The instruments used in the present study were all student and teacher self-report measures. Although the reliability of using self-report measures has been an issue of contention, the finding that people’s thoughts and behaviors are affected not from mere reality, but their perception of it provides the basis for using self-report measures in the study.
Obtaining Measures
The instrument that was used for gathering the data for the study was a questionnaire. This instrument asked for specific factual information concerning the students’ former and current living situation. The demographic variables that were gathered for the study were: nature of school, grade, program of study, age, gender, family structure, parental education, and parental occupation.
Authoritative Parenting
The authoritative parenting scale was developed to measure the degree of authoritativeness of the parents (Steinberg et al., 1991). It has three major components or dimensions: acceptance/involvement, firm control, and psychological autonomy granting. The original scale has a total of 36 items representing the 3 dimensions of the variable. The first dimension, acceptance/involvement has a total of 15 items with an alpha coefficient of 0.72. The second dimension which assesses parental monitoring and control has a total of 9 items with an alpha coefficient 0.76. The third dimension, psychological autonomy granting which assesses the degree to which parents use noncoercive,
democratic discipline and encourage the adolescent to express individuality within the family has a total of 12 items with an alpha coefficient of 0.72.
In the present study, 9 out of the original 36 items were used to measure the extent of parental authoritativeness. That is 3 items of each of the dimensions of acceptance/involvement, firm control, and psychological autonomy granting were taken and adapted to measure parental authoritativeness. The items were measured on a five- point likert scale ranging from 1-never to 5-always. Due to the nature of the study, the authoritativeness of four parental figures was measured or assessed. These were mothers’ authoritativeness, fathers’ authoritativeness, female guardians’ authoritativeness, and male guardians’ authoritativeness. The overall alpha coefficient of the authoritativeness mothers’ scale is 0.606 (N=183). The overall fathers’ authoritativeness scale has an alpha coefficient of 0.67 (N=170). The overall alpha coefficient of the female guardians’ authoritativeness scale is 0.77 (N=32). The last but not the least of the parental figure is the authoritativeness of the male guardians. The overall alpha coefficient of this scale is 0.63 (N=36). Listed below are the items of the three subscales:
• Acceptance/Involvement- “How often do you count on your parents to help you if you have some kind of a problem?”, “How often does your family do something fun together?”, “How often do your parents help you out when you have problems with your peers or friends?”
• Firm control- “How much do your parents try to know where you go at night?”, “In a typical week, how often do your parents prevent you from staying out deep into the night?”, “How much do your parents really know what you do with your free time?”
• Psychological autonomy granting-“How often do your parents tell you that their ideas are correct and that you should not question them?”, “How often do your parents make you feel bad if you don’t do something right?”, “How often do your parents answer your arguments by saying something like ‘You will know better when you grow up’?”
Parental Involvement in Childhood
This scale was self-developed and was used to measure the extent of parental involvement when the student or adolescent was a child. The students were familiar with the items since they consist of activities that parents perform in connection with their education. It was used to measure the four parental figures of mothers, fathers, female guardians, and male guardians’ involvement. The scale was measured on a five-point likert scale ranging from 1-almost never to 5-very often. The items on the scale are: “My parents used to read to me when I was a child”, “My parents used to help me with my homework when I was a kid”, “My parents used to restrict my leisure activities anytime I made a poor grade when I was a child”, “My parents used to discuss my school progress with me when I was a kid.” The total number of items on this scale is four. The alpha coefficients for the mothers’ scale is 0.72 (N=184). The fathers scale has an alpha coefficient of 0.75 (N=171). The female guardians’ scale has an alpha coefficient of 0.72 (N=32). The alpha coefficient for the male guardians’ scale is 0.74 (N=36).
Parental Home Involvement
This scale was self-developed and was used to measure the extent of parental home school-related activities of the participants. The items on the scale were familiar to the students since they consist of activities that parents do in connection with their education. It was used to measure the four parental figures of mother, father, female guardian, and male guardian involvement in the home. The scale was measured on a five-point likert scale ranging from 1-almost never to 5-very often. The items on the scale are: “My parents discuss my school progress with me”, “My parents go on outings with me”, “When I need help about my homework, my parents help me”, “My parents grant me certain privileges whenever I make a good grade.”, “My parents make sure that I do my homework”, “My parents motivate me to try harder when I make a poor grade”, and “My parents offer to help me when I make a poor grade.” In all, seven items were measured on this scale. The alpha coefficients are: Mother=0.82 (N=184), father=0.80 (N=171), female guardian=0.90 (N=32) and male guardian=0.77 (N=36).
Parental School Involvement
This scale was self-developed and was used to measure the extent of parental school involvement activities of the participants. The students were familiar with the items since they are made up of activities that parents perform in connection with their education. It was used to measure the four parental figures of mother, father, female guardian, and male guardian involvement at the school. The scale was measured on a five-point likert scale ranging from 1-almost never to 5-very often. The items on the scale are: “My parents discuss my school progress with my teachers”, “My parents visit me at school”,
“My parents attend organized functions of the school such as speech and prize giving days.”, “My parents attend my School’s Parent Teacher Association meetings”, “When there is a sporting activity in my school, my parents attend”, “My parents have arranged for private classes for me.” A total of six items were measured on this scale. The alpha coefficients are: Mother=0.77 (N=184), father=0.72 (N=171), female guardian=0.85 (N=32) and male guardian=0.73 (N=36).
Teacher Rating of Parental School Involvement
This scale was a self-developed one and was used to measure teacher ratings of parental school involvement activities of their adolescent children. The teachers were familiar with the items since they consist of activities that parents perform in relation to the education of their children. It was used to measure the four parental figures of mother, father, female guardian, and male guardian involvement at the school. The scale was measured on a five-point likert scale ranging from 1-almost never to 5-very often. The items on the scale are: “The parents discuss their child’s school progress with me”, “The parents visit their child at school”, “The parents attend organized functions of the school such as speech and prize giving days.”, “The parents participate in Parent Teacher Association (PTA) meetings.”, “The parents provide learning materials for their child”, “The parents attend organized sporting activities of the school”, and “The parents enroll their child in ‘private classes’.” A total of seven items were measured on this scale. The alpha coefficients are: mother=0.74 (N=184), father=0.75 (N=171), female guardian=0.86 (N=32) and male guardian=0.84 (N=36).
Perceived Academic Competence (PAC)
The Perceived Academic Competence scale was designed by Alasker (1989) to measure self-evaluations directly related to the academic area. The original scale was a seven- item, six-point likert scale. In the present study, the PAC was adapted by reducing the number of items from seven to five, on a four-point Likert Scale ranging from “not true” to “exactly true”. The items on the scale include: “I am satisfied with my school achievements”, “I am fairly good at solving tests at school”, “I understand most of what we have to learn at school”, “When it comes to important tests at school, I am usually successful” and in order to obtain reasonably good results at school, I have to work harder than others in my class”. The alpha coefficient of the original scale was 0.86. But for the present study, the alpha coefficient of the scale is 0.60 (N=239).
Financial Pressure Scale
This scale is a nine item scale translated from the German version developed by Schwarz and colleagues (1997). The original scale came from Conger et al., (1994). The items on the scale are answered on a four point response format ranging from 1=not true to 4= exactly true. In this study it was used to measure the financial hardship of the adolescents and their families. The scale is divided into three distinct sub-components and each component has three items. The first, second, and third sub-components of the scale measure the perception of the children about their parents’ financial situation, their own financial restrictions, and how they see their financial resources in comparison with their peers respectively. Listed below are the items on the scale: “We have enough money for everything that we need”- this item was reversed coded, “My parents are often
worried whether they can pay their bills or not”, “We often run out of money”, “When I need materials for school, we sometimes don’t have the money for them”, “I cannot do certain activities with my friends due to lack of money”, “I often have to give up things because my family has to restrict its expenses”, “My school mates have better clothes than I do”, “My peers usually have more money for activities than I do”, and “I cannot afford buying as many things as my peers.” The scale has a reliability of 0.80.