PARENTAL KNOWLEDGE, INTERNAL-EXTERNAL CONTROL, N ACHIEVEMENT - N AFFILIATION. COMPARISON IN PREGNANT AND NON-PREGNANT STUDENTS

JO ANN MARY SOBKOWIAK COOPER, Marquette University

Abstract

Research into the personality motivational tendencies of locus of control, need to achieve and need to affiliate, and their influence on level of achievement, the degree of dependence, degree of stress and degee of responsibility evidenced within a person found significant correlations. Further, these variables have been shown to influence who makes a major decision in their life--themselves or a significant other. Finally, the literature reviewed suggested that these three personality aspects influenced parenting knowledge and its application as gained from instruction. However, no one study combined locus of control, need to achieve and need to affiliate and used these traits to predict parenting-knowledge gained over a time span. The study was designed to test the following hypotheses: (1) Internal high achievers will score significantly lower than internal high affiliators on the parenting-knowledge-application scale. (2) Internal high achievers remain in regular class programs and external high affiliators choose the special school-age parent program. (3) Internal high achievers make choices that indicate greater independence and external high affiliators make choices that show more dependence. (4) Internal high need achievers take greater responsibility for self and her actions whereas external high affiliators project responsibility onto other persons or things. (5) Internal high need achievers choose private OBGYN services more frequently than external high affiliators who choose teen clinics. (6) Internal high need achievers make their own decisions more frequently than external high affiliators. (7) Internal high achievers perceive pregnancy as less stressful than external high affiliators who perceive the pregnancy as more stressful. Subjects were 50 pregnant teens in the School-Age Parent Program, 50 pregnant teens in the regular school program and 50 teens not pregnant within the regular school program. Subjects for the pregnant teen groups were obtained by referrals and were placed in the regular pregnant group versus the School-Age Parent Program dependent upon their choice as allowed under Chapter 115. Every effort was made to match the samples to age range, race, grade point average and locality of the city. Each girl was then tested in a pre- and post-test with a nine weeks treatment span.

This paper has been withdrawn.