PP: 33-37 ISSN No: 2320-7124 (Print)
A STUDY OF ADJUSTMENT AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN RELATION TO THEIR HOME ENVIRONMENT
Jaspreet Kaur
Asstt. Prof., Mother India College of Education, Patran, Patiala, Punjab, India Dr Pushkrit Gupta
Associate Prof., Akal College of Education, Mastuana, Sangrur, Punjab, India
Abstract: The present study was conducted to assess the influence of home environment on adjustment of the secondary school students of Sangrur district in Punjab. The sample of 200 students of 10+1 class was selected from government sec schools located in the located in rural and urban areas of district. Tool for collecting the data included Bell Adjustment Inventory (1962) for School Students and Home Environment Inventory (HEI) by Mishra (1989). The data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings of the study revealed that many home environment dimensions (Control, Protectiveness, Conformity, Social isolation, Reward, Deprivation of privilege and Permissiveness) were significantly correlated with various adjustments (Home, Health, Social and Emotional) of secondary school students.
KEYWORDS: Home Environment, Adjustment INTRODUCTION
Human beings endowed with the capacity of virtues of reasoning and thinking are able to make adequate adjustments with himself and his surroundings. Psychologically, adjustment helps the organism to cope with the demands and pressures of the outside world as well as the needs, desires and conflicts experiences from within. The individuals who are able to adjust themselves to the changing circumstances in their environment can live in perfect harmony and lead a happy and well-adjusted life. Adjustment plays a pivotal role in the development of an individual. The present century is an era of revolutionary changes and to cope up and adjust with such dynamic environment, one has to make changes in self or his environment. If the individual does not keep pace with the changing time and make change in himself then succumb to the environmental pressure.
Conceptual framework Adjustment: Concept and Definitions The term adjustment is often used as a synonym for accommodation and adaptation (Monroe 2007). Adjustment, derived from the Latin word ad-justare, is the process by which one balances needs and the obstacles in his or her environment. The term adjustment refers to the process by which a living organism maintains a balance between its needs and the circumstances that influence the satisfaction of these needs (Shaffer, 1961). Adjustment refers to “psychological process of adapting to, coping with, and managing the problems, challenges and demands of everyday life”
(Halonen and Santrock, 1997) stated that adjustment is a harmonious relationship with the environment in which most individual’s needs are satisfied in socially acceptable ways. Adjustment is an important state of the person, which influences the relationships with others. The concept of adjustment refers to active and creative efforts to live effectively. Adjustment involves health, home, school, social and personal life. Thus we may say that adjustment is a process of maintaining a balance between the needs such as physical, social, psychological and the circumstances that influence the satisfaction of these needs.
The parents, the school and the peer group all play an important role in helping an individual to get adjusted. Previous researches have shown that adjustment of an individual depends upon gender, stress level, anxiety level, personality (introvert or extrovert).
Home environment is also one important factor which has significant effect on the adjustment. Home environment is undoubtedly regarded as an important factor which affects student mainly at primary and secondary levels. Home plays a central role in development of cognitive and non-cognitive characteristics of children. The families pay attention in the physical development intellectual development moral development and social development of the child. It is the primary institution where children get an opportunity to learn, interact and socialize with other members. The first experience of socialization within the family is the most important factor in the right growth and development of a child’s personality. Better educated and eager parents are more likely to mirror the academic style of classrooms at home by their praise and interaction with their children as is rightly observed in the families which are very powerful institutes and their influence over their young members is visible in every part of t heir lives.
REVIEW OF THE RELATED LITERATURE
Sangeeta and Chirag (2012) found that male college students have less adjustment problems in comparison to female college students. Kaur (2012) found that girls have more adjustment power than boys while locality does not influence adjustment power.
Gul and Ganai (2015) found that female graduate students have more problems related to their overall adjustment than male students.
PP: 33-37 ISSN No: 2320-7124 (Print)
Enochs and Roland (2006) studied studied the nature of the environment, gender and the relation with level adjustment of social in the university, the result indicated that males are more adjusted than females.Basu, S. (2012) found that adjustment of female secondary school students is significantly better than that of male secondary school students.
Lama (2010) reported that there is a great tendency for female students to experience adjustment problems more than males. This finding implies that male students are better adjusted in overall adjustment on the campus as compared to female students.
Kurvilla (2006) reported that urban students were well adjusted than rural in all areas of adjustment.
Chamyal and Manral (2017) have reported that urban private school student students are better adjusted than rural government school students.
Sherafat and Murthy (2016) found that private school students are more adjusted than government school students on overall adjustment measure.
Saxena (1988) found that family relationship played a determining role in promoting the adjustment of the students. Boys were better adjusted educationally than girls.
Reddy (1966) did a research and revealed that first born were found to be the most maladjusted and second born the least maladjusted. Higher level of education of the parents showed better adjustment in their sons.
Singh and Banerji (1992) found that parent and child relationship has no contribution on adjustment and academic achievement of students of secondary level.
Usha (2007) made an attempt and found that rural and urban pupils differ in their emotional adjustment, family acceptance and achievement in mathematics.
Alam (2017) found that adolescents from nuclear and joint differ on the measure of emotional adjustment, social adjustment and educational adjustment.
Kothival (2018) investigated that emotional maturity, family adjustment and personality were positively correlated with each other.
Deepshikha and Bhanot (2009) revealed that independence and control had positive and significant impact on the social adjustment of adolescent girls.
The review of the related literatures shows that there exists inconsistencies in the results of the earlier researches. This enforces the present researcher to carry this investigation to ascertain the relationships and differences between the variables in hand. The present investigation will fill the pitfalls in this area.
VARIABLES USED
1. Dependent variable - Adjustment.
2. Independent variables – Home Environmentt, Gender (male and female)
In the light of above review of the literature, the present study was conducted carrying the following objectives- Objectives
1. To study adjustment and home environment of secondary school students.
2. To study significant differences in adjustment and home environment of secondary school students across gender.
3. To study adjustment of secondary school students in relation to home environment.
Hypotheses
1. There will be no significant difference in adjustment of secondary school students on the basis of gender.
2. There will be no significant difference in home environment of secondary school students on the basis of gender.
3. There will be no relationship between adjustment and home environment of secondary school students.
DELIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
3. The present study is confined to secondary school students studying in 10+1 class of Sangrur district only.
4. Study is delimited up to those schools who are affiliated to Punjab School Education Board only.
5. Size of sample was delimited to 200 only.
PP: 33-37 ISSN No: 2320-7124 (Print)
OPERATIONAL DEFINITIONS1. Adjustment: Adjustment refers to the ability to cope in social situations and achieve satisfaction of one’s needs. It is the achievement of harmony between an individual and his environment which affords him comfortable life devoid of strain, stress, conflict and frustration. It is also the process of adapting behavior to a changed environment.
2. Secondary School Students: In this study sec school students are students of science, and arts streams, studying in 10+1 class of Govt. Senior Secondary Schools of Punjab.
3. Home environment : Home and family are foremost agencies of socialization. Here home environment is assessed on ten dimensions i.e. control, protectiveness, punishment, conformity, social isolation, reward, deprivation of privilege, nurturance, rejection and Permissiveness.
METHODOLOGY
For present study 'Descriptive Survey Research' method will be used as a method of research.
Sample
The sample comprised of 200 secondary level students of 10+1 class of 15-17 years, studying in government sec schools of Sangrur district of Punjab were randomly selected through stratified random sampling technique.
Tool used
The researcher used the following tool for collecting the data to study the present research -
1. Bell Adjustment Inventory (1962). The inventory was prepared to assess the different level of adjustment functions that may be obtained from the relationship with others. The present scale includes items from four areas of adjustment i.e. home, health, social and emotional. Each section has 35 items. So there are total 140 items in this test. The inventory is scored simply by counting the number of responses marked in each area of adjustment. Each response has to be given a score of one. High scores indicate poor adjustment. The sum of scores in different areas gives measure of total adjustment.
2. Home Environment Inventory by K.S. Mishra(1983). This tool is designed to measure psycho social climate of home as perceived by school students of intermediate class. It provides a measure of quality and quantity of the cognitive, emotional and social support that a student gain within the home. HEI contained 100 items related to ten dimensions of home environment i.e. control, protectiveness, punishment, conformity, social isolation, reward, deprivation of privilege, nurturance, rejection and Permissiveness. It is 5 point lickert scale from mostly to never (Mostly, Often, Sometimes, Least, and Never). Each subscale contains 10 questions. Test has 5 cell point marking system for score is allotted by constructor, 4 marks to mostly, 3 marks to often, 2 marks to some times, 1 mark to least and 0 marks to never. Count the marks assigned to A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, and J dimension-Statements on every page and then add the dimension-scores awarded to statements given on the five pages so as to get scores for the ten dimensions of HEI. Established reliability coefficient of each dimension are A-.879, B-.748, C-.947, D-.866, E-.870, F-875, G-.855, H-.901,I-.841, J-.726 respectively.
Procedure of data collection
The researcher collected the data personally with prior permission of the schools and concerned teachers. The administration of the tools viz., Bell Adjustment Inventory and Home Environment Inventory by Mishra was completed following the instructions given by the authors of the tools.
Statistical Treatment
To achieve objectives of present study investigator will use following descriptive statistical techniques for analysis of the data:
Mean, Standard Deviation, t-ratio, Pearson’s correlation coefficient and t-ratio.
Results And Discussion
The comparison of the samples on the selected variable was done by testing the significance of difference between their means by using t-tests.
The results are presented in the following tables:
H1. There is no significant difference in the adjustment of senior secondary school students across gender (boys and girls).
PP: 33-37 ISSN No: 2320-7124 (Print)
Table No.1 Comparison of adjustment across ‘gender’Variables Respondents N Mean S.Ds t-value Level of
Significance
Gender Boys 100 6.87 2.71 2.21 .05
Girls 100 7.73 3.02
H2. There is no significant difference in home environment of secondary school students on the basis of gender.
Table No. 2 Comparison of Home Environment across ‘gender’
Home Env.
Dimensions
Boys N=100 Girls N=100 t value Level of
Significance
Mean Sd Mean Sd
A(Control) 34.2 2.19 33.44 2.25 0.18 .05
B(Protectiveness) 33.96 2.28 32.72 1.96 0.02 .05
C( Punishment) 33.08 1.97 32.68 2.15 0.45 .05
D(Conformity) 33.58 2.81 32.28 2.59 0.14 .05
E (Social Isolation) 32.52 2.13 33.32 2.64 0.39 .05
F( Reward) 32.12 2.32 33.64 2.56 0.06 .05
G(Deprivation of Privileges)
32.72 2.27 33.4 2.32 0.02 .05
H (Nurturance) 32.32 1.94 33.64 2.01 0.38 .05
I (Rejection) 32.88 2.22 33.76 2.48 0.16 .05
J( Permissiveness) 32.76 2.18 32.6 1.82 0.77 .05
H3. There is significant relationship between adjustment and home environment of secondary school students Table No. 3 Correlation between Home Environment Dimensions
and Various Adjustments of students Sr.
No.
Adjustment Factor
control Protect. Punish. Conf. Social isolation
reward Dep.of Privi
Nurt. Rej. Permissi.
1 Home 0.010 0.138 0.022 0.088 0.010 -0.018 -0.199 0.052 -0.050 -0.001
2 Health 0.196 0.163 0.128 0.384 -0.054 0.198 0.016 0.147 0.008 -0.068
3 Social 0.263 0.256 0.048 -0.056 -0.083 -0.160 -0.306 0.062 0.051 -0.046 4 emotional 0.101 0.317 0.006 0.129 -0.229 -0.039 -0.258 -0.049 0.008 0.204
Findings
1. There is no significant difference in adjustment of secondary school students on the basis of gender.
2. There is no significant difference in home environment of secondary school students on the basis of gender.
3. There is significant relationship between adjustment and home environment of secondary school students.
REFERENCES
1. Alam Md. Mahmood (2017). Study of impact of family on the adjustment of adolescents. The International Journal of Indian Psychology, 4(4), 191- 200.
2. Basu, S. (2012). Adjustment of secondary school students. Scholarly Research Journal for Interdisciplinary Studies, 1(3), 430-38.
3. Bell.H.M.(1962). Bells Adjustment Inventory Manual. California Consulting Psychological Inc.
PP: 33-37 ISSN No: 2320-7124 (Print)
6. Enochs, W. K. R. and Catuerine, B. (2006). Social adjustment of college freshman; the importance of gender & living environment. College students Journal.
7. Gul, S.B.A. and Ganai, M.Y. (2015). Adjustment problems of kashmari graduate students in relation to their gender and educational stream.
International Journal of Advanced Scientific and Technical Research, 7(5), 346-354.
8. Kaur, S. (2012). A study of adjustment of high school students in relation to their achievement, sex and locality. International Journal of Research in Education, Methodology Council for Innovative Research, 1 (2), 18-21.
9. Kothival, K. P. (2018). A study of family adjustment emotional maturity and personality among social sites users and non users (Ph.D thesis in Education). Saurashtra University, Gujrat.
10. Kurvilla, M. (2006). Sex and local difference in emotional adjustment of adolescents. Journal of Community Guidance and Research, 23(3), 285-291.
11. Lama, M. (2010). Adjustment of college freshman: the importance of gender and place of residence. International Journal of Psychological Studies, 2(1), 142-150.
12. Misra, K.S. (1984). Home Environment Inventory. Ankur Psychological Agency, Lucknow.
13. Monroe, P. (1990). International encyclopedia of education. New Delhi: Cosmo Publications.
14. Reddy, N.Y. (1966). Adolescent adjustment in relation to home environment. Journal of Applied Psychology, 67, 341-349.
15. Sangeeta and Chirag (2012). A study of adjustment problems of college students in relation to gender, socio-economic status & academic achievement.
International Journal of Behavioral Social and Movement Sciences, 1(2), 46.
16. Saxena, Vandana (1988). A study ofthe impact of familial relationship on adjustment anxiety, achievement motivation, self concept and academic achievement of high school students (Ph.D. thesis in Edu). Agra University.
17. Shaffer, L.F. (1961). Article in Boring, Longfield & Welb (Eds.), Foundation of psychology. New York, USA: John Wiley.
18. Sherafat, R. and Murthy, C.G.V. (2016). A Comparative Study of Government and Private School Students on their Critical Thinking and Study Habits.
The International Journal of Indian Psychology, 3(4), 52-60.
19. Singh and Banerji (1992). A study of parent-child relationship in relation to adjustment and achievement. Journal of Personality and social Psychology, 36, 917-927.
20. Usha, P. (2007). Emotional adjustment and family acceptance of the child: Correlates for achievement. Edutracks, 6(4), 19-25.
