Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of family background on the development of self-esteem of children in primary schools in the Buea municipality, southwest region of Cameroon.

This study attempts to explore the impact of family background on the development of self-esteem case study of Government Primary School Ndongo Wokoko and Catholic School Molyko.

A sample of 9 pupils was selected from both schools to investigate the impact of family background on the development of self-esteem of children in primary schools in the Buea municipality, the southwest region of Cameroon, specifically to find out how the socio-economic status of parents affects the development of self-esteem of children in primary schools, to determine how parent educational level affects the development of self-esteem of children in primary schools and to determine whether family beliefs affect the development of self-esteem of children in primary schools.

The research design used in carrying out this study was the quantitative research method and a phenomenological research design with the use of an interview guide as a research instrument.

The findings of the study reveal that the socio-economic status of parents affects the development of self-esteem of children in primary schools. Findings on the second objective reveal that parents’ educational level affects the development of self-esteem of children in primary.

The finding on the third objective also reveals that family beliefs affect the development of self-esteem of children in primary schools.

These findings lead to the conclusion that family background is vital for the development of self-esteem in primary school pupils.

It is recommended that parents should strive to meet up with the basic needs of pupils actively participate in their lives as this will enable pupils to develop positive self-esteem.

CHAPTER ONE

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

Introduction

The experiences you have when growing up, and perhaps your current relationships with family members, all impact your self-esteem. When you were a child, you were open to everything that happened, and your mind was highly impressionable.

You didn’t have control over most of what you heard, saw, and experienced in your life (Greenwood, Jeremy 2019). Self-esteem is often seen as a personality trait, which means that it tends to be stable and enduring.

It is vital to have self-esteem because it involves a variety of beliefs about yourself, such as the appraisal of your own appearance, beliefs, emotions, and behaviors. Self-esteem can play a significant role in your motivation and success throughout your life.

Having healthy self-esteem can help you achieve because you navigate life with a positive, assertive attitude and believe you can accomplish your goals. There are different factors that can influence self-esteem.

Genetic factors that help shape overall personality can play a role, but it is often our experiences that form the basis for overall self-esteem. Those who consistently receive overly critical or negative assessments from caregivers, family members, and friends, for example, will likely experience problems with low self-esteem.

Additionally, your inner thinking, age, any potential illnesses, disabilities, or physical limitations, and your job can affect your self-esteem. Low self-esteem may hold you back from succeeding at school or work because you don’t believe yourself to be capable of success Low self esteem makes children to lack of confidence, have excessive feelings of shame, depression, or anxiety.

This also leads to trouble accepting positive feedback and the inability to express your needs. In the community children with low self-esteem tend to have a negative outlook, focus on their weaknesses, believe that others are better than them, and have an intense fear of failure.

This chapter contains a general introduction, background of the study, statement of the problem, objectives of the study, research questions, hypothesis, significance of the study, the scope of the study, the operational definition of terms, and a brief summary of the chapter.

Background of the study

In most cultures of the world, the beginning of family history is set in creation myths (Rosenberg 1986). In Works and Days, the ancient Greek poet Hesiod describes the epic destruction of four previous Ages of Man.

The utopia that was the Golden Age was eventually replaced by the current Iron Age; a time when gods made man lives in “hopeless misery and toil.” Hesiod’s second poem Theogony described the Greek gods’ relationships and family ties.

Ancient Greeks believed that among them, were descendants of gods who qualified for the priesthood or another privileged social status (Hesiod; M. L. West 1997).

Historical background

Historically, the concept of family background emerged as a separate field of history in the 1970s, with close ties to anthropology and sociology. The trend was especially pronounced in the United States and Canada. It emphasizes demographic patterns and public policy.

It is quite separate from genealogy, although, it often draws on the same primary sources such as censuses and family records (Coleman et al vol.4 2014).

According to an influential pioneering study in 1978 called: Women, Work, and Family. The authors, Louise A. Tilly and Joan W. Scott, broke new ground with their broad interpretive framework and emphasis on the variable factors shaping the women’s place in the family and economy in France and England.

It has considered the interaction of production and reproduction in an analysis of the women’s wage labor and thus helped to bring together labor and family history.

In most cultures of the world, the beginning of family history is set in creation myths (Rosenberg 1986). In Works and Days, the ancient Greek poet Hesiod describes the epic destruction of four previous Ages of Man.

The utopia that was the Golden Age was eventually replaced by the current Iron Age; a time when gods made man lives in “hopeless misery and toil.” Hesiod’s second poem Theogony, described the Greek gods’ relationships and family ties. Ancient Greeks believed that among them, were descendants of gods who qualified for priesthood or other privileged social status (Hesiod; M. L. West 1997).

The Judeo-Christian tradition originates in the Bible’s Book of Genesis. The first man and woman created by God gave rise to all of the humanity. The Bible reflects the patriarchal worldview and often refers to the practice of polygamy.

Roman families would include everyone within a household under the authoritarian role of the father, the pater familias; this included grown children and the slaves of the household.

Children born outside of marriage, from common and legal concubinage, could not inherit the father’s property or name; instead, they belong to the social group and family of their mothers’ (Mousourakis, George 2003).

Most ancient cultures like those of Assyria, Egypt, and China, kept records of successors in the ruling dynasties to legitimize their power as divine in origin. Both the Inca king and the Egyptian Pharaoh claimed that they were direct descendants of the Sun God. Many cultures, such as the Inca of South America, the Kinte of Africa, and the Māori of New Zealand, did not have a written language and kept the history of their descent as an oral tradition.

Many cultures used other symbols to document their history of descent. The totem poles are indigenous to the people of the Pacific Northwest. The symbolic representation of the pole goes back to the history of their ancestors and the family identity, in addition to being tied with the spiritual world.

Rosenburg (1965) states that high self-esteem consists of an individual respecting himself and considering himself worthy. Low self-esteem consists of self-dissatisfaction, self-rejection, and self-contempt in an individual (Gecas & Schwalbe, 1986).

Parental behavior has been reported to relate to a child’s self-esteem and is known to be as one of the reactions or consequences of psychological maltreatment (Gross & Keller, 1992).

Evidence suggests that parental loving behaviors such as support, acceptance, and nurturance build a child’s self-esteem and sense of competence (Gecas & Schwalbe, 1986; Buri, Kirchner, & Walsh, 1987).

Parental acceptance, approval, and support are significantly important in the development of American children’s self-esteem. (Buri et aI., 1987).Boys’ self-esteem has been found to mainly be affected by parental support, especially of the father.

Girls’ self-esteem seems to be most strongly affected by parental support, that of both the mother and the father (Gecas & Schwalbe, 1986). It is surprising that self-esteem of adolescent boys is more affected than girls by parental behaviors.

Also the finding that mothers have a greater influence than fathers on children self-esteem is interesting (Gecas & Schwalbe, 1986).

The famous cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead explained something very important to us. She maintains that the family is that first social where our way of interacting determines who we are (or at least a great part of it).

Our parents are the ones who have the duty and obligation to fill our “tank” with adequate nutrients and rich components. They should ensure that there is no lack of security, affection, and attention.  They should supply that vital encouragement and drive which will help us to walk through this world feeling that we are valuable people.

The family has a universal and basic role in all societies. Research on the history of the family crosses disciplines and cultures, aiming to understand the structure and function of the family from many view points for example , sociological,  ecological  or economical perspectives are used to view the inter-relationships between the individual, their relatives, and the historical time. The study of family history has shown that family systems are flexible, culturally diverse and adaptive to ecological and economical conditions.

 Conceptual background

Conceptually, our family background is the family environment we were brought up in. For many this is the family of our origin for others it is this and perhaps a stepfamily.

Your family background is the kind of family you come from and the kind of education you have had. It is the kind of family you come from and the kind of education you have had.

Family background can also refer to such things as your social and racial origins, your financial status, or the type of work experience that you have.

Education research projects, monographs, and other literature sources apply the following related terms: family context, socio-economic status of family, socio-economic status and home possessions of family, family configuration and processes.

These terms are sometimes used as synonyms, but sometimes also as terms with different shades of meaning (Douglas 2006).

According to OECD (2004), there are several characteristics that are generally identified with a well-functioning family. Some include: support; love and caring for other family members; providing security and a sense of belonging; open communication; making each person within the family feel important, valued, respected and esteemed.

Self-esteem refers to an individual’s sense of his or her value or worth, or the extent to which a person values, approves of, appreciates, prizes, or likes him or herself (Blascovich & Tomaka, 1991).

It is also someone’s assessment of themselves. Self-esteem or self-worth, within our framework, has been conceptualized as the level of global regard that one has for the self as a person (Harter, 1985a, 1986, 1990).

Rosenburg (1965) states that high self esteem consists of an individual respecting himself and considering himself worthy. Low self-esteem consists of self-dissatisfaction, self-rejection, and self-contempt in an individual (Gecas & Schwalbe, 1986). Parental behavior has been reported to relate to a child’s self-esteem and is known to be as one of the reactions or consequences of psychological maltreatment (Gross & Keller, 1992).

Theoretical background

Theoretically, in this research Urie Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological system theory, the psychosocial theory of development by Eric Erickson, and Abraham Maslow’s theory of hierarchy of needs theories would be reviewed. These theorists explain how an individual develops self-esteem from childhood and maintains it in order to dwell effectively throughout life.

The ecological system theory, published in 1979 has influenced many psychologist in terms of the manner of analyzing the person and effects of different environmental systems that he encounters.

The ecological system theory has since then become an important theory that became a foundation of other theorists work. It holds that we encounter different environments throughout our lifespan that may influence our behaviour in varying degrees.

Bronfren brunner believed that a person’s development was affected by everything in their surrounding environment. These systems include the microsystem, the mesosystem, the exosystem, the macrosystem and the chronosystem (Bronfenbrenner1979).

Erik Erikson (1902–1994) was a stage theorist who took Freud’s controversial theory of psychosexual development and modified it as a psychosocial theory. Erikson emphasized that the ego makes positive contributions to development by mastering attitudes, ideas, and skills at each stage of development.

This mastery helps children grow into successful, contributing members of society. During each of Erikson’s eight stages, there is a psychological conflict that must be successfully overcome in order for a child to develop into a healthy, well-adjusted adult (Erikson1950).

Maslow studied with or was heavily influenced by Alfred Adler, Max Wertheimer, Harry Harlow, Erich Fromm, and anthrologist Ruth benedict. He wanted to develop a psychology that would deal with the best and highest potentials in human nature.

He emphasized belongingness, love, affection respect for others, and building self-respect, noting that “all of these are largely outside the money economy altogether; they can be given to the poorest family.” Stressed that despite unfortunate early experiences, we can change, grow, and become healthy.

The potential for psychological growth and health is present in every person at birth. We have an essentially biologically based inner nature that is intrinsic, unchanging, and uniques. It is not evil but rather neutral or good and therefore it is best to bring it out and encourage it. Suppressing it can lead to psychological or physical sickness.

It is forever pressing for a actualization but is delicate and easily suppressed by cultural pressure and habit. If it is permitted to guide our life we grow healthy, fruitful, & happy. We each have a hierarchy of needs that ranges from “lower” to “higher.”

As lower needs are fulfilled there is a tendency for other, higher needs to emergy. Maslow’s theory states that people tend to fulfill needs in an order of survival, safety, love and belongingness, esteem, self-actualization, and finally spiritual or transcendence needs (Maslow 1943).

Statement of the Problem

The development of a person is incomplete without self-esteem. The importance of self-esteem development in children is that self‐esteem is a crucial element of the confidence and motivation children need in order to engage in and achieve educational pursuits, especially in certain domains of instruction such as physical education.

Second, self‐esteem can be facilitated socially, its helps develop confidence, it gives children a positive outlook and its gives them the ability to see overall strengths and weaknesses and accept them. Self-esteem serves a motivational function by making it more or less likely that children will take care of themselves and explore their full potential.

The lack self-esteem in children in our primary schools leads to the lack of self-confidence are unable to express their needs, focus on their weaknesses, posses excessive feelings of shame, depression, or anxiety and belief that others are better than them.

This situation has made social interaction with others difficult as they feel awkward, shy, conspicuous, and unable to adequately express themselves when interacting with others. Furthermore, low self-esteem individuals tend to be underachieving, unhappy, insecure, unmotivated, depressed, dependent/follower, have poor communication and pessimistic towards people and groups within society.

This situation has become a source of concern to education stakeholders, school administrators, teachers, parents, government and non- governmental organizations(NGOs) because the adolescents are the future leaders of tomorrow, so any negative occurrences in their lives will definitely affect their future development, progress and may hamper national development.

The researcher has observed that the studies testing family environment variables impact on children self-esteem in predicting psychological adjustment are still scarce in Cameroon and particularly in the Buea municipality, this study wants to bridge the gap by adding to the existing literature.

Hence, this studies to investigate the impact of family background on the development of pupil’s self-esteem of primary school children in the Buea municipality, southwest region of Cameroon.

Research Objectives

The research objectives were structured into main and specific objectives:

Main Research Objective

The study seeks to investigate the impact of family background on the development of self-esteem of children in primary schools in the Buea municipality.

Specific Research Objectives

1. To find out how the socio-economic status of parents affects the development of self-esteem of children in primary schools of the Buea municipality
2. To determine how parent educational level affects the development of self-esteem of children in primary schools of the Buea municipality.
3. To determine whether family beliefs affect the development of self-esteem of children in primary schools of the Buea municipality,

See Also:

THE INFLUENCE OF FAMILY BACKGROUND ON STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN BABESSI SUBDIVISION