![[PDF]](/pb-assets/Icons/adobe-pdf-icon-1498649896243.png){kind=icon}
Abstract
Advocates of home-schooling claim a variety of positive educational and familial outcomes. Research is needed to examine possible effects of home-schooling on family relationships. We investigated family environment differences between home-schooling and public-schooling families matched in terms of family-centric orientation. Family cohesion was measured using FACES III, and parent–adolescent interaction styles were measured using the Interaction Styles Profile, an instrument formulated for limited research use by the second author based on previous work done with family interaction styles. Mothers, fathers, and adolescent students in 38 public-schooling and 35 home-schooling families completed the measures. The potential confound of preexisting values and commitment to highly cohesive, emotionally connected, cooperative family life in home-schooling families was controlled for by the selection of public-schooling families matched on this variable (family-centric orientation). Family-centric home-schooling families reported statistically significant, but only moderately higher levels of family cohesion and parent–child parallel interaction than family-centric public-schooling families. There were no significant differences between home-schooling and public-schooling families in self-reported symmetrical and complementary interactions. Thus, when controlling for preexisting family-centric orientation, the institution and practice of home-schooling alone appears to produce only moderate (clinically nonrelevant) shifts in family cohesion or positive parallel interaction, suggesting that family-centric families can realize their goals for family cohesion and positive interaction independent of their choice of schooling.
References
|
Arnett, J. J. (1999). Adolescent storm and stress, reconsidered. American Psychologist, 54, 317-326. Google Scholar | Crossref | Medline | ISI | |
|
Bateson, G. (1936). Naven. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar | |
|
Bateson, G., Jackson, D. D. (1964). Some varieties of pathogenic organization. Disorders of Communication, 42, 270-283. Google Scholar | |
|
Brown, B. (1990). Peer groups. In Feldman, S., Elliott, G. (Eds.), At the threshold: The developing adolescent (pp. 171-196). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Google Scholar | |
|
Chatham-Carpenter, A. D. (1992). Home vs. public schoolers’ relationships: Differences in social networks. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. Google Scholar | |
|
Christensen, B., Scoresby, A. L. (1976). Differences in interaction and environmental conditions of clinic and non-clinic families for counselors. Journal of Marriage and Family Counseling, 2, 63-71. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Cizek, G. J. (1993, April) Home education research: On the right road? Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Atlanta, GA. Google Scholar | |
|
Cizek, G. J. (1994). Religious education in home-schools: Goals-outcomes mismatch? Religious Education, 89, 43-51. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Coleman, J. (1961). The adolescent society. Glencoe, IL: Free Press. Google Scholar | |
|
Collins, W. A., Maccoby, E. E., Steinberg, L., Hetherington, E. M., Bornstein, M. H. (2000). Contemporary research on parenting: The case for nature and nurture. American Psychologist, 55, 218-232. Google Scholar | Crossref | Medline | ISI | |
|
Divoky, D. (1983). The pioneers of the home-schooling movement. Phi Delta Kappan, 64, 395-398. Google Scholar | |
|
Green, C. L., Hoover-Dempsey, K. V. (2007). Why do parents home-school? A systematic examination of parental involvement. Education and Urban Society, 39, 264-285. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | ISI | |
|
Gustavsen, G. A. (1981). Selected characteristics of home-schools and parents who operate them (Doctoral dissertation). Andrews University, Berrien Springs, MI. Retrieved from Dissertations & Theses. (Publication No. AAT 8205794). Google Scholar | |
|
Haley, J. (1963). Marriage therapy. Archives of General Psychiatry, 8, 213-224. Google Scholar | Crossref | Medline | |
|
Harper, J. M., Scoresby, A. L., Boyce, W. D. (1977). The logical levels of complementary, symmetrical, and parallel interactions classes in family dyads. Family Process, 16, 199-209. Google Scholar | Crossref | Medline | |
|
Harper, J. M. (1987). Manual for interaction styles profile. Unpublished manuscript, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT: Author. Google Scholar | |
|
Harper, J. M., Lee, A. F. Y. (1988). A comparison of the interaction styles profile and the relational communication coding scheme. Unpublished manuscript, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT: Author. Google Scholar | |
|
Hartup, W. W., Stevens, N. (1999). Friendship and adaptation across the life span. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 8, 76-79. Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | |
|
Isenberg, E. J. (2007) What have we learned about home-schooling? Peabody Journal of Education, 82, 387-409, Retrieved from EBSCOhost. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Jeub, C. (1995). Why parents choose home-schooling. Educational Leadership, 52, 50-52. Google Scholar | |
|
Lange, C. M., Liu, K. K. (1999). Home-schooling: Parents’ reasons for transfer and the implications for educational policy (Research Report No. 29) National Center on Educational Outcomes, Minneapolis, MN. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. Google Scholar | |
|
Larson, R. W., Wilson, S., Brown, B. B., Furstenberg, F. F., Verna, S. (2002). Changes in adolescents’ interpersonal experiences: Are they being prepared for adult relationships in the twenty-first century? Journal of Research on Adolescence, 73, 1151-1165. Google Scholar | |
|
Lederer, W. J., Jackson, D. D. (1968). The mirages of marriage. New York, NY: W. W. Norton. Google Scholar | |
|
Lyman, I. (1998). Home-schooling. Back to the future? (Policy Analysis No. 294). Retrieved from EBSCOhost. Google Scholar | |
|
Mahan, B. M., Ware, B. J. (1987). Home-schooling: Reasons some parents choose this alternative form of education and a study of the attitudes of home-schooling parents and public school superintendents toward the benefits of home-schooling (Unpublished master’s thesis). Dayton, OH: University of Dayton. Available from ERIC Document Reproduction Service. (No. ED 286 624). Google Scholar | |
|
National Center for Education Statistics (2008). 1.5 million home-schooled students in the United States in 2007 (Issue Brief. NCES 2009-030). Washington, DC: Author. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. Google Scholar | |
|
Olson, D. H. (1985). Struggling with congruence across theoretical models and methods. Family Process, 24, 203-207. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Olson, D. H., Portner, J., Lavee, Y. (1985). FACES III manual. St. Paul, MN: Family Social Science, University of Minnesota. Google Scholar | |
|
Olson, D. H. (2000). Circumplex model of marital and family systems. Journal of Family Therapy, 22, 144-167. Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
Planty, M., Hussar, W., Snyder, T., Kena, G., Kewal Ramani, A., Kemp, J., Dinkes, R. (2009). The condition of education 2009: Indicator 6—Home-schooled students (NCES 2009-081). Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. Google Scholar | |
|
Richards, M. H., Crowe, P. A., Larson, R., Swarr, A. (2002). Developmental patterns and gender differences in the experience of peer companionship in adolescence. Child Development, 69, 154-163. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Schrodt, P. (2005). Family communication schemata and the circumplex model of family functioning. Western Journal of Communication, 69, 359-376. doi:10.1080/10570310500305539 Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Van Galen, J. (1988). Ideology, curriculum, and pedagogy in home education. Education and Urban Society, 21(1), 52-68. Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | |
|
Wang, A., Peterson, G. W., Morphey, L. K. (2008). Who is more important for early adolescents’ developmental choices? Marriage and Family Review, 42(2), 95-122. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Watzlawick, P., Beavin, J. H., Jackson, D. D. (1967). Pragmatics of human communication. New York, NY: W. W. Norton. Google Scholar | |
|
Williams, D. D., Arnoldsen, L. M., Reynolds, P. (1984, April). Understanding home education: Case studies of home-schools. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans, LA. Google Scholar | |
|
Yahav, R. (2002). External and internal symptoms in children and characteristics of the family system: A comparison of the linear and circumplex models. American Journal of Family Therapy, 30, 39-56. Google Scholar | Crossref |
Author Biographies
Mark H. Butler is Professor in the Brigham Young University School of Family Life, Marriage and Family Therapy graduate programs.
James M. Harper is Professor in the Brigham Young University School of Family Life, Marriage and Family Therapy graduate programs.
Matthew L. Call is a master’s student in the Brigham Young University School of Family Life, Marriage, and Family Therapy graduate programs.
Mark H. Bird is a licensed Marriage and family therapist in private practice in Dallas, Texas.
