Parental Pressure: Its Effect on the Academic Progress of Adolescents Research Paper

The parents have dominant role in a child’s life so it is usual if not always, for them to push their child at least a little. They push them to walk and talk when they were little. Parents pressure them to be polite, kin, respectful and obedient. Its part of their job and a little prodding from time to time is not such a bad thing.

The problem comes when the parents identify too much with their childs’ accomplishments. There is nothing wrong with enjoying this, in fact it is a healthy response and constructive to both child and parent. However, when the parents feel the achievement of the child as their own and takes the glory for themselves, problems may occur. This may put too much pressure on the child so he could measure up to some arbitrary rules set by the parents. This may occur if the parents look upon their child as a means of achieving their own thwarted ambitions or carrying to a higher degree whatever work they have started.

Vicarious living, as it is called, dresses their own personal ambitions and wants in clothing of concern and care. The result of such acts may vary but eventually, this may cause too much stress on the child that would hinder him from achieving his goals. During adolescence, pressure from parents may be great because it is a time for college and career choices. Although they may not be aware of it, their constant reminder and nagging could hinder their child to decide for himself.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Main Problem: Parental Pressure: Its Effect on the Academic Progress of Adolescents.

Specific Problems: This study seeks to answer the following specific problems:

• How does parental pressure influence adolescents in school?
• If there is an influence, is it positive or negative?
• What are the attitudes and behaviors of adolescents in the classroom setting who are experiencing parental pressure?
• What are the attitudes of adolescents toward their parents?
• How do they cope with parental pressure?

HYPOTHESES OF THE STUDY

This study is guided by the following hypotheses: Ho1 Pressured adolescents do not succeed in making a proper advancement in school. Ho2 Pressured adolescents are more likely to rebel against their parents and school authorities. Ho3 Parental pressure results to a poor performance inside the classroom.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

General Objective: To know the effects of parental pressure on the academic progress of adolescents. Specific Objectives: This study has the following specific objectives:

• To distinguish the positive and negative effects of parental pressure on adolescents.
• To recognize the attitudes of and behaviors of pressured adolescents in the classroom setting.
• To identify the attitudes of pressured adolescents towards their parents.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The results of this study are expected to give benefits to the following:

• Adolescents being pressured by their parents. This study will help them reach their full potential by being their won person, using his talents, assets and feelings.
• The Parents. This study will help them integrate the childs’ assets and abilities through unconditional and objective support.
• It will help establish an understanding between child and parents that both re separate human beings and not an extension of the other.
• It will be a basis for finding out the effects of parental pressure so as to avoid any situations that would negatively affect the child.

SCOPE AND DELIMINATION OF THE STUDY

This research is designed to conduct a study on adolescents in Calbayog City, particularly those in 4th yr. High School. In as much that it is unattainable to include all the 4th y. students in Calbayog City, the researcher would only conduct the survey to 30 respondents as a representative of the said study.

DEFINITION OF TERMS

To facilitate easier understanding of the study, the following terms were operationally defined: Adolescents. The Stage of development at the onset of puberty up to 18 yrs. of age Vicarious Living. Living through another person as of extending one’s self. Parental Pressure. Strain or tension from parent who pushes their child too much by teaching and training unnecessary information and stimulation.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter presents the methods, locale, respondents, instruments, data gathering procedure and statistical treatment.  This study made use of the descriptive survey method which utilized the questionnaire and unstructured interviews as the major data gathering procedure to fin the effects of parental pressure on the academic progress of adolescents. Research Locale This study was conducted within the city of Calbayog. Related books and references were gathered from different sources. Respondents and Sampling The respondents of this study are 30 High School students in the 4th yr. level. They were identified through purposive sampling technique. Research Instruments

The questionnaire is the instrument employed to gather facts and information in connection with the study. The questions were designed to elicit responses on the effects of parental pressure on the academic progress of adolescents. A researcher-made questionnaire was used as the main instrument in data collection. It contains the respondent’s inquiries which were intended to provide answers to the specific problems of the study. Unstructured interview was also employed by the researcher to obtain additional information from the respondents. Data Gathering Procedure

The questionnaires were distributed personally by the researcher to the different respondents of the study. They were given enough motivation and explanation about the questionnaires. Unstructured interviews were also conducted between the researcher and the respondents, their teachers and parents. After some time, they were taken for tabulation purposes. Statistical Treatment of Data The weighted mean and percentage were the statistical used to treat some data. Other information was evaluated using no specific statistical computations. The formulas used were: P = F/N x 100% Where: P = percentage F = frequency N = number of cases

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

The articles reviewed in this chapter are all related to this present investigation. These are taken from different sources, mostly from the interne, and are presented to provide the readers with some information that have important bearing to the study.  “Parental pressure refers to the effects of parental behaviors on the children’s functioning. It may well be that the parents are not consciously aware of how their behavior, talk and/or expectations affect their child’s behavior and their child’s perception of what he thinks his parents value the most.

Essentially, parental pressure refers to how parents influence their children’s behavior, whether intentional or not. ” “Parents would probably say that they just want the best for their children. Sometimes, though, this “good cause” leads into disaster when the parents take it too far. This could be by the fault of the parent or the child. This means that either the child provokes the parent by doing badly in school, or the parents do not become satisfied with the child’s achievement and takes over their lives. When the parents concentrate on grades alone, they become like a dictator and not a friend.

They do not care about anything else such as social problems and sports”. This causes the child to overachieve. “This means that the child thinks that the only way he/she can get the affection and respect of his/her parents is to bring home good grades. At this point, anything that does not deal with grades or academics is worthless to the child, and furthermore the child does not care. ” This indifference might be perceived by parents like a phase of rebellion in a teenager’s life or maybe an influence of peer pressure and others.

The parent feels embarrassed when their son or daughter doesn’t measure up to some arbitrary and usually unrealistic standard set by the parent. This creates unnecessary stress on the child and often leads to a self-image of inferiority. They grow up believing that they can never be good enough to gain the affirmation and respect of the parent. Sometimes the child believes themselves to be damaged goods. Over investment of emotion, time, and money to push their child on to victory is almost always a sure sign that the line between encouragement and pressure has been crossed.

The line between encouragement and pressure is not really so fine at all. It is divided at the point where the pressure passes from being beneficial to the child to becoming the obsession of the parent. Everyone needs a little pressure to do their best. But, being compelled to achieve continuously above your capabilities is too much. However well meaning, parental pressure can take a huge toll on the behavior of children, especially when interfering with their uniqueness and personality. In their eagerness to guide them and help them, parents tend to harass them.

RELATED STUDIES

“Some experts believed that parent pressure can contribute to the development of psychological problems in their children by overprotecting them and keeping tem and keeping them from learning how to cope with adversity. Such intrusiveness breeds anxiety because it contains the implicit message the “You are fragile and need continuing help”

In college choices for instance, parents want their children to take up courses which are in demand and which they think will help their children succeed much better in life. In nudging colleges, to assume increasing responsibility as guardians of their children–and frustrated by confidentiality clauses that often keep colleges from informing them what is going on– today’s parents have created a supremely ironic position for themselves. The over involve parents of 2004 were, a generation ago, the very rebels who challenged the authority of the uiversity to serve as surrogate parents.

The campus uprisings they orchestrated in the late 1960s overturned the doctrines of the loco parents as administrators ceded control ver he moral and social development of students, who were no longer considered children unable to make decisions for themselves” Parental pressure also affects other aspects including drug and alcohol abuse, depression, smoking, delinquency and suicide. “According to Garfinkel, 3 of 10 leading causes of stress in adolescents are school related and 1 of 10 suicide attempts is related to crises at school. ”Pressure can be deadly. Aside from its effect in school, it can also be manifested in suicides, alcohol or drug abuse and depression.

Here are two cases. “A ten year old boy received bad grades on his report card for the third time. He left his report card at school knowing that if he brought it home he would be punished. When he went home, without his report card, his father got suspicious. He went to the school to pick it up, and in the half hour that he was gone, the little boy shot himself. His brother remembered him saying that he could not stand the idea of a whipping”. “Second, a fifteen year old honors student stood up in the middle of his English class and shot himself.

He did this because he was given a notice that was to be signed by his parents, saying that he was doing badly in class. ”May it be in school or in other aspects, it can be noted that parental pressure is one of the problems of adolescence today. In the need of the parents for their children to succeed, they might not notice that they may be the reason for them to fail. “Being a good parent means being there and having confidence in a child.

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSIOS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Summary of Findings This research study was conducted to discover the effects of parental pressure on adolescents with regards to their academic progress.

The following specific problems guided the researcher in gathering the data needed:

• How does parental pressure influence adolescents in school?
• If there is an influence, is it positive or negative?
• What are the attitudes and behaviors of adolescents in the classroom?
• What are the attitudes of adolescents towards their parents?
• How do they cope with parental pressure?

The findings are as follows:

1. Parental pressure has a great impact to adolescents in school. It influences their academic growth in a lot of ways like their interest in school and other related activities.
2. In this study, parental pressure may be viewed as positive since the respondents have decent grades and their performance in the classroom cannot be rated as poor but in a closer perspective, they are overstrained and anxious, they tend to lose interest in school but strives hard to still get good grades to avoid being reprimanded which is a struggle for them and they don’t get to express their own individuality since they are busy trying to live up too their parents expectations.
3. They were rated by their teachers as responsible, polite and sometimes a little too over-achieving although they lack initiative, independence, self-confidence.
4. Adolescents are mostly passive, submissive and dependent towards their parents, sacrificing themselves just for the sake of peace within their relationship with their parents.
5. Adolescents in the said study were from families with strong values regarding disrespect of the elders so they don’t really allow much resentful reactions. They just let it go and just try to get along with their parents. Repression is their main coping mechanism and rationalization that their parents are just trying to help.

CONCLUSION

The researcher came up with a conclusion that although paretal pressure may help adolescents progress academically, it also hinders the individuality and self-concept of adolescents to grow and develop. They may appear fine but due to consistent performance in school but they may be overstrained and anxious from the struggle they are experiencing between trying to be a dutiful child, doing what their parents tells them to do, and from trying to build their own individuality. They approach every task with feverish zeal accompanied with a deep sense of failure sine they feel that they are failing themselves. They may not react that violently o parental pressure based on the study but they feel so alone and trapped.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Based on the given data of finings ad conclusions, the researcher recommended the following:

1. Parents shouldn’t put too much pressure and expect too much fro their children.
2. Parents should let their child integrate their assets and abilities through unconditional and objective support.
3. Parents should recognize stress from their children and know that they may be the cause of this although unintentional.
4. Teachers should also be able to recognize overstrain and relieve it as much as possible.
5. Adolescents should not sacrifice their selves because it wont allow them to grow as a person.
6. They should be able to talk to their parents so that they may see their perspective and not try too being much involved with their lives.