ) yes ( )yes ------ If yes: How old were you? C22. Compared to the people you know, how strict would you say your parents were in raising you? 1 2 3 4 5 not at all very strict strict C23. C24. C25. C26. D1. D2. D3. D4. D5. 115 Have you ever been on vacation away from your parents for more than a week--for example, at camp or visiting with friends or relatives? ( )no ( )yes ------- If yes: About how many times? Do you buy your clothes with your own money? ( )always ( )usually ( )sometimes ( )seldom, or never When your parents are visiting with their friends, do you ever visit with them too? ( )always ( )usually ( )sometimes ( )seldom, or never Are there any things you especially like doing together with your parents? ( )no ( )yes ------- If yes: Which one or ones? Section D: Future Plans What will you most likely be doing next year? How certain are you about these plans? 1 2 3 4 5 not at all very certain certain How pleased are you about your plans for next year? 1 2 3 4 5 not at all very pleased pleased Why did you decide on these particular plans and not some others? Will you be receiving any money from your family next year to live on or to go to school with? ( ) yes ()no 116 D6. How pleased is your mother about your plans for next year? 1 2 3 4 5 not at all very does not apply pleased pleased D7. How pleased is your father about your plans for next year? 1 2 3 4 5 not at all very does not apply pleased pleased D8. How certain are you about what career you'd like to have? 1 2 3 4 5 not at all very certain certain D9. If you could be doing anything you wanted next year, what would it be? D10. Do you ever think about what things will be like for you as an adult? 1 2 3 4 5 never think think about about it it very often D11. If you wanted to live on your own next year, how willing would your mother be about this? 1 2 3 4 5 not at all very does not apply willing willing D12. If you wanted to live on your own next year, how willing would your father be about this? 1 2 3 4 5 not at all very does not apply willing willing D13. If you could be five years younger than you are or five years older, which would you choose? ( )five years younger ( ) five years older D14. D15. D16. D17. D18. D19. D20. 117 How far from your family will you most likely be living next year? ( ) 0-10 miles ( ) 11-30 miles ( ) 31-100 miles (‘) 101-200 miles ( ) more than 200 miles How happy, in general are you this year? 1 2 3 4 5 very very unhappy haPPY How happy do you think you wil be next year? 1 2 3 4 5 very very unhappy happy Compared to this year, how different do you think next year will be for you? 1 2 3 4 5 very very similar different Where will you most likely be living next year? ( ) with parents ( ) in an apartment or house with one or more roommates ( ) in a dormitory at college ( ) married, living with husband/wife ( ) married, living with husband/wife and with one or spouse's parents ( ) Other Please explain How likely would it be for you to be living with your parents in five years? 1 2 3 4 5 not at all very likely likely How happy do you think you would be if you were living with your parents five years from now? 1 2 3 4 5 very very unhappy happy 118 Section E: Your Opinions of Yourself For the following items, please circle one point on the scale that follows each statement. E1. How true is this statement of you: I am the sort of person who does not mind asking other people to help me out. 1 2 3 4 5 never true always true of me of me E2. I feel I'm a person of worth, at least on an equal plane with others. 1 2 3 4 strongly agree disagree strongly agree disagree E3. I feel that I have a number of good qualities. 1 2 3 4 strongly agree disagree strongly agree disagree E4. All in all, I am inclined to feel I am a failure. 1 2 3 4 strongly agree disagree strongly agree disagree E5. I am able to do things as well as most other people. 1 2 3 4 strongly agree disagree strongly agree disagree E6. I feel I do not have much to be proud of. l 2 3 4 strongly agree disagree strongly agree disagree E7. I take a positive attitude toward myself. 1 2 3 4 strongly agree disagree strongly agree disagree 119 E8. On the whole, I am satisfied with myself. 1 2 3 4 strongly agree disagree strongly agree disagree E9. I wish I could have more respect for myself. 1 2 3 4 strongly agree disagree strongly agree disagree E10. I certainly feel useless at times. 1 2 3 4 strongly agree disagree strongly agree disagree E11. At times I think I am no good at all. 1 2 3 4 strongly agree disagree strongly agree disagree Section F: General Information In this last section there are questions about several different sorts of things that we think might be related to the way pe0ple think about and plan for the future. F1. What is your sex? ( ) female ( ) male F2. When were you born? , 19 month year F3. Have you ever lived in another town, other than the one you live in now? ( )no ( )yes -------- If yes: How many times have you moved from one town to another? Fill in number of times F4. F5. F6. F7. F8. F9. 120 Do you have some sort of job that you work at regularly, for example, after school and/or on weekends? ( ) no ( ) yes ------ If yes: What work do you do? Do you pay for your own automobile insurance? ()no ( ) yes Do you have your own car? ()no ( ) yes -------- If yes: Did you buy this car with your own money? ( ) no ( ) yes, part of it with my own money ( ) yes, all of it with my own money Who lives at home with you now. Put an X next to all who live with you. ____mother ____ stepmother ____grandmother ____father ____ stepfather ____grandfather ____sister(s) ‘____step or halfsister(s) ____brother(s) ____step or halfbrother(s) ____Other(s) please explain How many brothers and sisters do you have? (Don't count stepbrothers or stepsisters if you have any.) Fill in numbers in the spaces provided. brothers ------ How many are older than you? sisters ------- How many are older than you? Do any of your older brothers or sisters live away from home? ( )no ( )yes ------- If yes: How far away? F10. F11. F12. 121 What is your father's occupation? (If he does not work now, fill in what his usual occupation is.) Does your mother have a job outside the home? ( ) yes ------- If yes: What is her occupation? ( ) no -------- If no: Did she ever work outside the home? ( ) yes What was her occupation then? ()no Do you have a career in mind for yourself yet? ( ) yes ------- If yes: Which one? ( ) no -------- If no: Which one or ones have you thought of for yourself? THANK YOU VERY MUCH! APPENDIX C CORRELATION TABLES FOR SELECTED VARIABLES Variables The correlation tables in Tables C-1, C-2, and C-2 involve the following variables: 1. Measure of style of perceiving separation from the family (STYLE). High scores on this measure indicate an agent style of perception, low scores indicate a patient style. 2. Relateness index (REL). High scores on this index indicate high degrees of relatedness, low scores indi- cate low degrees of relatedness. 3. Self-sufficiency index (SS). High scores on this index indicate high degrees of self-sufficiency, low scores indicate low degrees of self-sufficiency. 4. Item #014 (FAR). How far from his/her family the respondent was planning to live in the next year. Higher numbered categories indicate greater distance. 5. Number of children, including respondent in respondent's family (FAMSIZ). Computed as number of brothers plus number of sisters plus 1. 6. Respondent's position in the birth order of children in the family (BIRPOS). Coded as: 1-youngest; 2-middle, 3-oldest. 7. Prestige of mother's occupation (MOCCU). Coded using NORC prestige scores. Higher scores indicate greater prestige. 8. Prestige of father's occupation (FOCCU). Coded using NORC prestige scores. Higher scores indicate greater prestige. 122 APPENDIX C CORRELATION TABLES FOR SELECTED VARIABLES 10. 11. 12. 13. 123 Ambitiousness (AMBIT). Scored from 1 through 3: l-- Prestige of respondent's desired occupation was lower in prestige than that of his/her father; 2--prestige of respondent's desired career was equal to that of his/her father; 3--prestige of respondent's desired career was higher than that of his/her father. Score on Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (SELF). The ten items of this scale were scored as an index. Higher index scores indicate higher self-esteem; lower index scores indicate lower self-esteem. Prestige of respondent's desired career (CAREER). Coded using NORC prestige scores. Higher scores indi- cate greater prestige. Item #D19 (LIVP). How likely respondent said it would be for him/her to be living with parents in five years. Response categories ranged from 1 (Very Unlikely) through 5 (Very Likely). Item #D20 (HAPLIVP). How happy respondent said s/he would be if s/he were living with parents in five years. Response categories ranged from 1 (Very Unhappy) through 5 (Very Happy). 124 oo.a m>aamnm .na mg. 00.H m>HA .NH 0H.! ma.! oo.a mmmm¢0 .HH N0.! 50. go. oo.a hnmm .0H mH.! 50.! 0v. 0a.! oo.a BHflZfl .0 N0.! m0. 0m. ma. mv.! 00.H DUUOh .0 ho. ma. mm. 00. v0.! ma. 00.H 50002 .h 00.! 00.! N0.! MH.! 5H.! N0. 50. 00.H mommHm .0 m0.! m0.! HH.! 000.! 50. 0H.! H0. 00.t oo.a NHWEdm .m 00.! v00. 0N. HH. m0.I ma. Hm. H0.! 00. 00.H mcm .fi 0H.! 0N.! 0A.! H0.! 000.! 0H.! bH.I 000. 00. 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N00. 00. 00.! 00.H BHflZfl .0 00.! 00.! 00. 0H. H0.! 00.H 90000 .0 50. HH. 0H. 0H. 0N.! vv. 00.H 00002 .5 HH. H0.! v0. 00.! 00. OH. MN. 00.H mOAMHm .0 0H.! 00.! 00. 500.! 50. vH.! 0H. 00.! 00.H NHO£4m .0 0H.! v0.! 0N. 00. HH. 50. vH. HH.! 0H. 00.H m¢h .v 0H.! NH.! NN.I 00. HH.! 00.! 50.! 00.! 00. 00. 00.H mm .0 av. Nm. HH.! vv. N0.! 00. vH. @0. 00.! 0H.! 0N.! 00.H Hmm .N 0H.! 00. 0H. om. 0m. v00.! 00. 00.! 00. mo. 0N.! 5m. 00.H mnmfim .H 0H NH HH 0H m 0 5 0 0 v m N H .aomwm.Hm:HmHH0 «coma oHnoHHm>£ HH¢ “monzv moHQcHHm> pouooHow coo3uom mcoHUMHoHHOUII.MIU oHnme LIST OF REFERENCES LIST OF REFERENCES Anthony, J. The reactions of adults to adolescents and their behavior. In G. Caplan & S. Lebovici (Eds.), Adolescence: psychosocial perspectives. New York: Basic Books, 1969. Armitage, K. Male behavior and territoriality in the yellow-bellied marmot. Journal of Zoology, 1974, 172,233-265. Babbie, E. Survey repearch methods. Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth, 1973. 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