A Study Of The Influences Of Parent's Nurturing Methods On The Self-concept And Academic Scores Of Students In Primary Schools And High Schools

Parents' nurturing method is referring to the behavior preference when parents are educating and bringing up children. This behavior preference reflects parents' educational concept. Parents are the first teacher of children. The way parents teach children has a significant influence to children's self-concept, psychological development and behavior. Psychologists have done a great amount of researches on parents' nurturing methods and their influences. Some researches were concentrated on influences of parents' nurturing methods on children's academic scores, the formation of self-concept, the psychological development as well the factors that influence the nurturing methods. Others are mainly about the classification of nurturing methods, different influences that different nurturing methods have on children's cognition, socialization, self-concept, academic scores and the related degree. However, the previous researches on parents' nurturing methods and the influences on children's self-concept were mainly employing static methods to explore their relationships and were concentrating on the influences on academic scores. Most selected subjects were students in different stages of primary school, middle schools, high schools, and colleges. The systematic studies of influences on academic scores have never been dealt with. Influences of parents' nurturing methods on children are long and gradual. They vary with children's physical growth and psychological development. Thus, a systematic study from the view of dynamic development is more practical and applicable. This thesis is based on the previous researches to explore parents' nurturing methods and influences on children's self-concept and scores in a way of transverse antitheses and lengthways retrospect. Questionnaire investigation were given to 1871 students of grade 4—10 in 4 schools in Xi'an, using Piers-Harris self-concept testmeter and parents nurturing method EMBU. Scores of grade 10 students were traced back from grade 3. Conclusions are achieved as follows:In the stage of primary school, the factors of influences of parent's nurturing methods on children's self-concept are apparent in many divisors. The correlation scales down with ages. After grade 8, influences of parent's nurturing method on children's self-concept are only limited in some divisors. Before grade 6, some positive nurturing methods such as mother's emotional mildness and children's positive self-concept is positively correlated. Father's influence, however, in less than that of mother's in this stage. In this stage, boys at lower grades are especially more attached to mothers, but contradictory to fathers. Mothers' nurturing methods are more influential on children's self-concept development than those of fathers'.When children go into new academic stages, parents' emotional mildness and declination of denial have obvious influences on academic scores. Parents' declination of denial has negative influences on children's academic scores, whereas, parents emotional mildness has positive influences on children's academic scores. Fathers' passive nurturing methods have more negative influences on boys' academic scores than those of girls. They are obvious when fathers punish severely, decline denial and intervene too much. Under the positive nurturing methods, boys' academic scores are usually lower that those of girls in the primary school. Under mothers' positive nurturing methods, boys' academic scores are better that those of girls. However, under fathers' nurturing methods, the conclusion does not turn out to be the same. Under parents' positive nurturing methods, most girls are better than boys in academic scores.