FANTASIES OF BILINGUAL CHILDREN: AN EXPLORATION INTO RELATIONSHIP OF BILINGUALISM, SELF-CONCEPT AND PARENTAL INTERACTION.
Item
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Title
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FANTASIES OF BILINGUAL CHILDREN: AN EXPLORATION INTO RELATIONSHIP OF BILINGUALISM, SELF-CONCEPT AND PARENTAL INTERACTION.
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Identifier
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AAI8203337
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identifier
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8203337
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Creator
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VAZQUEZ, CARMEN INOA.
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Contributor
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Louise J. Kaplan
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Date
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1981
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Psychology, Clinical
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Abstract
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The relationship of language, self-concept and parental interaction of bilingual children was explored. Literature regarding the experience of bilingualism and language in general, as well as relating to self-concept was examined. Prevalent descriptions refer to a precipitation of changes in the attitude of the child toward the parents that do not speak the language of the majority, in a society that does not promote bilingualism. These changes often create conflicts that are reflected in the personality of the child. The theoretical approach of this study was in terms of the Family Romance Fantasy (a product of conflicts the child experiences when he or she becomes more aware of the actual place the parents hold in the social world, differing from the idealized place the child has given them), and in terms of the process of identification.;Three exploratory null hypotheses were tested; they were: (H1) There is not a tendency on the bilingual Hispanic children to devalue their monolingual parents because of their lack of knowledge of the dominant language of the society where they live; (H2) Bilingual Hispanic children whose parents are monolingual do not tend to show a lower self-concept than those bilingual Hispanic children whose parents are bilingual; (H3) Bilingual Hispanic children with monolingual parents will not tend to have more conflicts in their interaction with their parents than those bilingual Hispanic children whose parents are bilingual.;Seventy-five subjects between the ages of 9 and 11 years from the fourth and fifth grades were obtained from an elementary school in the upper West Side area of New York City. Four projective techniques were utilized: the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT), the House-Tree-Person (H-T-P), the Kinetic-Family-Drawing Test (K-F-D) and the Tell-Me-A-Story Test (TEMAS). Two clinical psychology graduate students rated the stories based on a criteria designed for this purpose. The criteria included self-concept of competence, mood and affect, and relationship with parental figures. Two different clinical psychology graduate students rated the drawings based on existent criteria. The inter-rater agreement was .83 at the .001 level.;Statistical operations--means, standard deviations and correlations for the comparison of variables in the different groups were computed. An analysis of variance was conducted, as well. Levels of confidence were set at both the .01 and .05 levels. The exploratory hypotheses were rejected, but the results indicated that the importance of the primary language for this population was evident in all accounts. It was also evident that there is a positive relationship between maintenance of the primary language and culture and child's sense of security, adequacy and happiness. However, being bilingual/bicultural appears to be the most significantly important factor in relation to security, adequacy, happiness and a good relationship with the parents.;The results also indicated that children whose parents were in the process of learning English had a lower self-concept than those children whose parents did not know or already knew English.;Other findings in this research pointed toward a positive relationship between family size and happiness in the Hispanic family. Those children that came from smaller families tended to speak in English and showed a higher self-concept.;Another finding of this research was the connection between father's presence at home and use of Spanish during the test, and the existence of a higher self-concept.;Implications of findings indicated that bilingualism, contrary to the criticisms that it encourages separation between groups, can provide one of the best means of diminishing that separation. On a clinical practical point of view, the usefulness of a culture sensitive instrument should be considered when dealing with bilingual children.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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Psychology
