One hundred and eighteen female single parents completed the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory and a personal questionnaire at six-month intervals over a one-year period. Self-Esteem levels and related social and economic factors were explored to ascertain: (a) levels of self-esteem maintained by single parents as length of status increase; (b) social, economic and personal perceptions related to familial status; (c) associations between the remaining female single parents level of self-esteem, length of single parent status and selected social and economic variables. The study included female single parents from a large urban area. They were English speaking, living alone with their children and were single parents as a result of marriage dissolution. The participants were not involved in either individual or family therapy. Data analysis included the reliability of the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory and repeated measures analysis of variance and multiple regression analysis to determine the stability of self-esteem over time. Discriminate function analysis was used to explore potential relationships between self-esteem, selected socio-economic conditions and personal perceptions of familial status. Test-retest reliability scores of self-esteem resulted in a Cronbachs Alpha = .88. Internal consistency computed on the data resulted in a Guttman coefficient of .89. There were no significant changes in self-esteem over the one-year period of the study. Results of the discriminate function procedure identified eight characteristics as significant discriminators between low, medium and high self-esteem. These include income, age, education, and length of single-parent status of the single parent, as well as their children's school progress, achievement behavior, and related amount of discipline. This study supports the notion that how the single parents view themselves is to a large extent dependent on their parenting ability and self-initiative. Recommendations for further research include a follow-up study to examine the changes in self-esteem over extended periods of time and an investigation of specific child rearing techniques that enhance self-esteem.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:arizona.edu/oai:arizona.openrepository.com:10150/282083 |
| Date | January 1981 |
| Creators | Brassington, Robert Martin |
| Contributors | Christensen, Oscar |
| Publisher | The University of Arizona. |
| Source Sets | University of Arizona |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text, Dissertation-Reproduction (electronic) |
| Rights | Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. |
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