Age and gender differences in the self-concept of South African students.
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Adolescent↗
Biomedical subjects
K Marjoribanks
Publications and source records attributed to K Marjoribanks.
Sibling dilution hypothesis: a regression surface analysis.
This study examined relationships between sibship size (the number of children in a family), birth order, and measures of academic performance, academic self-concept, and educational aspirations at different levels of family educational resources. As part of a national longitudinal study of Australian secondary school students data were collected from 2,530 boys and 2,450 girls in Years 9 and 10. Regression surfaces were constructed from models that included terms to account for linear, interaction, and curvilinear associations among the variables. Analysis suggests the general propositions (a) family educational resources have significant associations with children's school-related outcomes at different levels of sibling variables, the relationships for girls being curvilinear, and (b) sibling variables continue to have small significant associations with affective and cognitive outcomes, after taking into account variations in family educational resources. That is, the investigation provides only partial support for the sibling dilution hypothesis.
Adolescent↗
Family and ability correlates of academic achievement.
Relationships were examined among family social status, family learning environments, intellectual ability, and the mathematics and word achievement of boys and girls. Data were collected from 516 (250 boys, 266 girls) 11-yr.-old Australian children and their parents. Analysis indicated that the relationships between the predictor and achievement variables varied for boys and girls and differed depending on the achievement measure being examined. Generally, the family and ability measures combined to have large associations with word scores, while intellectual ability was the only significant predictor of mathematics achievement.
Aptitude↗
Perceptions of parents' support for learning: the influence of sibship size.
Marjoribanks in 1989 and Marjoribanks and Kwok in 1998 examined relationships among social status, sibship size, and measures of parents' support for learning for adolescents in Australia and Hong Kong, respectively. This present study investigated similar relationships for 1,305 (700 females, 605 males) 18 yr. old African students in South Africa. The findings from the three cross-cultural investigations suggest a sibling hypothesis which states that, after taking into account family social status, sibship size has modest significant inverse associations with females', but not with males', perceptions of their parents' support for learning. These studies indicate that in large families, parents may provide fewer resources for daughters than for sons. The results may help explain a small part of the sex-related differences that occur in students' affective and academic school outcomes.
Achievement↗
Family and individual correlates of academic goal orientations: social context differences in South Africa.
This study examined relationships between distal social contexts, parents' support for learning, self-concept, and adolescents' academic goal orientations. Data were collected from 435 female and 410 male 18-yr.-old South Africans. Multistage regression analyses indicated that family social status and rural/urban locality had unmediated relations with the adolescents' learning and performance goal orientations. In addition, parent and self-concept measures combined to have small independent associations with the adolescents' academic goal orientations.
Achievement↗
Family capital, children's individual attributes, and adolescents' aspirations: a follow-up analysis.
In this follow-up study of an earlier investigation (Marjoribanks, 1992), relationships were examined between family capital, children's individual attributes, immediate family settings, and adolescents' aspirations. There were 500 Australian adolescents (250 girls, 250 boys) and their parents in the sample. The results of this study and of the earlier investigation suggest that (a) family environmental contexts are moderately to largely associated with children's academic performances and adolescents' aspirations; (b) relationships between family contexts, children's individual attributes, and adolescents' aspirations are mediated fully or in part by adolescents' perceptions of their parents' support for learning; and (c) there are gender-related differences in the nature of the associations among family capital, individual attributes, immediate family settings, and adolescents' aspirations.
Achievement↗
Factors affecting the self-concepts of South African students.
Relationships among family macrosocial structures, proximate family settings, attributions of responsibility, and African adolescents' self-concepts were examined. Data were collected from 460 South African high school students (234 girls, 226 boys; mean age = 18.6 years). On the basis of partial least squares path modeling, the results suggest that (a) family macrosocial structure, proximate family settings, and the individual's sense of responsibility for academic outcomes had modest to strong associations with different dimensions of self-concept; and (b) there were gender-related differences in the structure of the adolescents' social status backgrounds and self-concepts and in the relationships among social status, perceptions of parents' support for learning, personal responsibility, and self-concept.
Adolescent↗
Family capital and Hong Kong adolescents' academic achievement.
This study examined relationships between the economic, human, social, and cultural capital of families and adolescents' academic achievement. Data were collected from 387 14-yr.-old Hong Kong students (187 girls, 200 boys), who completed questionnaires to assess their perceptions of the various dimensions of family capital. Academic achievement was measured by performance in Chinese language, English language, and mathematics. The findings indicated that different combinations of the dimensions of family capital combined to contribute to moderate amounts of variance in adolescent girls' academic performance, whereas social capital was the only family measure to have a meaningful and significant modest association with adolescent boys' academic achievement.
Achievement↗
Ethnicity, family achievement syndrome, and adolescents' aspirations: Rosen's framework revisited.
Relationships between the achievement syndrome of families from different Australian ethnic groups, family social status, and adolescents' educational and occupational aspirations were examined. The investigation was generated from a particularly significant set of studies of family environments conducted by Rosen (e.g., 1956, 1959, 1961, 1962, 1973). Longitudinal data were collected from 16-year-olds (N = 465) and their parents from Anglo-Australian, Greek, and southern Italian groups in Australia. The findings suggest that (a) there are substantial ethnic group differences in the dimensions of the family achievement syndrome and more modest group variations in aspirations for adolescents from different Australian ethnic groups, (b) family social status and the dimensions of the family achievement syndrome have a restricted set of modest to moderate associations with adolescents' aspirations, and (c) ethnic group variations in adolescents' aspirations are mediated largely by differences in measures of the family achievement syndrome and family social status.
Achievement↗
Educational and occupational aspirations of "common man" boys: Kahl's study revisited.
The relationships between parents' getting-ahead-getting-by orientations, adolescents' perceptions of those parental orientations, and aspirations for adolescents with different levels of intellectual ability and from various social status backgrounds were examined. Data were collected from 516 Australian 16-year-olds (250 boys, 266 girls) and their parents. The adolescents were classified into four contexts defined by the median split of scores on intellectual ability and family social status. Within each ability-status context, relationships among the variables were examined by constructing regression surfaces that were formed from models that included terms to test for possible linear, interaction, and curvilinear associations. The findings suggest that (a) in each context, perceptions of parents' orientations had strong associations with adolescents' aspirations; (b) for adolescents from low ability-lower status contexts, perception of parents' orientations acted as a threshold variable such that they were related to aspirations only at medium to high perception levels; and (c) in each context, parents' aspirations were related to adolescents' educational aspirations at each level of adolescents' perceptions of parents' orientations.
Adolescent↗
Factors affecting the learning environments and school-related outcomes of Australian adolescents.
In this follow-up study of an earlier investigation (Marjoribanks, 1991), discriminant analysis was used to examine relationships between social categories, defined by ethnicity, gender, and social status, and measures of adolescents' family and school-learning environments and their school-related outcomes. There were 470 16-year-old Australian adolescents and their parents from Anglo-Australian, Greek, and Southern Italian families in the sample. The results of this study and of the earlier investigation suggest that differences in the profiles of students' learning environments and school outcomes are related particularly strongly to ethnicity, but that within ethnic groups there are significant gender and social-status variations in such profiles.
Acculturation↗
Birth order, family environment, and young adults' occupational aspirations.
Relationships were examined among birth order, family environments, and occupational aspirations for 320 21-yr.-old Australians. The results indicated that relations between birth order and aspirations were mediated by associations between the young adults' perceptions of their parents' involvement in learning and the measures of aspiration.
Adolescent↗
Sibling and environmental correlates of adolescents' aspirations: family group differences.
Relationships were examined between sibling variables, perceptions of learning environments and aspirations for Australian adolescents from family contexts defined conjointly by human and social capital. Generally, the findings using a regression approach indicated that sibling variables continued to have significant and often complex associations with adolescents' aspirations after taking into account relationships between perceptions of learning environments and aspirations. Also, relationships between sibling variables, perceptions of learning environments and aspirations, varied for adolescents from the different family contexts.
Adolescent↗
Perceptions of parents' involvement in learning and adolescents' aspirations.
Commonality analysis was used to examine relationships between global and perceived measures of parents' involvement in learning and the aspirations of 516 16-yr.-old Australians. Analysis indicated that, while adolescents' perceptions of parents' involvement had strong associations with their aspirations, such relationships should be examined within environmental contexts assessed by more global measures of parents' involvement.
Adolescent↗
Perceived parents' support for learning and aspirations for Australian adolescents.
Relationships were examined between perceptions of parents' support for learning and measures of aspirations for Australian adolescents from different ethnic groups. The findings indicated that perceptions of parents' support combined to have significant associations with aspirations but there were ethnic-group differences in how adolescents' perceptions of fathers' and mothers' support were related to their aspirations.
Adolescent↗
Ability and personality correlates of children's attitudes and aspirations.
This study examined to what extent personality types are related to children's attitudes and aspirations after taking into account relationships between ability and the attitude and aspiration measures. Data were collected from 500 12-yr.-old Australian children. In the analysis the children were classified into four personality groups who were labeled as extravert-adjusted, extravert-anxious, introvert-adjusted, and introvert-anxious. The findings suggest the general proposition that children's personality types have strong associations with school-related attitudes after taking into account associations between children's intellectual ability and their attitudes. In contrast, children's personalities tended not to be related to measures of educational and occupational aspirations.
Aptitude↗
Family environment and cognitive correlates of young adults' social status attainment: ethnic group differences.
A longitudinal sample of 21-year-old Australians from Anglo-Australian, Greek and Southern Italian families was used to examine relationships of children's cognitive performance, family learning environments, adolescents' perceptions of family learning contexts, and measures of young adults' social status attainment. Generally, the findings using a regression approach indicated that there were ethnic group differences in the relations between parents' academic socialisation, children's cognitive performance, and measures of young adults' social status attainment. The results also showed that in each ethnic group, adolescents' perceptions of parents' support for learning had strong associations with young adults' status attainment.
Adolescent↗
Adolescents' learning environments and aspirations: ethnic, gender, and social-status group differences.
Discriminant analysis was used to examine relationships between social groups, defined jointly by ethnic group membership, gender, and social-status background, and measures of adolescents' perception of family and school learning environments and their educational and occupational aspirations. In the sample there were 400 16-yr.-old Australians from AngloAustralian, Greek, and Southern Italian families. The findings suggest that, if adolescents are classified in social groups defined by ethnicity, gender, and social status, then there are strong social-group differences in adolescents' perceptions of learning environments and in their aspirations.
Adolescent↗