Parental Coerciveness, Child Autonomy, and Child's Role at School

The present study is part of a larger research project dealing with the effects of the child's experiences in the home on his role at school. The independent variables dealt with here will be parental coerciveness and child autonomy, as perceived by the child. By parental coerciveness, we mean the extent to which the parents punish the child, physically or by deprivation. By child autonomy, we mean the extent to which the child is free to act without immediate adult supervision. The theory is essentially that boys who perceive their parents as being highly coercive and also report themselves as having high autonomy will be successfully assertive in the school situation. It is postulated that perceived parental coerciveness arouses hostility in the child. Also, because it often seems to the child to be arbitrary and to disregard his needs and interests, and because it heightens the power discrepancy between parent and child, the perception that parents are coercive should evoke in the child needs for self-assertion and for status as an important person. The role of autonomy in the present theory is that it provides the conditions for the child's learning skills which have relevance for peer group leadership, and for developing self-confidence in independent action-characteristics which should help the child satisfy the needs induced by parental coerciveness. Furthermore, experiencing autonomy may function to soften the hostility that coerciveness engenders, just as coerciveness may function to restrict somewhat the impulsivity that autonomy alone might produce. In sum, parental coerciveness is seen as a motivating force and child autonomy as a facilitating agent. This view led to the expectation that children whose parents are perceived as both coercive and autonomy-granting will be successfully assertive in the three major areas in school-academic performance, social influence, and friendship. It was expected that in each area they would assert themselves more, and would do so more successfully. The specific