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(gr El. .25 1' A58 5; 2002 (/ A STUDY OF THE POSITIVE ADJUSTMENT OF FOREIGN BORN CHILDREN TO A NEW SCHOOL AND CULTURE BY Alicia Rivero Vergne A DISSERTATION Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR or PHILOSOPHY 1982 ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to investigate children who had found satisfactory ways to adjust to new school and cultural environment and who demonstrated competence and satisfaction in their school lives. Its primary objective was to study those behavioral and personality characteristics associated with successful adaptation and competence and the learning and environmental opportunities, where these characteristics may have developed. The population of interest for this study consisted of those foreign born children currently enrolled in two East Lansing public elementary schools, and who had been attending school for at least for a year in this particular district. For the purpose of this research, foreign born children are those whose parents have legal residency or citizenship in a nation other than the United States and who are not in the process of applying for United States permanent residency or citizenship at the time of the study. Due to administrative decisions within the East Lansing School district, random sampling was not feasible. The sample for this research consisted of 45 foreign children, ages 6 to 10, attending selected East Lansing Alicia Rivero Vergne Elementary Schools. Grade represented in the sample were first to fourth grade. Red Cedar and Spartan Village elementary schools were selected for this study because of their close proximity to Michigan State University and to the married housing units, where most foreign families reside. Four statistical hypotheses relating school adjustment to child's maintenance of ethnic national origin identity, child's self esteem, child's attitude towards the United States, and parent's attitude toward the United States were tested. A Pearson product moment correlation was conducted and the level of significance chosen was .05. The data from the Pearson's product moment correlation conducted did not show any significant relationship between school adjustment and self esteem, child's maintenance of ethnic national origin identity, child's attitude towards the United States, and parent's attitude towards the United States. An analysis of variance conducted to examine the relationship of demographic variables of the study and responses to specific scale items to school adjustment found a statistically significant relationship between school adjustment and response to the following items: (1) ”I think I am doing very well in school", (2) ”I Alicia Rivero Vergne spend most of my time alone”, (3) "I prefer not to get into fights", (4) "People here like me”, (5) "Most people I know like me”, (6) "I like being the age I am", (7) "I feel comfortable living in the United States". A statisitically significant correlation was also found between the variable teacher and school adjustment. A Pearson product moment correlation conducted between all pair of variables used in the study found a vast number of statistically significant correlations. From them, of major relevance to this study pursuits were the following: Self esteem which had a statistically significant correlation with eight of the thirteen variables used in the study. Child's attitude towards school which had a statistically significant correlation with nine of the thirteen variables used in this study. Child's attitude toward friends and peers which had a statistically significant correlation with five of the thirteen variables used in the study. Home adjustment which had a statistically significant correlation with seven out of the thirteen variables used in this study and child's attitude towards family with a significant correlation with eight of the variables used in study. Alicia Rivero Vergne The findings, examined as a whole are of significance for parents, teachers, counselors and other helping professionals. DEDICATION I dedicate this research to my son Guillermo Ariel whose growth and development served as an inspiration for this study. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS My first debt of appreciation is to the foreign born children and their parents who participated as subjects in this study. Without their cooperation, friendship and enthusiasm this investigation would not have been possible. Dr. Beverly Parker, Chairperson for my doctoral committee gave me her unreserved support throughout the course of my graduate studies. Her direction, advice, and friendship helped me through three very rewarding years at the University. Special thanks is due to Dr. Gaston Blom who helped frame the ideological basis of this study. I appreciate his concern and interest in my total professional development and his continual support and encouragement of my pursuit of academic excellence. Dr. John Schweitzer provided me with valuable assistance and friendship during the development of the design and statistical analysis aspects of this study. I appreciate his patience, support and encouragement. iii Gratitude is expressed to Dr. Bonita Pope who provided me with guidance, support and valuable suggestions for the dissertation. Further gratitude and appreciation are extended to the Administrators, Principals and teachers of the East Lansing School District who were involved in this study for their participation and cooperation. My debt is greatest to my parents Rafael and Gloria, whose love has been the driving force and source of strength through all my life. Special thanks also to my family, friends and professional colleagues for their support, understanding and inspiration. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES. O O O O O O O O O 0 CHAPTER I. II. III. IV. THE PROBLEM. . . . . . . Need for the study. . . Purpose of the study. . Hypotheses. . . . . . . Theoretical Orientation Definition of Terms . . Summary . . . . . . . . Overview. . . . . . . . REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE. Studies on coping and competence. Studies related to cultural Summary . . . . . . . . . DESIGN OF THE STUDY . . . Population and sample . Instrumentation . . . . Procedures. . . . . . . Statistical Hypotheses. . Analysis of the Data. . Limitations of the study Summary . . . . . . . . ANALYSIS OF RESULTS . . . adjustment. Analysis of Research Hypotheses . Analysis of demographic variables response to specific items as related to school adjustment . Analysis of relationship between all pairs of variables used in the StUdy O I O O O O O 0 Pearson Product Moment Correlation Results . . . . . . . Summary . . . . . . . . . and Page vii 55 60 61 68 CHAPTER V. REFERENCES APPENDIX A. DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATION. . . . Conclusions. . . . . . . . . ... . . Disucssion of results. . . . . . . . Implications and recommendations . . Research correspondence and consent forms 0 O O O I O O O O O O O O O O 0 Instruments used in the study. . . . Scales used in the study . . . . . . Pearson correlation coefficient. . . Analyses of variance conducted on individual scale items that were found to be statistically significant. . . . . . . . . . . . . vi Page . 71 . 73 . 78 8-1 C-l LIST OF TABLES TABLE Page 3.1 Geographical Comparision of Red Cedar and Spartan Village Populations with Sample Populations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 3.2 Age range of foreign born children in the population sample. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 3.3 Distribution by length of stay in the United States of foreign born children in the population sample 0 O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 40 3.4 Grade level of foreign born children in the population sample. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 3.5 Distributions by sex of foreign born children in the population sample . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 4.1 Pearson's Correlation Coefficients . . . . . . . 55 4.2 Mean school adjustment scores of items significantly related to school adjustment . . . 58 4.3 Mean school adjustment scores on items from parents questionnaire . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 4.4 Mean school adjustment scores for children in each individual's classroom. . . . . . . . . . . 59 vii CHAPTER I THE PROBLEM Need for the Study A review of the literature shows that the study of the unique situation of foreign born children living and going to school in the United States has focused mostly on their status as "minority groups", and to problems related to language barriers (Touliatos, J., Lindholm, B., 1980; Cochrane, 1979; Gardner, 1979; Segalowitz, 1976; Spolsky, 1977). It is well recognized by human service professionals and educators that children who come to the United States and enter the school system not only face the initial stress and expected adjustment problems of all children, but in addition have to face an entirely different cultural environment. This places them, at the beginning, at a disadvantage in the elementary classroom and consequently results in emotional, physical, and intellectual pressures. The language barrier, cultural differences and difficulties in social interaction, are some of the problems these children face. Such problems would seem to discourage their efforts to adapt and also reduce their 1 2 chances of success in the educational system. As frequently happens, the study of adversity in these unique situations has been given the highest percentage of attention. What has been overlooked is that probably a substantial number of children are able to cope with these pressures and achieve competence and success in a new school and culture. A negative expectation is not surprising if we take into consideration that psychology and other mental health disciplines have paid little attention to those who master adversity. For example, a review of the literature in the areas of positive adjustment, c0ping and competence reveals that they are basically new areas of psychological research in comparison to a much more extensive pool of literature built around maladaption and psychopathology. Studies following a newer trend on mastery are those reported by Coelho (1974), Connolly and Bruner (1974), Gilmore (1974), Haan (1977), Murphy and Moriarty (1977), and Garmezy 35 21- (1979). More communities in the United States are experiencing an influx of citizens from other nations and teachers are being faced with increasing numbers of culturally different students in their classrooms. Adjusting to change and finding ways to cope with these problems can be viewed as providing opportunities for 3 for growth for these children. The concern of this study are those children who have found satisfactory ways to adjust to a new school and cultural environment. It aims to study those behavioral and personality characteristics associated with successful adaptation and competence and the learning and environ- mental opportunities where these developed. Studying the lives of foreign born children residing in the United States in terms of their sources of competence and successful adaptation will increase our understanding of the adjustment process. Specifically the identification of psychocultural mechanisms can provide insight into the interpersonal dynamics involved in this adaptation. Information about foreign born children who adjust successfully can help parents, human service professionals and educators look for ways to generate or enhance these positive mechanisms so as to increase the probability of their occurrence. It can promote efforts to provide the learning and environmental opportunities where these mech- anisms could be developed. This study has practical value not only to the school and communities with foreign born families and their children in East Lansing but also to many other American communities with similar situations. 4 Purpose of the Study This study focused on positive adjustment, coping and competence. Its purpose is to investigate those foreign born children who have found satisfactory ways to adjust to a new school and cultural environment and who demonstrated competence and satisfaction in their school lives. It aims to study those children in terms of behavioral and personality characteristics associated with successful adaptation and competence and to study the learning and environmental opportunities where these have developed. gypotheses Four hypotheses will be investigated: H1 There will be a postive relationship between a child's school adjustment and a child's maintenance of ethnic/national origin identity. H2 There will be a positive relationship between a child's school adjustment and parents attitude toward the United States. H3 There will be a positive relationship between a child's school adjustment and a child's own attitude toward the United States. There will be a positive relationship between a child's school adjustment and a child's self esteem. 6 Theoretical Orientation This study concentrates on competence, coping, adaptation and adjustment. Its theoretical orientation evolves from developmental psychology and psychopathology. Historically, developmental psychology originally focused on intellectual competence, the assessment of intelligence, and the network of behavioral correlates characterizing effective vs. ineffective cognitions. Recently, developmental research has focused on social adaptation and the relationship of competence to attachment, socialization, parenting, and prosocial behaviors. The main interest of psychopathology is in understanding the origins, development and maintenance of deviant behavior. However, a more recently evolving research area from psychopathology has begun to make a contribution to the study of competence. This area, known as risk research, deals with those individuals presumed to have a specific vulnerability or predisposition to specific psychopathology. From these studies of at risk or vulnerable children ideas of coping and competence have emerged. Further discussion of this theoretical orientation will be presented in Chapter II. The central concepts of coping, competence, and adaptation that will serve as the basis for this study 7 have been used either undifferentiated or inconsistently by either the same author or several authors. Blom (1982) indicates that this confusion in concept may have developed as a consequence of different psychological orientations, varied types of problems studied, dissimilar nature of the population of subjects under investigation and the particular professional discipline bias of the investigator. Haan (1977) describes coping as the creative psychological effort to overcome, master and solve internal and external problems and dilemmas. Coping is characterized by flexibility, good perceptions, emotional tolerance, information seeking, interpersonal involvement and self-confidence. White (1974) refers to adaptation as the actions of living systems in interaction with their environments not just to maintain psychological homeostasis but to foster growth and change. He refers to competence as a person's existing capacity to interact effectively with his environment. Self-esteem and its relation to competence and adjustment is one of the major assumptions of this study. Self-esteem has been defined as the evaluation which the individual makes and customarily maintains with regard to himself; it expresses an attitude of approval or 8 disapproval and indicates the extent to which the individual believes himself to be capable, significant, successful and worthy" Coopersmith (1967). White (1971) indicates that a sense of competence is a highly important ingredient of self concept and of self-esteem. He discusses the interrelationship of self-esteem and competence and how self-esteem appears to have important roots in experiences of efficacy. The construct, of self-esteem, has generated interest as a personality variable within school settings. It has been shown to relate to various measures of academic achievement (Black, 1974; Coopersmith, 1959, 1967). The correlation of self-esteem and achievement is reported at the elementary school level (Campbell, 1966; Coopersmith, 1967) and also at the college and graduate school levels. Blair (1968) found that the 1.0. test scores and academic achievement of ninth grade black students were related to self-esteem, independent behavior and degree of inner locus of control. The thesis that parental attitudes toward discipline and parent child interaction are an important influence in personal development has been stressed by many researchers. More specifically Rutter (1967) suggested that the role of parents is a very critical one for the development of competence. He indicated that warm 9 empathic relationships with parents provide a sense of secure emotional bonding in the child. Findings by Baumrind and Black (1967) suggest that parental practices which are intellectually stimulating and to some extent tension producing are associated in the young child with various aspects of competence. The above mentioned concepts and their relationships to each other provide a base for the hypotheses of this study. Further discussion of the theoretical orientation of the study will be provided in Chapter II. 10 Definition of Terms Foreign born children - Foreign born children are those whose parents possess legal residency or citizenship in a nation other than the United States and are not in the process of applying for United States permanent residency or citizenship at the time of the study. Positive adjustment to school - This is defined as a positive pattern of personal, cognitive, and social behaviors exhibited within the confine of the elementary school classroom. Acculturation - This is defined as the learning by members of one cultural group of skills and values native to another group (Keifer 1974). Acculturative stress - This is defined as the aspects in the person environment relationship that frustrate adaptation and lead to recognized periods of high stress. Ethnic/National origin identity - This refers to the sense of self that involves past cultural traditions, present sociological factors, and psychocultural dimensions related to family and peer group socialization patterns and their interactions (DeVos, 1979). Self esteem - It is defined as the evaluation which the individual makes and customarily maintains with regard to himself; it expresses an attitude of approval or disapproval and indicates the extent to which the 11 individual believes himself to be capable, significant, successful and worthy (Coopersmith, 1967). Competence - It is defined as action, the ability to change or act upon the environment as opposed to simply adapting to it. Refers to mastery, accomplishments and outcomes. Coping - It is defined as a pattern of response to novel situations obstacles and conflicts where search effort, direct action and shapening occur (Garmezy 1975). 12 Summary In this chapter the need and purpose of the study were presented. The purpose of the study is to investigate those foreign born children who have found satisfactory ways to positively adjust to a new school and cultural environment. It aims to study those behavioral and personality characteristics associated with positive adjustment and the learning and environmental opportunities where these characteristics have developed. The four hypotheses to be investigated include the relationship of school adjustment to child's maintenance of ethnic/national origin identity, child's self-esteem, child's attitude toward the United States, and parent's attitude toward the United States. The theoretical orientation of the study which evolved from developmental psychology and psychopathology was discussed. Definition of terms such as foreign born children, acculturation, positive adjustment to school, acculturative stress, and ethnic/national origin identity were presented. 13 Overview The general format of this study is as follows: Chapter I outlines the problem need and the purpose of the study and discusses hypotheses, theoretical orientation, and definition of terms. Chapter II is a review of the literature pertaining to competence, coping, and adaptation emphasizing cultural adjustment. Chapter III presents the design of the study including sampling and research procedures, statistical hypotheses, and methods of analysis. Chapter IV reports the results of the analysis of data. Chapter V presents the conclusions and implications for further research. Chapter II REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE Studies on Coping and Competence Because this study is focused on positive adjustment, coping, and competence a review of the literature in these areas was conducted. It was found that these are rela- tively new areas of psychological research in comparison to a much more extensive literature on maladaptation and psychopathology. Although many authors write about competence, no agreed upon definition exists. For example White's (1974) and Garmezy's (1975) views of social competence differ. They are in agreement about the importance of the concept of social competence in preventing psychopathology but disagree in their expectations that valid primary prevention programs can be created. White states that competence is primarily a biological concept. Humans according to him have an urge to act effectively on the environment and a primary factor in developing competence is how rewarding one's behavioral initiatives are to the individual. Garmezy on the other hand contends that social competence is a definable and usable idea of human potential which has a powerful influence on research in 14 15 the field of developmental psychology. Anderson and Messick (1974) have identified four definitional problems in regard to the concept of competence. 1. distinguishing between behaviors prized by many segments of society across a large number of situations and behaviors not necessarily universally admired or differentially appropriate to different situations. 2. distinguishing between proficiency and performance and between maximal and typical performance. 3. recognition "that variables may have different meanings and different implications for social/educational action at different levels of intensity or in their positive and negative ranges." 4. identification of different classes of variables in terms of their developmental trends. Competence for Connolly and Bruner (1974) implies action, the ability to change or to act upon the environment as opposed simply to adapting to it. Three features implied in such orientation include: 1. selectivity in which the features of the environment which would facilitate solutions are 16 recognized and utilized. 2. planning a course of action and initiating activities necessary for achieving one's objective. 3. utilizing the successes or failures encountered in the past to formulate new plans for the present or for the future. Using "ego strengths” as a concept for competence Gilmore (1975) has ascribed to it the following behaviors: intelligent action, reflective cognitive style, ability to delay gratification, perspective toward the future, a desire for autonomous achievement a pattern of stable focused attention, internal locus of control, lowered level of anxiety, and positive self-esteem. Smith (1974) gathered data from selected interview transcripts of Peace Corps volunteers to generate a set of descriptive personality items that were then Q-sorted to characterize each volunteer. A factor analysis of these data provided a first evaluative factor which was labeled self-confident maturity. The components of this factor included self confidence, high self-esteem, energy, responsibility, autonomy, trust in others, persistence with flexibility, and hopeful realism. In terms of their Peace Corps efforts these volunteers were rated very favorably, as highly competent and committed to their 17 work. A set of attributes established by a panel under the auspices of the Office of Child Development to define the meaning of “social competence" in young children (Anderson and Messick, 1974) generated a list of 29 statements. This list included attributes such as work (school) effectiveness, social mastery, positive motivation, prosocial behavior, impulse control, empathy, focusing of attention and high self-esteem. Twenty years ago Jahoda (1958) set forth her criteria of mental health in the volume, Current Concepts of Positive Mental Health. Even though two decades have passed, her six criteria seem to have stood the test of time when compared to new listings of attributes of competent functioning. Basing her list on a survey of relevant literature Jahoda provided six major categories of concepts for defining positive mental health: 1. positive attitude of an individual toward his/her owns self; 2. growth, development or self-actualization; 3. an integrated personality with the ability to resist stress and with/and adverse events; 4. autonomy and independence from social influence; 5. adequate perception of reality with empathy and social sensitivity; 18 6. environmental mastery including ability to love work and play. Criteria for healthy development that transcends variations of cultural settings and expectations have been developed. This criteria for sound mental health include the following: 1. 2. 3. reasonably sound physical health, regularity in achieving maturational milestones, capacity to move toward active mastery of situations, capacity to postpone impulsive behavior, balance between adapting to the social environment and having an influence or modifying that environment in the service of the self and those to whom one is attached, reasonable sense of oneself as worthy of respect and affection according to the values of family and community, response to the reasonable expectations of close adults, peers, and community institutions with satisfaction and without losing a sense of one's inner self, exploratory, experimental phase in adolescence that leads to a new sense of self as an adult that results in altered mature relations with 19 parents (Anthony 1974). The evolving area of risk research contributes to the study of competence and coping. This implicates children who were expected to be at risk for later disturbances but did not turn out to be that way. Children who were in ongoing unfavorable life situations were able to obtain restitutive experiences later on in life or had favorable outcomes for reasons not clearly understood. Anthony (1975), Garmezy (1981), and Rutter (1979) have reported on the behavior characteristics of children who adapted well to adverse life situations. Garmezy (1980) sees these children as having a series of coping skills such as hopefulness, control of affects and impulses, and problem solving. In addition to using coping as a skill and a general adaptive response, Garmezy refers to it as a pattern of response to novel situations, obstacles and conflicts where search, effort, direct action, and shaping happenings occur. Garmezy reviews the many ways in which coping is used, emphasizing its close association with mastery, competence, adequate functioning, success satisfaction. Blom (1980) reviews evidence on children and adults coping with adversity. He utilizes everyday life examples in the media, longitudinal developmental findings and studies of children exposed to acute and chronic stress. 20 Blom supports a distinction between coping and defending behavior, and discusses the implications of coping to treatment, education and prevention. Exposure of psychologists to children and adults who survive risk situations make us realize our lack of knowledge regarding the sources of security and competence in stressed but adaptable mentally healthy people. There has been a curious neglect of such children and adults by the mental health disciplines. Murphy, (1962) one of America's foremost observers of coping behavior in children, wrote in the opening pages of her book, The Widening WOrld of Childhood, ”It is something of a paradox that a nation which has exalted in its rapid expansion and its scientific technological achievements, should have developed so vast a “problem” literature: a literature often expressing adjustments difficulties, social failures, blocked potentialities, and defeat...” (p.3). Garmezy (1972) is part of a faculty-student research group focusing on stress resistant children, Project Competence. They use the term 'invulnerable" to describe children who share two factors. First they are subject to a high degree of stress in their lives, and second they retain a high level of adapation mastery and competence despite such stress exposure. Garmezy and Nuechterlein (1972) reviewed all existing 21 studies bearing on disadvantaged children who display a high degree of competence in spite of stressful environments. Other investigators, among them Anthony, (1979) have focused on the resilient children of psychotic parents. A combination of the findings of these authors (Segal and Yahraes, 1978) gives the following personality profile: -- These children are socially skillful, bringing a tone of warmth and ease to their relationships with both peers and adults. They are open and easy going popular and well liked. -- They are well regarded not only by peers but more importantly by themselves. They operate out of a sense of power. The emphasis is on their pluses rather than their minuses. They feel capable of exerting control over their environment rather than becoming passive victims of fate. -- They are motivated from within to perform well. They express a preference for educational pursuits and aspire to high vocational goals. They take responsibility for learning, accept blame for failure, and display a willingness to defer immediate gratification for the sake of long-range achievement. -- The families of disadvantaged but achieving youngsters show more concern for education. This is reflected in their aspirations, willingness to assist actively with homework, and participate in school related organizations. Parents permit them considerable self direction and help them in their struggle for growth and autonomy. -- A significant factor that emerges from life histories of competent children appears to be the presence in their environment of an inspirational person often this is a parent but can also be an older friend or teacher. 22 Besides describing the role of parents as critical, Rutter (1976) speaks about experiential opportunities that may help children fight against stress effects. Good compensatory experiences outside the family, such as at school or through an informal training regimen can provide for the child, brief pleasant experiences that may parallel later stressful events. He states that development is a fluid process and it is never too late for changes to take place. Even with the worst circumstances only a proportion of the children succumb, and ameliorating factors can do much to aid normal development. Rutter stresses that by increasing our understanding of these influences and harness the knowledge already available to our policies and to our patterns of treatment something useful can be achieved. The foregoing gestalt of stress resistant children serves as a base for significant research explorations. It has sparked a number of investigators in their attempts to find, early in the lives of children, the signposts of competence and psychological strength. No single factor alone can explain a child's capacity to cope and adjust. If one could find the sources of these strengths it might be possible to help other children develop competence and adjust and have more successful and happier lives. 23 Studies Related to Cultural Adjustment If there is limited research on competent behaviors, this scarcity becomes much more pronounced when related to acculturative stress and the adjustment process of foreign born children to a new culture. This is unfortunate since many communities have experienced an influx of families from other nations and teachers are being faced with increasing numbers of culturally different students in their classrooms. There is a noticeable absence of studies examining the psychological well—being of these children. This is surprising in view of findings which suggest that foreigners and their offspring experience certain stresses and strains particularly because of language and cultural differences which may affect adjustment (Cochrane, 1979). Examination of the acculturation literature, for example, reveals that until very recently contributions of psychologists to the understanding of acculturation processes have with some rare exceptions been notable by their absence. Dyal and Dyal (1981) state that as recent as six years ago two psychologically oriented anthropologists Harvey and Ted Graves, wrote a review paper on ”Adaptive Strategies in Urban Migration” and their bibliography of 145 papers contained not a single 24 paper published in a psychological journal. Authors like DeVOs (1980) indicate that recently there has begun a self-conscious reexamination of some previous psychological studies of maladaptive behavior in ethnic minorities in an attempt to understand the cultural as well as the psychological reasons why some groups might have particular problems. It is a well recognized fact that the foreign born student and his family visiting the United States is in the position of a stranger and certain consequences are attached to this position. He discovers that the familiar norms of the home society accepted unquestioningly before do not necessarily hold true in the host society. He is suddenly deprived of what had been safe guides for his conduct. Unlike the tourist who comes for only a short visit, the student has to establish a way to live with his hosts, and this means he must learn the rules that regulate their relations. The extent to which the encounter with the host society enables the student to learn his norms is crucial for his adjustment. According to Schild (1962) there are three ways available to the stranger to learn behaviors appropriate to the host society. One is observation. From the moment the foreigner arrives in the new environment he observes the behavior of the members of 25 the host society. This provides him with information on norms of behaviors and effective paths and goals. Thus, even without any action on his own part beyond symbolic responses (”thoughts"), he learns. Another way is participation. The foreigner does not remain passive. He has to participate in the life of the host society to obtain the necessities of life and to achieve goals in the new environment. A third way of learning is explicit communication. This is more direct learning where an individual may get precise directions as to what are the appropriate behaviors in a given situation. Anthropologists have frequently related the concept of stress to cultural adaptation. Stress goes by several names: anxiety, conflict, frustration, and culture shock. It leads to various responses: adapatation, normal behavior, mental illness, withdrawal or innovation. Oberg (1960) has been utilizing the term “culture shock" for the phenomena of adapting to a new culture. This he believes is experienced by children as well as adults while adapting to a new culture. Culture shock is precipitated by the anxiety that results from losing familiar signs and symbols of social interaction. No matter how broad minded or full of good will a person may be, a series of props have been knocked from under him/her followed by a feeling 26 of frustration and anxiety. People seem to react to that frustration in much the same way. Two characteristics appear prominent in the culture shock phenomenon: 1. rejection of the new environment which causes the discomfort, 2. regression where the previous home environment suddenly assumes tremendous importance. Schild (1962) maintains that it is very difficult for the foreigner to discover that the familiar norms of the home society often accepted unquestioningly in the course of socialization as recipes for normal social relations do not necessarily hold in the host society. So he is suddenly deprived of what had been safe guides for his conduct. Foreigners, establishing themselves in the United States must again achieve a sense of competence and mastery in family and work roles. Ego strengths and at home identity come into active interplay as adults and children cope with the expectations of both the traditional and the new environment. Lazarus (1961) indicates that a pupil's concept of his competency is largely based on the reflected appraisal of other people. A pupil born into a given culture having established social guidelines evaluates himself and his worthiness in terms of these guidelines. When he immigrates to a new culture, the foreign-born pupil may 27 have difficulty in reestablishing his self-worth. This is in agreement with the contention of Dyal and Dyal (1980) that the immigrant needs people not only to help him know what to do but to tell him how he is doing. Interpersonal feedback and social comparison is stressed as more important for immigrants than for natives in a given culture. According to DeVos (1980) ethnic identity involves past cultural traditions, present sociological factors, and a psychocultural dimension related to family and peer group socialization patterns and their interaction. He indicates how crucial are strong family definitions for the establishment of a firm social role. DeVos argues that there is less internal conflict in situations of cultural pluralism if individuals are able to gain genuine security by internalizing a firm ethnic image by identifying with parents who are loved regardless of their acceptance by the outside world. In his work with either the Burakumin (DeVos and Wagatsuma, 1966) or the Koreans in Japan (Less and DeVos, 1978), DeVos found repeated evidence of internalized negative self images that have actually been transmitted within the primary family before outside contact has confirmed these negative images of themselves. 28 Keifer (1974) addressed the issue of acculturative stress indicating that there are three main processes in the person environment relationship that frustrate adapta- tion and lead to periods of high stress. These processes are cultural confusion, cultural conflict, and cultural alienation. Cultural confusion occurs when a person can- not associate a definite norm with an appropriate context. Cultural conflict results when values or beliefs held by participants in a social transaction are preceived as in- compatible. Cultural alienation refers to the loss of a sense of personal continuity in time as a result of break- ing up of cultural patterns. The phenomenon of acculturative stress has for too long been the exclusive domain of anthropologists and sociologists. It could profit from being more embedded in the mainstream of psychological research on stress and coping. (Dyal an Dyal, 1981). But again, the psychological literature on stress has focused on the undesirable events and consequences without proper attention to the specific coping responses which help to moderate and master stress events. Only a few studies have been reported which relate in some way to the mental status of children whose parents are foreign born. Of these few, the majority focus on examining behavior problems or behavioral disturbances and 29 comparing them with these disturbances exhibited by native born children. Touliatos and Lindholm (1980), Rutter (1974), Kallarackal and Herbert (1976), Cochrane (1979) conducted studies in this respect. A review of these studies provided an interesting pool of information that helped to develop the research hypotheses. One of these studies was conducted by Osborn (1971) on the adjustment differences of foreign-born pupils. By comparing the mean Bell Adjustment Inventory scores of foreign-born pupils and matched native-born pupils the study determined that foreign born pupils do not differ greatly in adjustment from their native counterparts. An item analysis of the scales indicated however, that adjustment differences unique to foreign born pupils include self-consciousness, shyness, and fear of victimization by fate. Another study conducted in Austin, Texas supports the contention of positive adjustment of foreign born students. Touliatos and Lindholm (1980) compared the incidence of behavioral disturbance in 2,991 children who were native born and white with 97 children of immigrant parents. General information and ratings such as a behavior problem checklist were obtained from teachers. Based upon an analysis of variance procedure, the results 30 revealed that subjects of Chinese, Japanese or Southeast Asian descent exhibited significantly fewer disorders such as conduct problems and inadequacies immaturities, than children of native born parents. Allen and Lambert (1969) compared the ethnic identification and personality adjustment of bilingual children of mixed English—French parentage in Montreal with monolingual children of French or English parentage only. They found no differences between the children of mixed background and single language background on measures of parental identification, ethnic identification, self-esteem and stability. If anything, they found that the bilinguals appeared to enjoy healthier relationships with their parents and felt that their parents took more interest in them than did the monolinguals. Thus the study indicates that being bilingual and bicultural does not necessarily lead to poor adjustment, it can go in a positive direction. A study was conducted by Kallarckal and Herbert (1976) in Leicester, England to measure how well commonwealth immigrant children were coping with life at home and at school. It showed that, in spite of the cultural conflicts experienced, there was a rather low prevalecence of maladjusted behavior. In fact these children were found to be less maladjusted than their 31 English counterparts. The authors attributed their findings to factors such as the affectionate but strong and protective nature of Indian family life, effective discipline and close supervision of children, and relative economic success fo the family. In England, Cochrane (1979) compared rates of psychological disturbance in children of Indian, Pakistani, West Indian and British parents. Rutter's teachers questionnaire ratings on 9-year-old youngsters revealed that there were no range differences between any of the three ethnic minority groups and the British group for conduct or emotional deviance as well as for total deviance. Findings by Cohen and Fernandez (1974) raise questions about psychological mechanisms through which children learn about two cultures and master two languages concurrently. Children who incorporate the learning of two languages and two cultural systems with almost equal proficiency often rely on the mechanism of compart- mentalization. Many children segmentalize their perceptions and feelings, separating those associated with members of the host society from those associated with their family or friend. However, not all children learn to use this defense effectively. Some use other more personal modes of adaptation. For example, identification 32 helps youth internalize life goals and aspirations transmitted by parents and school personnel. Research on adaptation of two Spanish-speaking immigrant groups and their families in Washington D. C. (Cohen and Fernandez, 1974) showed that parents tended to speak Spanish in the home and to retain many traditions of their country; results of the study recognized the function of the closely knit family orientation of Latin-American groups. Parents, educators, and agency personnel trying to help children retain their cultural heritage expressed concern about the ways these young immigrants rejected their cultural heritage and rapidly adapted to the inner city culture. It is interesting to note that Abrahams and Troike (1973) maintain that often in the host country the underlying assumption is that to be different is to be deprived. So the education for this population operates on a deficit model, which sees the minority group child as having no true culture of his own, but simply as being deficient in middle-class modes of speech, behavior and cognition for the new country. Lambert (1967) argues that bilinguals, especially those with bicultural experiences, enjoy certain fundamental advantages which if capitalized on, can be of great value. He sees the bilingual-bicultural child as 33 starting life with the enormous advantage of having a more open, receptive mode about himself and other people. 34 Summary Since the primary purpose of this present study was to investigate the behavioral and personality characteristics associated with the successful adaptation of foreign born students, this review of the literature was two folded. First, studies on competence, adaptation, and coping were presented. Second, a literature review related to cultural adjustment was conducted. Competence, coping and adjustment are relatively new areas of psychological research. No agreed upon definitions for these terms exist. The area of risk research has contributed to the study of competence and coping. Anthony (1975), Garmezy (1981), and Rutter (1979) have reported on the behavior characteristics of children who adapted well to adverse situations their finding indicate that these children can be described as follows: 1. Socially, they appear to be well liked by adults as well as peers, they are described as sensitive to others, and well behaved. 2. Cognitively, they think for themselves, are problem solvers, creative, and can make reality distinctions. 3. Affectively, they express and control their emotions, 35 have capacities for frustrations, tolerance, and gratification delay; they have positive self regard and resist negative labels. In respect to cultural adaptation, there is noticeable absence of studies examining the psychological well-being of foreign born children. Only a few studies have been reported which were related in some way to the mental status of children whose parents are foreign born. Of these few, the majority focus on examining behavior problems and comparing them with disturbances exhibited by native born. However, none of the studies reviewed support the above contention, on the contrary the foreign born appear to be equally or more well adjusted than native born students. Studies conducted in England, United States, and Montreal support this point of view. CHAPTER III DESIGN OF THE STUDY This research was designed to study the behavior and personality characteristics associated with the positive adjustment of foreign born children to a new school and culture. In this chapter, the setting, characteristics of the population and sample, as well as the description of the research procedures are presented. Population and Sample The population of interest for this study consisted of those foreign born children currently enrolled in two East Lansing Michigan public elementary schools who had been attending school at least for a year in this particular district. For the purpose of this research, foreign born children are those whose parents possess legal residency or citizenship in a nation other than the United States and are not in the process of applying for United States permanent residency or citizenship at the time of the study. Due to the administrative decisions of the East Lansing School District, random sampling was not feasible. 36 37 The sample for this research consisted of 45 foreign children ages 6 to 10, attending two selected East Lansing elementary schools. Grades represented in the samples were first to fifth grade. Red Cedar and Spartan Village elementary schools were selected for this study because they have the greatest number of foreign students in the East Lansing school district. This is due to the fact that they are located in close proximity to the married housing development where most of the foreign families attending Michigan State University resides. Red Cedar school is located in close proximity to Cherry Lane and University Village housing developments. As of May 1982, the total student population of Red Cedar school consisted of 162 students, of these, 91 students (56%) were from foreign countries. Spartan Village elementary school is located in close proximity to Spartan Village housing development which constitutes the biggest housing unit of Michigan State University. As of May, 1982, the total student population of Spartan Village elementary school consisted of 238 students, of these, 121 students (50%) were from foreign countries. 38 Table 3.1 describes the combined population of foreign students from Red Cedar elementary school and Spartan Village elementary school, and compares them with the sample utilized in the study. Table 3.1. Geographical comparison of Red Cedar and Spartan Village population with sample population. Geographical Red Spartan RC/SP Sample Region Cedar Village Combined Size No. % No. % No. % No. % Asia 44 - 48% 27 - 22% 71 - 33% 14 - 31% Africa 14 - 15% 18 - 15% 32 - 15% 6 - 13% Europe 7 - 8% 3 - 3% 10 - 05% 2 - 4% Latin America 13 - 14% 18 — 15% 31 - 15% 7 - 16% Middle East 13 - 14% 55 - 45% 68 - 32% 16 - 36% Total 91 - 100% 121 100% 212 100% 45 -100% 39 A summary of other characteristics of the sample used in this study is illustrated by the following tables: Table 3.2. Age Range of foreign born children in the sample population. Agg§_ No. of Subjects % 6 8 18% 7 19 42% 8 11 24% 9 4 9% 10 .3. .13.. Total 45 100% Mode = 7 yrs. Mean - 8 yrs. 40 Table 3.3. Length of Stay in the United States of foreign born children in the sample population. Mggth_ No. of Subjects Percentage -12 8 18% 13-24 12 27% 25-36 18 40% 37-48 6 13% 49-72 _1_ __2_%_ Total 45 100% Table 3.4. Grade Level of foreign born children in the sample population. §5§g£_ No. of Subjects % 1 18 40% 2 13 29% 3 11 24% 4 ‘_3 7% Total 45 100% 41 Table 3.5. Distribution by sex of foreign born children in the sample population. No. of Subjects % Male 21 47% Female .24 53% Total 45 100% 42 Instrumentation The instruments used in this study were: A. Checklist for Teachers: The checklist for teachers was used as the criterion measure. It was designed to measure a child's strengths and adaptive behavior from a teacher's point of view. It was developed by drawing items from the school behavior checklist (Miller, 1977) that seemed consistent with a review of the literature on competent behavior and by structuring other questions of relevance to cultural adaptation. The checklist for teachers had an estimated reliability of .96. (See appendix B-1) B. Checklist for Parents: The checklist for parents was used to measure a child's strengths and adaptive behavior from a parent's point of view. Its purpose was to provide a better idea of a child's overall adjustment and to serve as a comparison measure to the checklist for teachers. Items for this checklist were drawn mostly from the Louisville Behavior Checklist (Miller, 1977). The checklist for parents had an estimated reliability of .73. (See appendix B-2). C. Parent's Questionnaire: The parent's questionnaire was constructed to get more insight into how children developed attributes and skills necessary to adjust to a new school and culture. 43 Based on a review of various literature sources that ad- dressed the issue of family interactions and cultural adaptation (Teja, 1978; Kallarckal, 1976; De V03, 1980) and on the studies made by Baumrind (1967) and Garmezy (1975) on the attributes and child rearing practices of families of competent children, three scales were de- veloped. 1. Parent's attitudes toward school which consisted of seven items, with an estimated reliability of .79. 2. Parent's attitude toward the United States which consisted of six items with an estimated reliabi- lity of .67. 3. Parent's attitude to discipline and interaction which consisted of nine items with an estimated reliability of .58. (See Appendices B-4, C-2) D. Child's Interview: A Likert type questionnaire was used for the child's interview. It was designed as an attempt to provide a broad overview of the child's world from his/her point of view. Its purpose was to shed more light on the attri- butes children possessed that had helped them adjust suc- cessfully to a new school and culture from this question- naire. From this questionnaire seven scales were develop- ed drawing from the work of Garmezy and Neuchterlein ‘Lm—q -——_§ —(l912Imand their review of studies bearing on 44 disadvantaged children who displayed a high degree of competence in spite of stressful situations, and from a review of the literature on children and cultural adjustment (Teja, 1978; Kallarkal, 1976; Osborn 1980) The scales were the following: 1. Child's attitude toward school scale, which consisted of eight items with an estimated reliability of .72. Child's attitude toward friends and peers scale, which consisted of ten items with an estimated reliability of .60. Child's attitude towards the United States scale, which consisted of six items with an estimated reliability of .75. Child's maintenance of ethnic/national origin identity scale, which consisted of eight items with an estimated reliability of .65. Child's attitude towards family scale, which consisted of nine items with an estimated reliability of .45. Child's self-esteem scale which consisted of nine items with an estimated reliability of .69. Child's feelings and worries scale, which consisted of seven items with an estimated reliability of .52. (See appendices B-3, C-1) 45 Procedures Principals of two selected East Lansing elementary schools, together with their faculty, were asked to identify foreign children from grades first to fifth (ages 6-10) who had attended one whole school year. A letter was sent subject describing the accompanied by a cover Schools supporting the After signing the parents were contacted that particular school for at least to each parent of a potential general nature of the study letter from the East Lansing Public study. agreement form the subject's by the investigator so as to: A. Describe in more detail the nature of the study and how it was going to be conducted; B. Provide the opportunity to ask questions; C. Agree on an interview schedule for both parent and child; D. Review the consent form. (See appendix A) After informed consent was obtained from parents, each child's teacher was asked to fill out a checklist oriented towards measuring their strengths and adaptive behavior. Parents and their children were interviewed at their residences according to the agreed schedule. Both parents were interviewed before the child's interview was conducted. 46 Statistical Hypotheses The four statistical hypotheses of the study were: Hi ”4 There will be a positive relationship between school adjustment as measured by the Checklist for Teachers and child's maintenance of ethnic/national origin identity, as measured by the maintenance of ethnic/national Origin Identity Scale of the child's interview questionnaire. There will be a positive relationship between school adjustment as measured by the checklist for teachers and child's attitude toward the United States as measured by the Child's attitude towards the United States scale of the child's interview questionnaire. There will be a positive relationship between school adjustment as measured by the checklist for teachers and child's self esteem as measured by the self-esteem scale of the child's interview questionnaire. There will be a positive relationship between school adjustment as measured by the checklist for teachers and parent's attitudes towards the United States as measured by the Parent's attitude towards the United States scale of the parent's questionnaire. 47 Analysis of the Data Scores were calculated for each of the measures by reflecting negatively stated questions and adding item values. For the adjustment checklist for teachers and the adjustment checklist for parents values assigned to item responses were (3, 2, 1) with highest scores indicating greater degree of adjustment to the school and home situations. For scales in the child's interview questionnaire values assigned to items responses were (3, 2, 1) and for the parent's questionnaire (5, 4, 3, 2, 1). For each of these scales a higher score indicated the most favorable attitudes, interpersonal interactions and environment for the development of competence in foreign born children. The analysis of the data was conducted using the Pearson product moment correlation that examined the relationship between school adjustment as measured by the adjustment checklist for teachers and maintenance of ethnic/national origin identity, self esteem, parent's attitude towards the United States and child's attitudes toward the United States. 48 In order to obtain more information of the elements involved in the adjustment process of foreign children/the Pearson's product moment correlation was also conducted to examine the strength of the relationship between all pairs of variables used in the study. A one way analysis of variance was conducted to find any relationships between responses to specific items on the different scales, demographic variables of the study, and school adjustment as measured by the checklist for teachers. Limitations of the Study This study was exploratory in nature and its findings must be restricted to the nature of the population involved. The results might have been affected by the following limitations. 1. The sample group or foreign born students was homogeneous in nature. These students came from academically oriented families which could have positively skewed the distribution. 2. Due to administrative decisions within the East Lansing School District random selection was not possible. Therefore, selection bias might have imposed a major limitation to the study. Foreign families were volunteers thus, those choosing to participate may have represented a portion of the 49 population of students who were adjusting to school in a positive way. Sample size is another limiting factor. The sample size was 45 subjects. Although it was an adequate size for the statistical procedures used a larger sample would increase the possibility of significant results. Finally the study concentrates on the adjustment of foreign born children living in as near a university setting. Generalizations to population of foreign students outside this particular environment should be limited. 50 Summary In this chapter the nature of the population and sample instrumentation and data analysis procedures were described. Limitations of the study were also stated. The setting for the study were two selected East Lansing elementary schools with the highest concentration of foreign children in the area. Red Cedar and Spartan Village elementary schools were described according to current student population and size of foreign student population. The sample consisted of 45 foreign born students who had attended those schools for at least one whole school year. Instruments used for the study were a checklist for teachers used as our criterion measure, and a parent's questionnaire which included three scales: Parent's attitude towards school; Parent's attitude towards discipline, and interaction: Parent's attitude toward the United States. A structured child's interview was also used. This interview included seven scales: Child's self esteem scale; Child's attitude towards the United States scale; Child's attitude toward friends and peers scale: Child's attitude toward family scale; Child's maintenance of ethnic/national origin identity scale, and Child's feelings and worries scale. 51 Four statistical hypotheses were tested using the Pearson's correlational procedure to find the strength of the relationship between school adjustment as measured by the adjustment checklist for teachers and the following variables: child's self esteem: child's attitude towards the United States: child's maintenance of ethnic/national origin identity; and parent's attitude towards the United States. A one way analysis of variance was conducted to find any relationship between responses to specific items on the different scales, demographic variables of the study, and school adjustment as measured by the checklist for teachers which was used as our criterion measure. In addition, a Pearson's product moment correlation was conducted to examine the strength of the relationship between all pairs of variables used in the study. CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS OF RESULTS In Chapter IV the findings from the analysis of the data are reported. The four research hypotheses relating to school adjustment were stated in Chapters I and III. For each of these a Pearson's product moment correlation was conducted to examine the relationship between school adjustment and: maintenance of ethnic/national origin identity, self esteem, parent's attitude towards the United States and child's attitude towards the United States respectively. A one way analysis of variance was conducted to find any relationship between demographic variables and responses to specific items on the different scales to school adjustment as measured by the checklist for teachers, which was used as our criterion measure. In addition, a Pearson's product moment correlation was conducted to examine the strength of the relationship between all pair of variables used in the study. The analysis of the data is presented in the following manner: 1. Analysis of the four stated hypotheses as related to school adjustment. 2. Analysis of responses to the specific items as 52 53 related to school adjustment. 3. Analysis of the relationship between all pairs of variables used in the study. Analysis of Research Hypotheses Research Hypothesis 1 There will be a positive relationship between school adjustment as measured by the checklist for teachers, and child's maintenance of ethnic/national origin identity, as measured by the ethnic origin identity scale of the child's interview questionnaire. A Pearson's product moment correlation was used to examine the above mentioned relationship. The observed correlation of -.07 between the two variables was found not statistically significant at the .05 level (P = .323). Research Hypothesis 2 There will be a positive relationship between school adjustment, as measured by the checklist for teachers and child's attitude toward the United States, as measured by the Child's Attitude toward the United States scale of the child's interview questionnaire. 54 A Pearson's product moment correlation was used to examine the above mentioned relationship. The observed correlation of .03 between the two variables was found not statistically significant at the .05 level (P = .432). Research Hypothesis 3 There will be a positive relationship between school adjustment as measured by the checklist for teachers, and parents attitude toward the United States, as measured by the Parent's Attitude Towards the United States scale of the parent's questionnaire. A Pearson's product moment correlation was used to examine the above mentioned relationship. No significant positive correlation was found. A negative correlation of -.24 was observed with a (.057) level of significance. Research Hypothesis 4 There will be a positive relationship between school adjustment as measured by the checklist for teachers, and child's self esteem, as measured by the self esteem scale of the child's interview questionnaire. A Pearson's product moment correlation was used to examine the above mentioned relationship. The observed correlation between the two variables of -.13 was found not statistically significant at the .05 level (P = .205). 55 Table 4.1 shows Pearson's Correlation Coefficients between School adjustment and the four hypotheses. Table 4.1. Pearson's Correlation Coefficients School Adjustment Maintenance of ethnic/national origin -.0706 identity (45) P = .323 Child's attitude toward the United .0261 States (45) P = .432 Self esteem -.1261 (45) P = .205 Parents attitude towards the United -.2388 States (45) P = .057 II. Analysis of Demographic Variables and Response to Specific Items to School Adjustment To determine the relationship of demographic variables and responses to specific scale items to school adjustment 56 a one way analysis of variance was used. Only eight of the responses were found to be statistically significant at the .05 level. The responses were the following: The item, ”I think I am doing very well in school” of the child's attitude toward school scale had a .004 level of significance. The item, ”I spend most of my time alone” of the child's attitude towards friends and peers scale had a .000 level of significance. the item, "I perfer not to get into fights" from the child's attitude towards friends and peers scale had a .008 level of significance. The item, ”People here like me" from the child's attitude towards friends and peers scale had a .001 level of significance. The item, "Most people I know like me" from the child's self esteem scale had a .041 level of significance. The item, "I like being the age I am" from the child's attitude towards feelings and worries scale had a .051 level of significance. The item, ”I feel comfortable living in the United States from the parent's attitude towards the United 57 States scale had a .018 level of significance. The variable teacher showed a statistically significant relationship with school adjustment (.037). Therefore, differences in the mean ratings of the individual teachers were found. This factor was controlled by assuming that the average adjustment score of children in each classroom was the same. The observed differences between classrooms were removed by substract- ing the classroom mean from each child's score. The coorelation between school adjustment and self-esteem, child's maintenance of ethnic/national origin identity, child's attitude towards the United States and parent's attitude towards the United States were recomputed using the adjusted scores. Again no statistically significant relationship was found. Tables 4.2, 4.3, and 4.4 indicate the distribution of the school adjustment mean scores for those items found statistically significant with school adjustments. Appendix E shows the Analysis of Variance conducted for all the above mentioned items. 58 Table 4.2. School Adjustment Mean Scores on items significantly related to school adjustment. Variable I agree alot I agree a I do not Level little agree of significance Mean N, Mean N. Mean 15 I think 59.9 24 50.4 16 48.4 5 .0043 I'm.doing very well in school I spend 36.5 4 57.1 12 57.1 29 .0004 most of my time alone I prefer 58.5 31 47.5 10 50.0 4 .0081 not to get into fights People 56.0 22 56.9 21 30.0 2 .001 here like ne Most 56.9 29 53.7 15 31 1 .0413 people I know like me I like 54.0 28 45.0 3 59.9 14 .0512 being the ageIam 59 Table 4.3. School adjustment mean scores for children on item from parents ' questionnaire Strongly Strongly Variable Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree Disagree Mean N Mean N Mean _N Mean 91 Mean _N I feelcom- 50.2 To 46 179.8 9 62.5 7 40.5 2 fiortable in the U.S.A. level of Significance .018 Table 4.4. School adjustment mean score for children in each individual classroom Mean for Variable Classroan N Teacher 1 56.0 3 Teacher 2 49.5 11 Teacher 3 54.8 5 Teacher 4 58.4 5 Teacher 5 63.0 3 Teacher 6 63.5 2 Teacher 7 63.4 7 Teacher 8 49.4 9 level of Significance .037 III. 60 Analysis of the Relationship Between All Pairs of Variables Used in the Study A Pearson's product moment correlation was conducted to examine the strength of the relationship between all pairs of variables used in the study. These variables were: 10. ll. 12. 13. School adjustment Self-Esteem Home Adjustment CLeCkNbe/Immwadr‘ Child's attitude towards school Child's attitude toward family Child's attitude towards friends and peers Child's feelings and worries Child's attitude towards the United States Child's maintenance of ethnic/national origin identity Parents attitude towards school Parent's attitude towards discipline and interaction Parent's attitude towards the United States Length of stay in United States - which ranged from 1 - 4 years. 61 Pearson Product Moment Correlation Procedures School Adjustment The Pearson product moment correlation conducted indicated a statistically significant correlation at the .05 level between school adjustment and child's attitude toward school with an observed correlation of .27 (P = .033). It also indicated a statistically significant correlation at the .05 level between school adjustment and length of stay in the United States with an observed correlation of .24 (P = .057). Self—Esteem The Pearson product moment correlation conducted indicated a statistically significant correlation at the .05 level between self esteem and the following variables: Home adjustment with an observed correlation of .315 (P = .017) Child's attitude toward school with an observed correlation of .493 (P = .001) Child's attitude toward family with an observed correlation of .252 (P = .047) Child's attitude towards friends and peers with an observed correlation of .347 (P = .010) 62 Child's feeling and worries with an observed correlations of .471 (P = .001) Child's maintenance of ethnic origin identity with an observed correlation of .462 (P = .001) Child's attitude towards the United States with an observed correlation of .318 (P = .017) Length of stay in the United States - with an observed correlations of .305 (P = .021) Home Adjpstment The Pearson product moment correlation conducted indicated a statistically significant correlation between home adjustment and the following variables: Self esteem with an observed correlation of .315 (P = .017) Child's attitude towards school with an observed correlation of .359 (P = .008) Child's attitude towards family with an observed correlation of .274 (P = .034) Child's feelings and worries with an observed correlation of .308 (P.019) Parents attitude towards discipline and interaction with an observed correlation of .523 (P = .001) Length of stay in the United States with an observed correlation of .330 (P = .013) 63 Child's Attitude Towards School The Pearson product moment correlation indicated a statistically significant correlation between child's attitude towards school and the following variables: School Adjustment with an observed correlation of .275 (P = .033) Self Esteem with an observed correlation of .493 (P = .001) Home adjustment with an observed correlation of .359 (P = .008) Child's attitude towards family with an observed correlation of .35 (P = .009) Child's attitude towards friends and peers with an observed correlation of .31 (P = .019) Parent's attitude towards school with an observed correlation of .307 (P = .020) Length of stay in the United States with an observed correlation of .300 (P = .022) Child's Attitude Towards Family The Pearson product moment correlation indicated a statistically significant correlation between child's attitude toward family and the following variables: Self Esteem with an observed correlation of .252 (P = .047) 64 Home Adjustment with an observed correlation of .274 (P = .034) Child's attitude toward school with an observed correlation of .350 (P = .009) Child's attitude toward friends and peers with an observed correlation of .243 (P = .054) Child's feelings and worries with an observed correlation of .275 (P = .033) Parent's attitude towards discipline and interaction with an observed correlation of .276 (P = .033) Child's maintenance of ethnic/national origin identity with an observed correlation of .387 (P = .004). Child's Attitude Towards Friends and Peers A Pearson product moment correlation indicated a statistically significant correlation between child's attitude towards friends and peers and the following variables: Self Esteem with an observed correlations of .471 (P = .001) Home Adjustment with an observed correlation of .308 (P = .019) Child's attitude toward family with an observed correlation of .275 (P = .033) Child's attitude towards friends and peers with an observed correlation of .283 (P = .030) 65 Child's maintenance of ethnic/national origin identity with an observed correlation of .416 (P = .002) Parent's Attitude Towards School A Pearson product moment correlation indicated a statistically significant correlation between parent's attitude toward school and the following variables: Home adjustment with an observed correlation of .347 (P = .010) Child's attitude toward school with an observed correlation of .3070 (P = .020) Parent's attitude towards discipline and interaction with an observed correlation of .404 (P = .003) Child's attitude towards the United States with an observed correlation of .257 (P = .044) Parent's Attitude Towards Discipline and Interaction A Pearson product moment correlation indicated a statistically significant correlation between parent's attitude towards discipline and interaction of the following variables: Home adjustment with an observed correlation of .523 (P = .001) Child's attitude towards family with an observed correlation of .276 (P = .033) Parent's attitude towards school with an observed correlation of .404 (P=.003) 66 Child's attitude toward the United States A Pearson product moment correlation indicated a statistically significant correlation between a child's attitude toward the United States and the following variables: Self Esteem with an observed correlations of .318 (P = .017) Child's attitude towards school with an observed correlation of .272 (P = .035) Child's attitude towards friends and peers with an observed correlation of .685 (P = .001) Parent's attitude towards school with an observed correlation of .257 (P = .044) Maintenance of Ethnic/National Origin Identity A Pearson product moment correlation indicated a statistically significant correlation between maintenance of ethnic/national origin identity and the following variables: Self Esteem with an observed correlation of .462 (P = .001) Child's attitude towards school with an observed correlation of .268 (P = .037) Child's attitude towards family with an observed correlation of .387 (P = .004) 67 Length of stay in the United States with an observed correlation of .239 (P = .057) Length of Stay in the United States A Pearson product moment correlation showed a statistically significant correlation between length of stay in the United States and the following variables: School adjustment with an observed correlation of .239 (P = .057) Self Esteem with an observed correlation of .330 (P = .013) Child's attitude towards school with an observed correlation of .300 (p = .022) Child's attitude towards friends and peers with an observed correlation of .259 (P = .043) Child's maintenance of ethnic/national origin identity with an observed correlation of .239 (P = 68 Summary Four statistical hypotheses relating school adjustment to child's maintenance of ethnic/national origin identity, child's self esteem, and child's attitude towards the United States were tested. A Pearson product moment correlation was conducted. The level of significance chosen was .05. The data from the Pearson coorelational Coefficients obtained can be summarized in the following manner: 1. There was no statistically significant relationship between school adjustment as measured by the checklist for teachers and self-esteem as measured by the self esteem scale in the child's interview questionnaire. There was no statistically significant relationship between school adjustment as measured by the checklist for teachers and child's maintenance of ethnic/national origin identity as measured by the child's maintenance of ethnic/national origin identity scale in the child's interview questionnaire. There was no statistically significant relationship between school adjustment as measured by the checklist for teachers and child's attitude toward the United States scale 69 of the child's interview questionnaire. There was no statistically significant relationship between school adjustment as measured by the checklist for teachers and the parent's attitude towards the United States as measured by the parent's attitude towards the United States scale of the child's interview questionnaire. An analysis of variance was used to examine the relationship of the responses to demographic variables, specific items of the different scales used in this study, and school adjustment, as measured by the adjustment checklist for teachers. Significant relationship was found between school adjustment and responses to the following items: 1. I think I am doing very well in school. I spend most of my time alone (recoded). I prefer not to get into fights. People here like me. Most people I know like me. I like being the age I am. I feel comfortable living in the United States (parent's questionnaire). A statistically significant relationship was also found between the variable teacher and school adjustment. 70 A Pearson product moment was also conducted between all pairs of variables used in the study. Findings indicated a vast number of statistically significant correlations, from them, of major relevance to this study pursuits were the following: Self esteem which had a statistically significant correlation with eight of the thirteen variables used in the study. Child's attitude towards school which had a statistically significant correlation with eight of the thirteen variables used in the study. Child's attitude towards friends and peers which had a statistically significant correlation with five of the thirteen variables used in the study. Home adjustment which had a statistically significant correlation with seven out of the thirteen variables used in this study and child's attitude towards family with a significant correlation with eight of the variables used in the study. CHAPTER V DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS The final chapter of this study is presented as follows: 1. Conclusions 2. Discussion of results 3. Implications and recommendations Conclusions The literature related to the present study suggested that the positive school adjustment of foreign born children might be related to a child's self esteem, maintenance of ethnic/national origin identity, attitude towards the United States and his/her parents attitude towards the United States. A Pearson product moment correlation was conducted to test for the above mentioned relationships. An analysis of variance was used to examine the relationship of the study demographic variables and responses to specific scale items to school adjustment. A Pearson's product moment correlation was also conducted to test for relationship between all pairs of variables used in the study. A close examination of the data leads to the following conclusions regarding this specific study: 1. No statistically significant relationship was 71 72 found between school adjustment and child's maintenance of ethnic/national origin identity. 3. No statistically significant relationshno was found between school adjustment and child's attitude towards the United States. 4. No statistically significant relationship was found between school adjustment and parent's attitude towards the United States. The one way analysis of variance used to examine the relationship of the study demographic variables and specific responses to scale items led to the following additional conclusions: 5. Statistically significant relationship was found between school adjustment and which teacher the student had. 6. Statistically significant relationship was found between school adjustment and responses to the following items: "I think I am doing very well in school", "I spend most of the time alone (recoded), ”I prefer not to get into fights", ”People here like me”, ”Most people I know like me", "I like being the age I am”, ”I feel comfortable living in the United States" (parent's questionnaire). Four of these items refer specifically to feelings of self worth. 73 In addition, the Pearson product moment correlation conducted to test the relationship between all pairs of variables used in the study established the following: 7. A statistically significant relationship was found between a vast number of variables, being of major relevance to the study those related with the variables self esteem, child's attitude towards school, child's attitude towards friend and peers, home adjustment, and child's attitude towards family. Discussion of Results This investigation does not support the hypothesis tflxat positive school adjustment of foreign born children has a statistically significant relationship with children's attitude towards the United States, parent's attitude towards the United States or children's maintenance of ethnic/national origin identity. In addition, this study does not support the hypothesis that self esteem is significantly related to school adjustment. As mentioned under limitations of the study the homoqeneity of the sample, the use of non-randomized volunteers, and the limited size of the sample are all POtential factors for not finding statistical significance to support the study hypothesis. However, the positive attributes or mechanisms the study was seeking did appear 74 in the form of statistically significant relationships between the pairs of variables used in the study. These results can add information to our knowledge and understanding of the adjustment process of foreign born children and indicate directions for further research. Some aspects of positive adjustment to school, like school achievement (Coopersmith 1979, 1967; Black, 1974; Campbell, 1966) and classroom behavior (Reynolds 1980), have been related to self esteem. However, this research hypothesis, as related to self esteem was not supported. In.the present study, self esteem was measured with a self esteem scale constructed specifically for the study. This imastrument as with most self-reported measures, is sensitive to the subjective mood swings of children. However, self esteem had a statistically significant relationship with eight of the thirteen variables used in the study. Of these, the following variables, child's attitude towards school, friends and peers, and to the United States, plus maintenance of ethnic/national origin identity and length of stay in the United States, are all related to the cultural adaptation factor. This findings is in agreement with the opinions of several authors “regarding cultural adjustment (Dyal and Dyal, 1980; Schild, 1962; Cohen and Fernandez, 1974) indicating that the foreign born needs to recapture his/her sense of self 75 in the form of statistically significant relationships between the pairs of variables used in the study. These results can add information to our knowledge and understanding of the adjustment process of foreign born children and indicate directions for further research. Some aspects of positive adjustment to school, like (school achievement (Coopersmith 1979, 1967; Black 1974; (Zampbell, 1966) and classroom behavior (Reynolds 1980), laave been related to self esteem. However, this research lrypothesis, as related to self esteem was not supported. Ir: the present study, self esteem was measured with a self esteem scale constructed specifically for the study. This irustrument as with most self-reported measures, is sensitive to the subjective mood swings of children. However, self esteem had a statistically significant relationship with eight of the thirteen variables used in the study. Of these, the following variables, child's attitude towards school, friends and peers, and to the United States, plus maintenance of ethnic/national origin identity and length of stay in the United States, are all related to the cultural adaptation factor. This findings is in agreement with the opinions of several authors re93rding cultural adjustment (Dyal and Dyal, 1980; Schild, 1952: Cohen and Fernandez, 1974) indicating that the foreign born needs to recapture his/her sense of self 76 It is interesting to note that there was almost a negative statistically significant correlation between School Adjustment and Parent's attitude towards the United States. This could indicate that parents who do not hold favorable attitudes toward the United States express to their children their ethnic pride, and teach them ways of coping and adjusting to the United States culture. However this variable did not coorelate at a statistically significant level with any of the other variables within the study. The variables, child's attitude tgwards family and“ home adjustment, had a statistically significant correla- tion with nine of the study's thirteen variables, includ- ing: self esteem, child's maintenance of ethnic/ national origin identity and length of stay in the United States. The importance of the home environment and family inter- actions has been emphasized by several investigators (Coopersmith, 1967; Baumrind, 1967; Rutter, 1976). Coopersmith (1967) indicates that ”both home and school will have an impact through a variety of mechanisms which include helping the child achieve competence, recognizing and appreciating achievement in a wide range of activit- ies, and ensuring that the focus is on what is done well rather than on the areas of failure” (Coopersmith, 1967). Correlational studies of children and adolescents suggest that warm, secure conditions within the family lead 77 to self confidence, instrumental competence and success in peer relations. (Easterbrooks and Lamb, 1979). Regarding cultural adaptation, De Vos (1980) indicates that a sense of ethnic origin identity is positively developed and maintained when strong family definitions are present. Child's attitude towards friend and peers had a statistically significant correlation with five of the variables in the study including self esteem, child's attitude towards the United States and length of stay in the United States. De Vos (1980) indicates that in understanding acculturation within American ethnic groups, it is crucial to understand the critical functioning of peer groups. Recent studies have emphasized the importance of peer interaction in the growth of social competence. (Hartup 1978; Whiting and Whiting, 1975). Hartup (1978) indicates that the child's social world consists of many worlds, including the family system, the peer system and the school. It appears that social interaction has a positive impact on a child's self evaluation. It is interesting to note that length of stay in the United States not only correlated with School Adjustment but also with self-esteem, child's maintenance of ethnic/ 78 national origin identity child's attitude toward school and home adjustment. It seems logical to assume that time gives the child an opportunity to learn and develop the coping skills that will help him adjust and enhance his self-esteem. This will likely yield more satisfactory experiences in the home, at school and with friends. To conclude this discussion of the results of this investigation, statistical findings emphasize the importance of self esteem, child's attitude toward school, ., family, and peers to the cultural adjustment of foreign born children to a new school and culture. Although the statistical results after testing the four hypotheses were not significant, the findings examined as a whole, are of significance for parents, teachers, counselors, and other helping professionals. Implications and Recommendations The results of this study and the evidence from the literature appear to indicate that further study of this type is merited. Although the statistical hypotheses were not supported by the research conducted, findings relatedfi to self-esteem, child's attitude towards friends, family and peers, and their influence in cultural adjustment give ample support for future study. Foreign born children locate themselves at the interface between cultures in contact. It is imperative, 79 therefore, to think about providing new opportunities for these children in order to facilitate behavioral characteristics associated with adaptation and competence. Implications for counselors: The counselor in the elementary school system should become involved in the educational process and act as a consultant, advocate, and facilitator between foreign born children, parents, and their teachers. In order to help the culturally different, the school counselor, as well as the teachers, should be aware of his/her own attitude toward ethnic groups and use appropriate approaches and techniques to facilitate intra and inter ethnic experiences with other children. Sue (1978) emphasizes the necessity of the counselor working with a culturally different client to become aware of the socio political forces that have impacted the minority client, and to understand that cultural class and language differences can act as barriers to effective cross-cultural counseling. Implications for teachers: It is important for teachers to realize that foreign born children attending an American school system are contending, not only with the expectations and pressures of a different and dominant culture, but also with 80 conflicts of values present in two different cultures. For a teacher, therefore, the ability to communicate the understanding and acceptance of these differences can make the teaching-learning experience a successful one. It is very important for schools to stop expecting foreigners to pursue the ”American way of life" without regard to language differences and cultural backgrounds. These children bring considerable contributions to the United States with their rich cultures and heritage. Elementary schools should provide children with opportunities to develop positive feelings about themselves as unique cultural beings and to demonstrate their own cultural uniqueness. Appropriate measures should be taken so that these children can share with others their own cultural richness and feel they are giving as well as receiving. When dealing with children from other countries, it is wise to remember that though their values or behavior might be different from the American way of life his/her society has functioned that way quite effectively for generations. In this way, children, will be helped with their real problems and not with the American perception of what these problems are. Since peer relations appear to be significant in the cultural adaptation of foreign born children, a teacher 81 has to have the capability and personality characteristics for promoting friendship and understanding among students and thus make them all feel understood and wanted. This is imperative in view of research findings (Zimet and Zimet (1978) indicating that white educators perceived society as viewing dominant group members as having attractive personality characteristics, and holding a positive attitude towards life. None of these were seen by the white educator as attributes of minority group members. Instead, words such as argumentative, defensive, fault, findings, impatient, and quarrelsome were identified as attributes of minority group members. These attitudes can only promote prejudice and bigotry in a child's personality development. Teachers should follow a procedure congruent to enhancing and maintaining a student positive attitude towards self. Implications for Parents: A counselor working as a consultant for parents should help them realize the need for communicating to children a sense of pride in their ethnic heritage and teach them how they can make a contribution to the United States culture. parents should also emphasize to their families that being culturally distinct is not synonymous with disadvantaged and point out to their cultural assets 82 encouraging their children to share these assets with others. Parents can also help their children judge the behavior of people in the host country and act as agents of cultural linkage reinforcing their own particular culture. Parents should become aware of the importance of closeness and sharing between family members attributes that make children feel more secure helping them to adjust to a culture that at the very beginning is completely alien to them. Foreign parents should also realize the tremendous impact the school system is having on the development of their children and should maintain close contact with this institution. Too often foreign parents are not aware of their rights and of the responsiblities of the schools towards their children and hesitate, out of shyness or lack of knowledge, in taking the appropriate steps to correct situations they feel are not favorable to their children. At this point, counselor intervention is absolutely necessary. As the educational system continues to be confronted with economic pressures, services and resources become extremely limited. Therefore, counselors along with other 83 educators, must search for other means to promote personal, social and cultural development, as well as academic growth. Foreign parents interviewed for this study appeared to enjoy visitors in their own home environment especially if the visitors expressed interest in their special cultural experiences. It would be appropriate, therefore, for the school system through their counselors, to train volunteers who could visit the home environment of foreign parents and share with them ideas, information, and cultural values to assist them in their parenting job in the American milleu. If parents, teachers, counselors, and other helping professionals can work together, they could capitalize upon diversity in the classroom thus building a better understanding of the greatness inherent in cultural differences. A positive atmosphere will then be created for the development of competence for all children. Recommendations With respect to the present realities and the future adjustment of foreign born children to a new school and culture, and in light of this present study, the following areas of possible research in the field of cultural adjustment are recommended: 1. Replication of this study using a comparison group of United States born children. This 84 comparison would analyze differences and similarities to school adjustment, in order to have a better understanding of characteristics due specifically to culture. 2. Replication of the study with larger samples since the possibility of significant results is much more likely when larger groups are used. 3. Replication of the study with a comparison group of not-well adjusted foreign born children in order to analyze differences and similarities. 4. Replication of this study with a less homogeneous population since the majority of children in our sample came from academically oriented families, which could have positively skewed the distribution. 5. Replications of this study concentrating in the relationship between self esteem and sense of H,— ethnic/national origin identity which appeared as_ I“wflkh~.uyw 1-6--1-‘.... -W‘W‘ mm In -__‘,_ mm... W‘s-IF" thaw-:2 tflexsseeeissthe present swear- These suggested areas for future research are attempts to encourage an interest in the area of competence as it relates to the cultural adjustment of foreign born children. This area of research can help parents, human service professionals and educators capitalize upon cultural differences and make the 85 teaching-learning situation an experience rich in providing opportunities for competence and success for everybody involved. 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International Universities Press, Inc. New York, 1963. White, R. W. "Motivation Reconsidered: The Concept of Competence!" Psyghological Review, V01. 66, No. 5, 1959. Zimet, C., Zimet, S., "Educators view people: Ethnic group sterotyping" Journal of Community Psychology, 1978. APPENDICES APPENDIX A RESEARCH CORRESPONDENCE AND CONSENT FORMS ‘III Ft p (I “APPENDIX A-l EAST LANSING PUBLIC SCHOOLS ' .NTER FOR TEACHING 729 N. Hagadorn East Lansing, Michigan 48823 AND LEARNING Telephone: Area 517 351-9240 GERALD E. KUSLER, Director SALLY A. FULLER, Secretary/Manager March 26, 1982 Dear Parents: The enclosed letter is part of a dissertation project sup- ported by the East Lansing Public Schools. The project con- cerns children who have found satisfactory ways to adjust to- a new school and cultural environment. The results of this study may help educators, human service professionals and parents to acquire a better understanding of the adjustment process. As a result the educational and personal gains of children from international families could grow. I particularly seek your participation as‘well as that of your child because your knowledge and experiences will contribute significantly to finding more ways to help children in their adjustment. Sincerely, 944W- Gerald E. Kusler Director of Instructional & Professional DevelOpment GEK/saf March 20, 1932 APPENDIX A-2 Dear Parents, I am a foreign graduate student in Urban Counseling at Michigan State University, who is interested in knowing more about the ways children deal with adjustment to a new school and culture. Therefore, I have chosen as the topic for my doctoral dissertation, "A study of the successful adjustment of foreign children to a new school and culture." It is my goal to obtain information on the characteristics of these children and the learning experiences where these may have developed. This knowledge might help the adjustment process of other foreign children in the future. In order to accomplish this, I will be conducting interviews with foreign children and their parents. The content of this interview will remain confidential and be used only for research purposes without personal identification and disclosure. If you and your child are willing to participate in my study, will you kindly sign the enclosed form and send it to your child's teacher? To give you more information about the study and the way it will be conducted, I will be contacting you to arrange a meeting at a time and place that is convenient to you. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at my house, 931-0 Cherry Lane, telephone, 355-8070, evenings. Sincerely, 7')" Q IuA