Editing: research/abstract_eng/649.txt

Research Abstract No 50 Buddhist parent� characteristics as correlates of Child- Rearing Practices : Behavioral Science Approach. by Assit.. Prof. Ngamta Vanindananda (1993) The present study aimed at investigation of the antecedents of the Buddhist child-rearing practices. There were three main objectives. Firstly, to examine whether parents who had higher level of the Buddhist characteristics could carry out the Buddhist child-rearing practices better than their counterparts. Secondly, to explore the directions and degrees of the relationship among the parents� Buddhist characteristics, the behavioral Science characteristics and the Buddhist child-rearing practices. Finally, to compare the directions and degrees of the above relationship between the father and the mother of various types. In this study, 545 parents of children who were in their 8 -15 years of age, served as subjects. The subjects were composed of 233 fathers, 289 mothers, and 23 nonparental adults ( 43.3%, 53.7% and 2.9% of the total subjects) Almost half of the parents were selected from groups of people who participated in the Buddhist meditation training programs arranged at various temples in Bangkok and in the provinces nearby. The rest of the subjects were the parents of students with the same age level from various schools in Bangkok, The latter group of subjects were contact through the schools where their children attended. The average age of the subjects was 41.22 years. The average year of education was 15 years. Concerning amount of the Buddhist participation reported, 50.2% of the total subjects were classified as higher Buddhist participation, and 49.8% were the lower. The data were gathered by means of sets of questionnaires. There were 4 groups of variables being assessed. The first group consisted of biosocial and family backgrounds of the respondants including the amount of the Buddhist participation. The second group consisted of 3 aspects of the Buddhist characteristics ( the Buddhist beliefs, the Buddhist practices, and the Buddhist life-style). The third group consisted of 7 important behavioral science characteristics. Three of them were psychosocial characteristics (mental health, attitude towards the focused child, and belief in internal locus of control of result in childrearing). The others were family relations ( marital relationship, parent-child relationship, and amount of time spending with children). The fourth group of variables contained 3 componants of the Buddhist child-rearing practices ( the explosure, the comprehension, and the acceptance). Most of measured variables were interval variables. Analysis of variance, Stepwised Multiple Regression, and canonical correlation were performed on data analysis. There were four major research findings as follows : The first was that the parents who could carry out high amount of each componant of the Buddhist child-rearing practices ( the explosure, the comprehension and the acceptance) were mainly the mothers, the higher Buddhist participants, and the parents with moderate educational level and higher on the Buddhist participation. The second was found that the parents who possessed simultaneously higher amount of 3 aspects of the Buddhist characteristics ( the Buddhist beliefs, the Buddhist practices and the Buddhist life - style ) carried out the most amount of 2 componants of the Buddhist child-rearing practices (the comprehension and acceptance) as comparing to all of their counterparts. These findings showed significantly in the total sample, the mother sample, the younger sample and the sample with high educational level. In addition, it was also found that even though the parents possessed higher amount of only one aspect of the Buddhist characteristics, they entitled to carry out more amount of each componant of the Buddhist child-rearing practices than their counterparts. These results were evident in the total sample and in many types of sample. The third findings were shown in various types of parents that the 3 aspects of the Buddhist characteristics altogether were stronger predictors of the amount of each componant of the Buddhist child-rearing practices than the 3 aspects of psychosocial characteristics and the 3 aspects of family relations. Further more, a group of predictors which was composed of the 3 aspects of the Buddhist characteristics and the 3 aspects of psychosocial characteristics revealed higher predictive power of the amount of the explosure componant of the Buddhist child-rearing practices than either set of predictors alone ( the increased predictive value was 7%). This result was evident only in the group of parents from broken-home families. The important predictive variables in relation to the explosure componant were the Buddhist life-style, mental health and the Buddhist practices respectively. It was possible that the higher the Buddhist life-style and the Buddhist practices and the better the mental-health condition parents had, the more the amount of the explosure componant of the Buddhist child-rearing practices parents would attain. Moreover, another group of predictors which was composed of the 3 aspects of the Buddhist characteristics and the 3 aspects of family relations altogether showed higher predictive power of the amount of the explosure, the comprehension and the acceptance componant of the Buddhist child-rearing practices than either set of predictors alone ( the average increasing predictive value were 5.88%, 5.76% and 8.32% correspondingly ). These results were evident in the father sample, the parents from extended families, the higher Buddhist participants, the parents with male focused child, etc. The important predictive variables in relation to each of 3 componants of the Buddhist child-rearing were the Buddhist life-style, the parent-child relationship, the Buddhist beliefs, and the Buddhist practices respectively. It was predictable that the higher the 3 aspects of Buddhist characteristics, the higher the parent-child relationship parents possessed, the more the amount of each componant of the Buddhist child-rearing practices parents would attain. The fourth was that the 3 aspects of the Buddhist characteristics, the 3 aspects of psychosocial characteristics, the 3 aspects of family relations, and the love-oriented practice 10 variables altogether were brought into consideration could highly predict all 3 componants of the Buddhist child-rearing practices. As comparison the father group to the mother group whose biosocial and family backgrounds were similar, the result showed significantly higher in the fathers group than the mothers group of various biosocial and family backgrounds. It was concluded that the amount of the Buddhist participation and the 3 aspects of the Buddhist characteristics were effectively related to the Buddhist child-rearing practices. The relevent recommendations were to promote the Buddhist participation and the Buddhist characteristics of parents. Child-rearing campaign shoud be directed to the father to realize his important role of the Buddhist socialization. SWUHOMEPAGE Back to Behavioral Science Research Institute