The Self-Concept of Father-Absent Children in Middle Childhood Essay

The Self-Concept of Father-Absent Children in Middle Childhood   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Man’s individuality embodies numerous traits and self-concept holds the predominant of these traits according to Rogers. It helps the person understand personality and social development, for it is through the developing self-concept that man form increasingly stable picture of their selves, partly, reflected by others in their surroundings (Craig;1996,p.367). As the person interacts with his environment, such as peer groups, school, community and most especially the family, these concepts are constructed. Many developmentalists believe that infants are born without a sense of self (Shaffer, 1989), therefore, we can say that we develop our self-image as we continuously grow.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Families are believed to be the first, the closest, and most influential social group in the child’s life. They provide children with the definition of right and wrong, the patterns of behaviors, the expectations and the evaluations of actions on which children base their own ideas (Craig, 1996). It is in the family where a child spends a great portion of his life mainly during the formative years. It is from the family that he receives his earliest training in proper behavior. Thus, it is the family which plays the major role in the development of his self-image (Medina, 1991). As a child grow, he begins to realize who he really is and what he is and at the same time aware of his capability.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The person’s general view of self is made up of other, more specific concepts, including the nonacademics sefl-concept, self-concept in English, and self-concept in mathematics. This self-concept evolves through constant self-evaluation indifferent situation (Shavelson & Bolus, 1992). Children and adolescents are continually comparing their performance with their own standards and with the performance of peer and also gauge the verbal and nonverbal reactions of significant people.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Moreover, a harmonious home environment can create confidence in ones own perspective of himself because it provides not only a place of residence but also an identity of mutual security and support (Sevilla, 1989). However, through the changing nature of the family structure, there are broken families and marital dissolution. Single parent families, usually are fatherless, continuously growing up which affect both their children’s ... ...hey are free to ask questions. Furthermore, the researcher will assure the subjects that the test results will be treated with utmost confidentiality. Scoring Procedure   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The instruction of the scoring will be taken form the manual fo the test instruments. Corresponding points are provided for each answer. Then the number points are counted. Scoring will follow a given equivalent and through the local norms of the test, the level of self-concept of the subjects will be identified. REFERENCES: Craig, Grace. Human Development, 7th edition. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Inc. 1996 Davidson, Kenneth J.Jr Marriage and Family: Change and Continuity. Massachusetts: Ally and Bacon: Simon & Schuster Co., 1996 Elliot, Stephen N. et al. Educational Psychology: Effective Teaching/Effective Learning. 2nd edition. USA: Brown and Benchmark Publishing,1996 Tan, Earnest L. The Development of Self-Concept Quezon City. Values Education Program of Mirian College Graduate School, 1991. Medina, Belen T.G. The Filipino Family: A text with selected Readings. Philippines: Office of Research Coordination, U.P. 1991 Easten,Nina J. Los Angeles Time Magazine, 9June 1992): 15-16, 18, 44-46.