High School Seniors' Perceptions of Family Environment

The researcher investigated perceived family environment for high school seniors. The independent variables were educational/vocational plan, residence plan, feelings about the future, maternal education level, paternal education level, family size, and gender. The dependent variables were the 10 subscale scores from the Family Environment Scale. Subjects were 293 high school seniors from three large high schools in central and western Kansas. Four composite null hypotheses were tested. A total of 210 comparisons plus 70 recurring comparisons were made. Of the 210 comparisons, 28 were statistically significant. The following main effects were statistically significant: educational/vocational plan and the dependent variables ARO and MRE; residence plan and the dependent variables COH and CON ; feelings about the future and the dependent variables COH, EXP , IND, ARO, ICO, and ORG ; family size and the dependent variable MRE; and gender and the dependent variable CTL . Eleven interactions were statistically significant: educational/vocational plan with residence plan for the dependent variable ARO; residence plan with feelings for the dependent variable ARO; educational/vocational plan with feelings for the dependent variable MRE; maternal education level with family size for the dependent variable CON; maternal education level with educational/vocational plan for the dependent variable ARO; paternal education level with educational/vocational plan and family size for the dependent variables AO, ARO, and MRE; paternal education level with family size for the dependent variable ORG : feelings with residence plan for the dependent variable EXP: and gender with residence plan for the dependent variable ORG. The results of the present study appeared to support the following generalizations: (a) an association among educational/vocational plan, residence plan, and ARO; (b) an association among feelings, residence plan, and ARO; (c) an association among feelings, residence plan, and EXP; (d) an association among educational/vocational plan, feelings, and MRE: (e) An association among maternal education level, family size and CON; (f) an association among maternal education level , educational/vocational plan, and ARO; (g) an association among paternal education level, education/vocational plan, family size, and AD: (h) an association among paternal education level, educational/vocational plan, family size, and ARO: (i) an association among paternal education level, educational/ vocational plan, family size, and MRE: (j) an association among paternal education level, family size, and ORG; and (k) an association among gender, residence plan, and ORG.