Self-Regulation, Family Climate, And Gender: A Study of Rural Adolescent Development

Abstract

The adolescent period presents both opportunities for growth and positive development, as well as heightened risks and challenges. Indeed, adolescence and the student life era frequently coincide, posing several challenges for young people. Their social and academic pressures are so great that they are susceptible to mental health problems like substance abuse, eating disorders, anxiety, and depression. Peer pressure, the difficulties of identity exploration, and academic expectations may all contribute to these issues. Since self-regulation is a significant indicator of adaptive functioning and well-being, understanding its relationship to family climate, a crucial contextual factor, can help develop tailored therapies for this population. Although studies have explored how familial surroundings affect adolescents’ ability to self-regulate, there is comparatively less research investigating this connection specifically among rural adolescents. Therefore, the present study aimed to analyse the association between self-regulation and family climate among adolescents from rural areas. It was hypothesized that Self-regulation would be positively correlated with positive family climate and negatively correlated with negative family climate among adolescents. Keeping in view, gender disparities in socialization (e.g., autonomy for boys vs. emotional support for girls) may result in varying home climate and self-regulation experiences. In this regard, it was hypothesized that female adolescents would be higher on self-regulation and perceive positive family climate as compared to male adolescents. For this purpose, 100 (Male=50, Female=50) adolescents in the age range of 14-18 years were drawn from government schools situated in rural areas of Barnala and Patiala districts of Punjab. All the participants were born and brought up in a rural setup. Further, they were assessed on a self-regulation questionnaire (Brown, Miller & Lawendowski, 1999) and Family Climate Scale (Dr. Beena Shah, 1990) in a group setting. The obtained data were subjected to Pearson product-moment correlation, which showed a significant positive association, suggesting that adolescents who perceived a supportive familial environment had higher self-regulation, while a negative family climate hinders the self-regulatory abilities among adolescents. Further, the t-test revealed that females scored higher on self-regulation and showed a negative exposure to family climate. The findings highlight the importance of family dynamics in promoting self-regulation, implying that rural adolescents could benefit from family-centred initiatives to improve their psychosocial development.