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Family Background As Correlate Of Child Socialization
CHAPTER ONE -- [Total Page(s) 4]
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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1Background to the Study
Socialization
is a unique process to childhood. According to the socialization theory
known as symbolic interactionism, socialization is required for each
role an individual acquires over the life-course.
According to
Peterson and Haan (1999), socialization is considered to be more general
either enculturation or acculturation. Enculturation and transmitting a
particular culture from one generation to another (e.g. minority
members of the society teaching their children about minority issues,
such as discrimination). Acculturation on the other hand, refers to the
process of acquiring a new or different culture (e.g. as an immigrant to
another country). Ross and Buriel (1998) described socialization as the
process whereby an individual’s standards, skills, motives, attitudes
and behaviours change to conform to those regarded as desirable and
appropriate for his/her present and leaves open the possibility that
adults, an addition to children, can be socialized into new roles and
responsibilities. Thus, the late twentieth century conceptions of
socialization, suggest that parents as well as children are socialized
by others referred to as socialization agents (Pillemer and Mccartney,
1991). There are many theories that address both the transition to
parenthood and parental involvement, as well as the socialization of
children (e.g. social learning symbolic interactionism). There are
however, relative theoretical models that focus on socialization of
parents (Warpmer, 1993), despite the fact that parenthood has a powerful
influence on the development of the adult, to say nothing on the child.
Existing developmental models of parents’ socialization typically use
conceptions or the birth of the child as the starting point in parental
development. Furthermore, most approaches focus on parents-child
relations in infancy, childhood or adolescence ignoring on-going
parent-child relations across the life-course.
A popular adage says
“Charity begins at homeâ€. A child is first of all the product of his
immediate environment, which is his/her home. The effect of home factor
on the development of the child and most importantly, his/her social
adjustment cannot be overemphasized (Mundi, 2000). This is because right
from conception, when life begins the embryo develops in the mother’s
womb until birth.
A child is affected positively or negatively by the
hereditary qualities which are passed on to him from his parents at
conception, as well as the environmental factor to which he is exposed
before and after delivery. While such physical characteristics such as
height, facial appearance, nose, skin colour etc are conspicuous traits
in a child, other factors like intelligence and temperament qualities
are regarded as being influenced by both heredity and environmental
factors (Anyakoga, 1994).
Munonye (2001) observed that a child who is
born into a warm environment as well as a peaceful loving home is more
likely to grow up happily, showing love to others. Whereas, an unwanted
or unloved child who starts to experience frustration and rejection at
an early age is more likely to grow up as an unhappy child. By the time
the child is fully grown or matures into an adolescent, the character is
made up from his childhood experiences. However, it is merely at
adolescent stage that when he/she fails to meet up to their expectation,
without thinking of the background they have provided for the child’s
development and socialization.
According to Arnolds (1994) and
Adamson (2000), children who grow up in a hostile home environment,
where there is a lot of nagging, quarelling and fighting are more likely
to be unhappy, wanting to get out of such ugly home environment as
quickly as possible. The adolescent child in such situation, would
rather prefer to spend most of his/her day in the midst of peers where
he would be happier and more relaxed.
CHAPTER ONE -- [Total Page(s) 4]
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ABSRACT - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]The study examined family background as correlate of child socialization: a case study of selected schools in Mainland Local Government Area of Lagos State. Descriptive research survey design was adopted in assessing the opinions of the respondents with the use of questionnaire. Three hundred and fifty respondents were used as the representatives of the entire population of the study. Five null hypotheses were generated and tested with the use of the Pearson Product Moment Correlation for hypoth ... Continue reading---
