FAMILY ENVIRONMENT AMONG
UNDER-GARDUATE WOMEN TEACHERS IN MYSORE CITY
Abstract
The
present study reports the level of family environment of undergraduate women
teachers in Mysore city. A total of 264
women teachers working as permanent and temporary basis belonging to different
age groups were randomly selected for the study. They were administered family environment
scale, consisting of 90 items measuring family environment in 10
dimensions. The family environment was
measured in following dimensions-cohesion, expressiveness, conflict, independence,
achievement orientation, intellectual orientation, active recreational, moral
religious emphasis, organization and control.
The data were subjected to t test and one-way ANOVA to find out the
influence of job nature and age. Results revealed that those who were working
on permanent basis had significantly higher cohesion, conflict, organization
and control compared to those teachers who were working on a temporary
basis. Age-wise comparisons revealed
that at least in 5 dimensions-cohesion, conflict, intellectual orientation,
organization and control age had a direct influence, as the age increased the
mean scores in the above 5 dimensions increased more or less linearly and
significantly. Further, improving family
environment and they by increasing overall quality of life of women teachers
have been discussed.
Key words: Women teachers, family
environment
Introduction:
Teaching
is of the one of the noblest profession on earth. Teaching is a highly noble
profession; most suited one especially for women. Teachers are always a boon to
society. Teachers are the pillars of society for they educate and mould the
future citizens of a country. Teaching is a revered profession in India also.
Through their intelligence, patience and wisdom, they attempt to not only hone
the learner’s intellect and aptitude but also, create a well rounded
personality. Teaching has an influence in developing ones mind and character
and also gives the satisfaction of having the clouds of ignorance. As this
field is so vast having areas of specialization, different skills and types of
training are required for different levels. A secure career, great monetary
compensation and annual vacations are enticing hordes of promising young men
and women to join this teaching profession. Teaching requires, apart from the
requisite education and degree, a flair for interacting with the students and
capability of explaining things in clear lucid terms to the students. Rousing
the students from their apathetical slumber and watching their interest grow in
studies is the greatest reward for a teacher. Teachers not only augment a
students intellect but also contribute to the well rounded development of his
or her personality.
The
uniqueness of a female teacher is that she has to attend house hold chores as
well as the teaching assignment. Hence, the stress experienced by them will
generally more than their counterparts. Further, a teacher at college level has
to devote more time for preparation of classes and later delivering the
teaching assignment in an effective manner. For that the teacher has to devote
some of their time even at home for her academic work. In course of this she
may not be able to take care of the family issues as effectively as a women who
perform exclusively the role of a home maker.
In the back drop of the above it
would be of high importance and relevant from the point of view of social work
profession to understand the family atmosphere of female teacher which may be
either related directly or indirectly by them in discharging their duties as an
effective teacher. Hence, a study to explore the above areas is important.
Research
in this area indicated that many teachers attributed high importance to both
roles and had higher Work →Family than Family →Work conflict. Relations between
teacher stress and support variables and work-family conflict diverged from
patterns found in other occupations. School level and teacher experience
contributed to explaining the conflict (Cinamon, & Rich, (2005). Balancing
faculty careers and family work investigated by Schultz, (2007) among Tenure-track women faulty members and found
that how women's experiences with
balancing work and family in higher education relate to elements of job
satisfaction. Specifically, the less comfortable women faculty caretakers are
with family talk at work in general, the less satisfied they are with their role
as faculty member overall, the less satisfied they are institutional support to
balance work and family, and the less satisfied they are with job security and
potential for promotion. Women faculty believe their experiences with balancing
work and family in higher education represent the minority of women faculty
experiences, when in reality, their experiences are actually representative of the majority of
self-reported women's experiences with balancing work and family. Further,
using our understanding of families to strengthen family involvement
investigated by Knopf, & Swick, (2008) and they describe the changing
landscape of parenting and the stressors experienced by contemporary families.
It
is evident studied reviewed above are more of western, and we hardly come
across study on Indian women teachers from the social point perspective. Hence, the present study is aimed at
assessing the family adjustment of female college teachers. Further the study
is also aimed at suggesting measures to improve the quality of life of female
teachers.
Sample: Under Graduate women
teachers of Mysore city were selected for the present study. Stratified Random Sampling was adopted to
gather data; a total of 264 Under-graduate women teachers in Mysore City participated
in the study.
Tool employed : Family
Environment Scale (FES) Moos & Moos(1976):
The FES consists 90 true/false
items that fall into ten subscales, each of which measures the emphasis on one
dimension of family climate. The
cohesion, expressiveness and conflict subscales assess relationship
dimensions. These subscales assess the
extent to which family members feel that they belong to and are proud of their
family, the extent to which there is open expression within the family, and the
degree to which there is open expression within the family and the degree to
which conflictual interactions are
characteristics of the family. The
second group of subscales assesses personal development or personal growth
dimensions. They measure the emphasis
within the family on certain developmental process that me be fostered by
family living. Independence measures the
emphasis on autonomy and family members doing things on their own. Achievement orientation measures the amount
of emphasis on academic and competitive concerns. Intellectual cultural orientation reflects
the degree to which the family is
concerned with a variety of intellectual and cultural activities. The active recreational orientation and moral
religion emphasis sub scales measure other important dimensions of personal
growth. The last two sub scales of organization and control measure system
maintenance dimension. These dimensions
are system oriented in that they obtain information about the structure of
organization within the family and about the degree of control usually exerted
by family member’s vis-à-vis each other. The ten sub scales have adequate
internal consistency (ranging from 64 to 79) show good eight week, test re-test
reliability (ranging from 68 to 86) and show average sub scale inter
correlations around 20 indicating that they measure distinct, though somewhat
related aspects of family social environments.
Procedure:
The
questionnaire was given to each participant, who was requested to fill up and
to return the same in two days. They were also briefed about the purpose of the
study and their informed consent was obtained. It was made sure that they would
read each question carefully and answer later, rather than stereotyped
answering. Later, the answers were
scrutinized, and incomplete questionnaires were rejected. Scoring was done according to the manual
provided.
Scoring and Analysis:
The
scale consists of 90 true-false questions.
Each sub-scale consist of 9 items
that do not overlap with any other scale, with approximately half of the items
written to score a `true’ response and
half a `false’ response. The items which
elicit information pertaining to the negative aspect of the family are assigned
a score of zero, whereas the items which obtain information pertaining to the
positive aspects of the family are assigned a score one which
indicates better environment in the family. A higher score on the scale denotes healthy
environment. Once the scores were graded into levels, ‘t’ test and one way
ANOVA are employed using SPSS Windows to see the family environment of women
teachers. Table 1-3 present the
results.
Results:
Descriptive statistics for the
subscales of Family Environment scale of the total sample selected
The
selected sample had a mean family environment score 3-6 with the standard
deviation value 1.47, 1.44, 1.52 and 1.49 respectively in expressiveness,
independence, active recreational and control falls under healthy family environment as prescribed by the
manual.
Mean
family environment score 6-9 with the standard deviation 1.51, 1.58,1.32, 1.57,
1.58.and 1.52 respectively in cohesion,
conflict, achievement orientation, intellectual cultural orientation, moral
religious emphasis and organization falls under very healthy family environment
as prescribed by the manual; hence the selected sample had healthy and very
healthy family environment.
Mean scores on various components
of family environment and results of Independent samples ‘t’ test
As
far as the influence of employment status on family environment is considered,
employment status had significant influence over FES components –cohesion,
conflict, organization and control. In
all these components women teachers in permanent position had significantly
higher scores than women teachers in temporary positions. Independent samples t
test revealed a significant differences for these 4 components
(alpha=.05). However, in other
components expression, independence, achievement, intellectual cultural orientation,
active recreational, and in moral religious emphasis, teachers in permanent and
temporary positions did not differ significantly as the observed ‘t’ values
failed to reach significance level criterion.
Mean
scores on various components of family environment of women teachers in different
age groups and results of one-way ANOVA
Age
of the working teachers had significant influence over few of the components
of FES
like cohesion, conflict, independence, intellectual cultural orientation,
organization and control. In all these components a general observation was
lower age groups had lower scores and higher age groups has higher scores on
these components. This was confirmed by
one-way Analysis of variance test. In
other words age had a direct relationship where as the age increased scores on
the above mentioned components increased more or less linearly. However, for remaining components
–expression, achievement, active recreational, and moral components as the F
value obtained for these variables failed to reach significance level
criterion.
DISCUSSION
Main findings of the study
1.
Family environment of teachers studied was found to be very healthy for
Cohesion, Conflict, Achievement Orientation, Intellectual Cultural Orientation,
Moral Religious Emphasis and Organization components and healthy for
Expressiveness, Independence, Active Recreational and Control Components
2.
Teachers who were working on permanent basis had significantly higher cohesion,
conflict, organization and control compared to those teachers who were working
on a temporary basis.
3.
Age-wise comparisons revealed that at least in 5 dimensions-cohesion, conflict,
intellectual orientation, organization and control age had a direct influence,
as the age increased the mean scores in the above 5 dimensions increased more
or less linearly and significantly.
Work-family
researchers have distinguished between work-family conflict (work interfering
with family) and family-work conflict (family interfering with work). Different
types of spillover have been identified across the work and family domains: (a)
negative spillover from work to family; (b) positive spillover from work to
family; (c) negative spillover from family to work; and (d) positive spillover
from family to work. Studies investigating the extent to which work and family
stressors influence this dilemma have found significant, positive relationships
between work stressors and work-family conflict, and between family stressors
and family-work conflict. Examples of these stressors include work overload, time
pressures, lack of emotional support, partner tension, and responsibility for
child rearing. Generally self-report studies have shown that work interfered
with family life more frequently than family life interfered with work.
The
problems of working women are multidimensional and differ from woman to woman.
Many studies have been done related to women and their mental health. A study
by Bhati and Gunthey (1999) on working women, family environment and mental
health indicated that there were significant differences in the family
environment and mental health of working and non-working women. Mental health
scores highlight that working women are trapped in a situation where they are
getting difficulty in coping strategies to deal with it effectively and get
mentally strained. Excess work, less freedom, high need for motivation and
working situations are powerful source of stress among working female.
Therefore, emotional balance, adjustment process, tolerance level and other
personality attributes are under great threat, which affect negatively the
mental health in turn affecting family environment. Overall assessment on
middle aged teachers in Varanasi reveals that though the subjects are normal in
general, but a substantial proportion is at risk of developing psychosocial
stress generated problems that may affect their mental health. Modification in
coping strategies and planned interventions are desirable (Singh & Singh,
2006). In the present study we find that
women teachers had did not have any unhealthy component of family environment,
which is quite contrary to the some of the studies done earlier.
When
a woman starts working outside also she bears dual responsibility that requires
double labour. In this situation, if she cannot discharge her duties equally
efficiently, she feels tense and continuous tension creates stress that in turn
may affect her family environment. With growing age, problems may also grow.
However, in the present study age had significant positive influence over some
of the components of family environment. When they reach middle age years some
kinds of changes starts in them. Now, dual role responsibility may generate
irritation, frustration, anxiety, depression etc. Further, temporary working
teachers had less scores on some of the components of family environment,
cohesion, conflict, organization and control.
This is quite understandable in the sense that temporary job brings a
kind of insecurity, present day selection processes; uncertainty over getting
jobs, uncertainty over present job itself may reduce the family cohesion to
some extent, which in turn bring down the family environment. There is a need
to improve family environment by self and by the family members also.
Programmed interventions like, meditation, relaxation and other sensitization
programs may reduce stress and add quality of life to their years resulting in
healthy family environment.
References:
Bhati,
H. and Gunthey, R. Working Women: Family Environment and Mental Hhealth. Indian
Journal of Clinical Psychology, 1999; 26(2): 246-249.
Cinamon,
R. G.& Rich, Y.(2005). Work-family conflict among female teachers. Teaching and Teacher Education, 21(4),
365-378.
Elliott,
M.(2008).Gender differences in the causes of work and family strain among academic
faculty. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment, 17(1-2),
157-173.
Knopf,
H.T.& Swick, K.J.(2008). Using our understanding of families to strengthen
family involvement. Early Childhood Education Journal, 35(5), 419-427.
By Noor Mubasheer C. A. & Dr R. Shivappa
P G Dept. of
social work, St. Philomena’s College, Mysore
Nice effort, this should be a part of any professional journal should not through to any blog.
ReplyDelete“Samaja Karyada Hejjegalu” may have accommodated in any issue.
its already published in samaja karyada hejjegalu , thanks for your suggestion.
Delete