A study of the effects of parental support and children's resourcefulness on the academic stress of senior primary school students in Hong Kong

A study of the effects of parental support and children's resourcefulness on the academic stress of senior primary school students in Hong Kong

• Leung, Grace Suk Man

2006

• B Human Behaviour
  • BD Mental Health
• A Human Growth & Development
  • AF Family & Development, Family Relationship, Reproduction & Child Rearing, Family Education, Parental Involvement

Educational Psychology Families & Family Life Personal Relationships Sociology Stress in Children - Hong Kong Academic Achievement - Hong Kong School Children - Hong Kong - Psychology Parent and Child - Hong Kong

• Hong Kong

• 1997.7 onwards

• Primary Education

Academic stress is widely recognized as a prominent source of stress for children in Hong Kong. What can be done to enhance children's resilience to this type of stress? The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between academic stress, children's anxiety, and academic attainment in senior primary school children in Hong Kong. Specifically, the objective is to investigate the moderating and mediating mechanisms through which parental support and children's resourcefulness might modify stress outcomes. To better determine the relationship patterns of these variables, a cross-sectional quantitative research design was used. Proportional stratified sampling, cluster sampling and random sampling methods were employed in various phases to locate suitable informants. Nine primary schools and a total of 1,644 senior primary school students participated in the study.
Three academic stress domains were generated from the Academic Hassles Scale.These were "academic inefficacy and fear of failure", "expectations and demands from significant others" and "academic demands and overload". Domain analysis proved to be more sensitive to gender difference when compared with the global academic hassles measure. Girls were more disturbed by "academic inefficacy and fear of failure" and boys were more affected by "expectations and demands from significant others" and "academic demands and overload". Correlation of the domains with factors in the Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale indicated that the manifestation of anxiety was different in these domains.
Time spent by parents communicating with their children, parental emotional, informational and instrumental supports and children's resourcefulness were beneficial to children's emotional and academic adjustment independent of the stressors. When the support was delivered in overprotective and authoritarian ways, adverse outcomes were the result. Interaction effects were found only in the domain "academic demands and overload". Fathers' informational support exerted an interaction effect on the domain "academic demands and overload", whereby support from fathers was helpful in boosting children's grades but aggravated their anxiety. Resourcefulness was activated in conjunction with "academic demands and overload", but exerted a negative buffering effect on anxiety.
Mothers' informational support and parental instrumental support (dictionary, supplementary workbook and tutorial class) mediated the stress from the three hassle domains on children's grades. With the exception of tutorial classes, the variables helped to improve children's grades. Parental emotional support and protectiveness significantly mediated the three academic hassle domains and children's anxiety. As expected, emotional support lowered anxiety, while protectiveness brought about the opposite outcome. It is worthwhile noting that only fathers' emotional support mediated "expectations and demands from significant others" and anxiety. Resourcefulness was found to significantly mediate the domains "academic inefficacy", "significant others expectations" and anxiety.
These findings on the efficacy of parental support and children's resourcefulness in ameliorating academic stress have implications for parent education programs and child resiliency projects. To advance our understanding of the effectiveness of social support, in addition to considering the optimal matching between stressor and support suggested by Cohen and McKay (1984); more analysis is required, particularly of the nature of the stressor and the expected role of supporters as defined by cultural and social contexts.

PhD

University of Hong Kong

Hong Kong

• English

Dissertation Theses

https://bibliography.lib.eduhk.hk/en/bibs/fac1e0ac

2010-12-16