Characteristics of Children Raised in Three Types of Families in Taiwan

Abstract

ABSTRACT Yang Hui-Chi. Characteristics of Children Raised in Three Types of Families inTaiwan. Published Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation, The University of Kansas, Lawrence Campus, December 2009. Most studies have suggested that every aspect of a family, such as the way it is organized, has some effect on what children learn and how they develop. However, few systematic and organized studies have been conducted to prove the truth of negative reports about grandparenting families. The major purpose of this study is to investigate certain characteristics, such as caregivers'/ custodians' ethnicity, family income, caregivers'/custodians' educational level, academic achievement, behavioral achievement, and risk behaviors, of children raised in three family types: two-parent, single-parent, and grandparenting in Taiwan. Two major research questions drove this study. The first asked how factors such as caregivers'/ custodians' ethnicity, family income, caregivers'/custodians' educational level, academic achievement, behavioral achievement score, and risk behaviors differ among Taiwanese junior high school students, and how they correlate with the type of family in which students are raised. The second asked what the correlations are between the dependent variables, such as between students' family income and academic achievement score (GPA), between family income and behavioral achievement score (BAS), between caregivers'/custodians' educational level and academic achievement score (GPA), and between caregivers'/custodians' educational level and behavioral achievement score (BAS). One hundred fifty male and female students in the seventh to ninth grades of five junior high schools and the Hsinchu Family Helper Project Center of Taiwan Fund for Children and Families (CCF/Taiwan) in the Hsinchu Area, Taiwan participated in this study. A 34-item, self-reporting questionnaire was used as instrument of data collection. After completion of data collection, data were entered into the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), 13th Chinese edition, to acquire the results. Findings of this study reveal that not every characteristic found to be related with the family type in which children are raised as other studies did. Only are family income, the caregivers'/custodians' educational level, students' behavioral achievement score (BAS), and tobacco use, found to be related to family types. In addition, family income or caregivers'/custodians' educational level is not related to students' GPA or BAS. A family with a higher caregivers'/custodians' educational level would have a higher family income. A student with a high GPA tends to have a high BAS.