An expansion of programs for parent education has resulted from the recognition of the importance of parenting. However, most of the existing programs for parenting have been for improving the skills of guiding and communicating with children which we...
An expansion of programs for parent education has resulted from the recognition of the importance of parenting. However, most of the existing programs for parenting have been for improving the skills of guiding and communicating with children which were focused on delivery of theories and knowledge and communication practice, while there are few programs proven effective for Christian parenting. Therefore, parenting programs are needed for Christian parents, which can help them understand themselves and experience healthy growth, which should precede simple principles and skills for parenting and understanding their children. Programs for Christian parents can be more effective for formation of attitudes when they are conducted through experience rather than mere passing on of knowledge.
This study was designed to develop and verify a program to improve parenting based on self- growth. In particular, this research supports previous research showing that parents' self-understanding and growth exert an important influence on the role of parents. The purpose was to develop and evaluate a program for improving parenting, by considering parents' self-growth from a biblical foundation. Part one of this program consists of self-understanding, self-acceptance, self-disclosure, and self-actualization for parents' self growth. Part two of this program consists of children-understanding, children-acceptance, children-disclosure and parent-actualization for the improvement of parenting. The theories related to growth and NLP were used as effective methods for this program. The developed program was applied to parents and evaluated.
The verification for this study was composed of <study 1> and <study 2>. <Study 1> was verification of the effectiveness of the program for self-growth and the program for improvement of parenting, and ,<study 2> was the verification of the effects of parents' self growth on parenting.
In order to verify the effects of the developed program, a pretest-posttest control group design was applied. The test group was engaged in the self- growth program and the control group was not engaged in the program, to verify the effects of the program which was related to <study 1-1> of <study 1>. In addition, the test group was engaged in the program for improvement of parents' role while the control group was not engaged in the program, to verify the effects of the program which was related to <study 1-2 > of <study 1>. In order to analyze statistically, the self-growth test and parenting test were taken before and after the program and compared using the Mann-Whitney U Test and Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test of nonparametric stastistics.
<Study 2> was established to assess how much parents' self-growth could help their parenting. The test group was engaged in the self-growth program and the program for parenting improvement and the control group was engaged in only the program for parenting improvement. The two groups were compared and analyzed by the Mann-Whitney U Test and covariance.
The outcomes of the study are as follows;
First of all, The results of <study 1> are as follows. First, the test group in the self-growth program showed higher average scores in the total scores than those of the control group, which meant that the program was meaningful in the difference of the test group and the control group statistically. The differences in the sub factors, self-understanding, self-acceptance, self-disclosure, and self-actualization, of the conducts for the program were also statistically significant.
Secondly, for <study 1-2> related to the effects of parenting program, the test group in the program improving parenting showed higher average scores in the scores for parenting than those of the control group, which means that the program was meaningful in the difference of the test group and the control group statistically.
Next, The results of <study 2> are as follows.
First, the test group in the self-growth program showed higher average scores in the total scores for parenting than those of the control group, with meaningful difference of the test group and the control group statistically, which meant that parents' self-growth affected parenting their children .
Secondly, the test group in the self-growth program and the program improving parenting showed higher average scores in the total scores of parenting than those of the control group in only the program improving parents' roles, which meant that parents's self-growth affected the improvement of parenting.
Thirdly, the pretest and posttest of the parenting program for the test group and control group were compared by covariation, which resulted in a meaningful difference between the test group and the control group statistically. Although the test group and control group were measured in the same way, the meaningful difference added the interaction effect of self-growth and parenting. Therefore, parents' self-growth had an effect on parenting.
This study contributes to developing and verifying a practical program applying an educational psychology system from a biblical perspective for Christian parents to get self-growth and improve their parenting, which results from the effects of self-growth on parenting.