I Know Why The Caged Bird Sing :: essays research papers

What Do Children Feel Guilty About?Christopher Williams and Jane Bybee of Northeastern University wereinterested in discovering the frequency of guilt provoking events inadolescents. They wanted to establish proof for the hypothesis thatage-related changes in children were attributed to developmental changes incognitive reasoning. Past research has indicted that children with exaltedlevels of guilt are less delinquent, more compassionate, and more academicexcitable children expressing less guilt in similar situations. It has beensited that at its best guilt scum bag bring about the aforementioned but is can as well be attributed to depression and obsessive compulsive disorders.In this study, there were 240 participants (123 male and 117 female). they were grouped harmonize to grade. There were 85 fifth graders (40 maleand 45 female), 90 eighth graders (44 male and 46 female), and 65 eleventhgraders (39 male and 26 female). The subjects evaluated hailed formethnically diverse neigh borhoods of the northeast. The racial breakdown ofthe participants was as follows 94 Caucasians, 110 African Americans, and 36Hispanic. The study was conducted in each of the student_s respective classrooms. The students were prompted to share three instances when they snarl censurable. The investigators wanted to know the specific incidences which evoked theguilt and the reason for feeling guilty.The three dimensions under observation were the type of situation whichhad occurred, the individuals involved, and the specific instances which ledto the guilty feelings. There were seven situation parameters for classifyingthe guilt. They are guilt over transgression, of inaction, of neglect ofresponsibilities, of anticipation, over failure to attain ideals, of inequity,and not at fault. The second dimension include the individuals contributingthe feelings of guilt and the third dimension detailed the possible guiltproducing incidents (lying, truancy, property damage, et.) Analysis of c ollected data indicated that the type of situation evokingguilt alter with age and gender. From the 5th to 11th grades, there was adramatic increase in the percentage of students reporting guilt frominaction, neglect of responsibilities, and failure to attain ideals. It wasalso noted that females sited guilt over inaction twice as often as malestudents. Responses of students in higher grade levels mentioned girl- andboyfriends as the individuals evoking feelings of guilt. In the youngstudents, parents and siblings had a greater impact of causing guilt feelings. Unsurprisingly to me, the guilt-producing incidences most common to the 8th