128

Self-Actualization of Teachersand Teacher-Student RapportThe purposes of this study were to determine possible relationships between selected background

characteristics and degree of self-actualization of home economics teachers of central Iowa, to refinea teacher-student rapport instrument, and to test for differences in teacher-student rapport betweentwo groups of teachers differing in self-actualization. Data on background characteristics and self-actualization (inner-directed scale of Shostrom’s Personal Orientation Inventory) were gatheredby mail from 126 teachers. No relationships existed between degree of self-actualization and thebackground characteristics.Two groups of the teachers, 10 who scored high and 10 who scored low on the POI, were selected

for remaining phases of the study. Their ninth grade students responded to the Student Estimate ofTeacher Concern (SETC), a measure of teacher-student rapport. A 39-item form of the SETC wasdeveloped from an 89-item version with no loss in reliability. No significant difference in teacher-

student rapport was found between the two groups of teachers.(Home Economics Research Journal, November 1978, Vol. 7, No. 2)

Karen W. Zimmerman and M. Marguerite Scruggs

The search for more knowledge about theteaching-learning process has included a seriesof studies in home economics education in atleast three institutions since the late 1950’s.This research at Cornell University (Nygren,1960; Ray, 1960; Pestle, 1965), PennsylvaniaState University (Perry, 1967; Murray, 1968,

1972; Wilhelm, 1968; Evans, 1969; Loss, 1974;Parkhurst, 1975), and Iowa State University(Northey, 1961; Wachtel, 1963; Ott, 1963;Crabtree, 1566; Zimmerman, 1971; Brannian,1974; Anderson, 1975) has focused on the de-velopment and refinement of research instru-ments and the study of such variables as

teacher-student rapport and personality char-acteristics including self-actualization of theteacher.A number of the studies have assessed

teacher-student rapport by means of differentversions of the Student Estimate of TeacherConcern (SETC) first developed by Nygren(1960) and Ray (1960). Nygren (1960, p. 177)defined teacher concern as &dquo;a condition in

which a teacher has communicated to a studenta regard for his well-being.&dquo; She assumed

Authors’ addresses: Karen W. Zimmerman, HumanDevelopment, Family Living, and CommunityEducational Services, 125 Home Economics Bldg.,University of Wisconsin-Stout, Menomonie 54751; M,Marguerite Scruggs, Division of Home Economics,Oklahoma State University, Stillwater 74074.

This study was conducted at Iowa State University.Statistical consultants: Dr. Alyce Fanslow, AssociateProfessor, Home Economics Education Department, IowaState University, and Dr. Leroy Wolins, Professor,Statistics and Psychology, Iowa State University.

129

that home economics teachers who were highlyconcerned with individual students would bemore effective with a larger proportion of stu-dents than teachers who were low in concern

(p. 178). Because of different approaches usedin refining the SETC, different forms evolvedfrom the studies at Iowa State University andPennsylvania State University. Resulting in-struments have satisfactorily met criteria of va-lidity (Ray, 1960), reliability with coefficients ofinternal consistency of .95 and .97 (Ray, 1960;Ott, 1963), and ability to significantly differ-entiate (~=.01) among teachers (Ott, 1963; Ray,1960). A question remained as to whether ashorter version of the SETC could be devel-

oped to reduce time required for administra-tion.

Personality of the teacher has been studiedin relation to its possible influence on theteaching-learning process. Some of these stud-ies have attempted to relate personality to

teacher-student rapport. Medley (1961) usedcertain personality measures to predict rap-port of student teachers with their students.Maslow (1954, p. 231) described self-actual-

izing teachers as operating in ways conduciveto positive teacher-student rapport. Murray(1968, 1972) and Wilhelm (1968) reported therelationship between self-actualization ofteachers and teacher-student rapport in homeeconomics classes was significant at the .01

level, but Evans (1969) did not find a signifi-cant relationship. The present study examinedthe relationship between the same two vari-

ables, self-actualization of teachers and teacher-student rapport, using a different form of theSETC, the same measure of self-actualization,a different sample of home economics teach-ers, and different statistical procedures.

In their analysis of data, Murray (1968,1972), Wilhelm (1968), and Evans (1969)treated the responses of each student to theSETC as an independent measure of teacher-student rapport. In contrast, the present inves-

tigators and their statistical consultants believe

that the assessments by students in a class arereplications of the measure of teacher-studentrapport in that class and cannot be assumed tobe independent of each other. The mean SETCscore for each class was used in the presentstudy instead of each student’s score. This

procedure resulted in fewer degrees of free-dom than would have been true if the studentassessments were assumed to be independent.

Certain background characteristics may con-tribute to self-actualization. Gibb (1968) stud-ied juniors in a large midwestern universityand reported an association between self-ac-tualization and such characteristics as educa-tional level of parents, number of siblings, andtype of family (nuclear or extended). Sands(1971) reported no relationship between ageand self-actualization among family livingteachers studied. Foulds (1970) and Rosenthal(1968) found that participation in certain ed-ucational programs was associated with growthin self-actualization. Such research appearedto justify exploration of background character-istics of home economics teachers that maycontribute to self-actualization.

PurposesThe purposes of this study were (1) to study

relationships between selected backgroundcharacteristics and self-actualization of teach-

ers, (2) to further refine a measure of teacher-student rapport, the SETC, and (3) to deter-mine whether degree of self-actualization ofhome economics teachers is associated withteacher-student rapport.

HypothesesThe first phase of the study tested 14 hy-

potheses that are summarized as follows: Thereis no relationship between degree of self-ac-tualization and each of 14 background charac-teristics of home economics teachers.

130

The second phase, refinement of one formof the SETC, involved judging the adequacy ofthe coefficient of internal consistency by arbi-trarily setting a minimum requirement ofr= .90. This was a more stringent but relevanttest than an hypothesis of no reliability at the.01 level of significance.The third phase tested the following hy-

pothesis : There is no difference in teacher-stu-dent rapport between two groups of home eco-nomics teachers who differ in degree of self-actualization.The .05 level of significance was used in test-

ing hypotheses in the first and third phases ofthe study.

Self-actualization and BackgroundCharacteristics

Possible relationships between self-actuali-zation of teachers and various teacher charac-teristics were the focus of the first phase of thestudy.The population involved all teachers who

taught ninth grade home economics classes ofgirls in 25 central Iowa counties. This geo-graphical area was defined to limit travel costsfor the later phases of the study. Of the 146teachers in the population, 135 agreed to

participate and 126 (86.3 percent) completedthe mailed questionnaires.

Participating teachers responded to the Per-sonal Orientation Inventory (POI) developedby Shostrom (1964). Although the POI was de-veloped for use in the counseling situation, ithas been used in studies of home economicsteachers (Murray, 1966, 1968; Wilhelm, 1968;Evans, 1969). A serious limitation is its possiblevulnerability to faking by persons with knowl-edge and desire to produce false results. Shos-trom (1966) drew conclusions different fromBraun (1966) and Grater (1968) in this regard.In spite of this limitation, the POI was used un-der the assumption that investigators’ contacts

with teachers would maximize the likelihood ofhonest responses.The score on the inner-directed scale of the

POI was used as the indicator of degree of self-actualization. This scale was defined by Shos-trom (1966, p. 6) as measuring &dquo;whether reac-tivity orientation is basically towards self orothers.&dquo; Choice of the inner-directed scalewas based on test-retest reliabilities of .93

(Shostrom, 1964) and .84 (Klavetter and Mo-gar, 1967) and data from previous studies

(Knapp, 1965; Rosenthal, 1968; Leib and Sny-der, 1967; Damm, 1969; Foulds, 1969). Sincemost items in the 10 POI subscales were also inthe 127-item inner-directed scale and were

highly intercorrelated, subscale scores were notused.The teachers also responded to a short ques-

tionnaire concerned with age, marital status,number of children, years since graduationfrom college, size of undergraduate collegp at-tended, number of graduate credits earned,highest degree earned, years since last enrolledin a college course, educational level of par-ents, size of community of family of orienta-tion, number of siblings, participation in youthgroups, and number of years of home eco-nomics teaching experience. These character-istics were chosen for study because they werefound to be related to self-actualization by otherresearchers, or the rationale for expecting arelationship was consistent with earlier studies.Most of the variables were coded on a contin-uum of 6 to 9 categories. A 15 x 15 correlationmatrix was computed for the 14 backgroundcharacteristics and scored on the inner-di-rected scale of the POI, using data for 126teachers.

Results and Discussion

The scores of the 126 teachers on the inner-directed scale of the POI appeared to be nor-mally distributed. The mean was 81.11 with astandard deviation of 9.98. A reliability coef-ficient of .79 was found for use of the inner-

131

directed scale in this study as determined bythe Kuder-Richardson formula 20. This relia-

bility is high enough to be used as a predictorfor groups, and supports using this measure toselect the two groups of teachers for the sec-ond and third phases of the study.No relationships were found between de-

gree of self-actualization as measured by theinner-directed scale of the POI and 13 of thecharacteristics. A correlation of .18 (p= .05)was found between number of siblings and de-gree of self-actualization; however, this corre-lation is too low to be meaningful.The mean number of years of teaching ex-

perience was 8.31 and the mean number ofyears since the bachelor’s degree was 14.48.

The lack of relationship between age or yearsof teaching experience and self-actualization issimilar to the finding of Sands (1971). Theconcept of self-actualization (Maslow, 1962, p.23) as an &dquo;ongoing actualization of potentials&dquo;supports the hypothesis of a positive relation-ship between aging or experiencing and self-actualization. Reasons for finding no such re-lationships may be limitations in measurementor research design, or an actual lack of rela-tionships.

Refinement of SETC

The Student Estimate of Teacher Concern

(SETC) developed by Nygren (1960) and Ray(1960) was selected as a way to investigate thequality of the affective interaction of the teacherand students over a period of time. Followingsuggestions made by Ray (1960), Northey(1961) revised the SETC for use with ninthand tenth grade home economics classes andfound that it did not differentiate amongteachers. Wachtel (1963) and Ott (1963) foundthat a revision of the Northey form of theSETC for ninth grade students differentiatedamong Iowa teachers at the .01 level of signif-icance. Crabtree (1966) reported that bothninth and tenth grade forms of the SETC sig-

nificantly contributed to a composite criterionof teacher effectiveness.On the basis of these findings, the ninth

grade form of the SETC (Wachtel, 1963) con-taining 89 items was administered to the ninthgrade students of the 20 teachers selected forthe third phase of the study as described laterin this report. Whereas previous researchers(Wachtel, 1963; Ott, 1963; Crabtree, 1966;Murray, 1968, 1972) personally administeredthe SETC in home economics classes, in thisstudy the 20 teachers were asked to administerthe inventory in their own classes. They weregiven copies of the SETC and instructions foradministering it. To promote free response,teachers followed procedures that assured stu-dents teachers would not see their answers

(Zimmerman, 1971). Answer sheets were re-turned by mail.The procedure of asking teachers to admin-

ister the SETC was judged successful. Evi-dence indicated instructions were followed.Class means on the 89-item form of the SETC

appeared similar to those reported by Wachtel(1963) and Ott ( 1963).

Since additivity of the 89-item form of theSETC had not been tested, criteria proposedby Warren, Klonglan, and Sabri (1969, pp.14-16) were applied. A pooled within-groupcorrelation matrix was calculated between itemsand between each item and the total score. A39-item cluster was formed by combining itemswith correlation coefficients of .30 or more and

by subjective inspection of the items for con-tent. The finding that interrelated itemsformed only one cluster was consistent with thestatements by Ray (1960) and Murray (1966)that the SETC seemed to measure one factorinstead of four factors as they originally in-tended.

The reliability of both the 89-item form andthe 39-item form of the SETC was .91 usingthe Spearman-Brown formula. Therefore, thelatter measures teacher concern more econom-

ically than the former and is equally reliable.

132

Self-actualization and Teacher-Student

RapportThe third phase of the study tested the hy-

pothesis of no difference in teacher-studentrapport between two groups of teachers differ-

ing in degree of self-actualization.

ProcedureFrom the 126 teachers described in phase

one of the study, a sample of 20 teachers waschosen. Bases for selection were: scoring amongthe 10 highest or 10 lowest on the inner-di-rected scale of the POI, a class size of at least 8students, a class period of at least 30 minutes,and a willingness on the part of the school andthe teacher to participate. All 10 teachers whoscored highest and 10 teachers who scoredlowest on the POI met the requirements forclass size and class-period length. However,two indicated they were not willing to partici-pate, and one dropped out of the study due toillness. One of these teachers was in the low

group (POI scores), and the other two were inthe high group (POI scores). Replacementswere selected from the teachers who scorednext lowest and next highest, respectively.The 20 teachers in the third phase of the

study were similar to the 126 teachers in thefirst phase on background characteristics. The

means for age, number of years of teaching ex-perience, and years since bachelor’s degreewere almost identical for the 20 and 126 teach-ers.

Using the mean class score for each teacheron the 39-item form of the SETC, one-wayanalysis of variance was computed between thetwo groups of teachers.

Results and Discussion

Group means and ranges of scores for thetwo groups of 10 teachers who scored differ-

ently on the inner-directed scale of the POI areshown in Table 1 along with findings for thetotal group of 126 teachers.As indicated in Table 2, in this sample,

teachers who scored high on the inner-di-rected scale of the POI had a higher groupmean on the 39-item form of the SETC and asmaller standard deviation than teachers in thelow group. However, the difference in meanswas not significant at the .05 level.

This finding seems contrary to those of pre-vious studies relating self-actualization of homeeconomics teachers to teacher-student rapport.Murray (1968, 1972) and Wilhelm (1968)found that self-actualizing teachers were per-ceived to be significantly (p= .01 ) more con-cerned about their students than less self-ac-

133

tualizing teachers. Differences in statistical

analyses explained earlier in this report mayaccount for the dissimilar research results. An-other explanation may be weaknesses in thePOI, as observed by Abbott and Harris (1973).This study provided evidence in addition to

the statistical analyses that self-actualization maynot relate directly to teacher-student rapport.Zimmerman observed two videotaped class

sessions of the 20 teachers and visited the class-rooms of 10 of these teachers prior to havingany knowledge of teachers’ scores on the POI.Data were reexamined after statistical tests were

completed and she was informed of the POIscores. The resulting questions provide leadsfor further study. Were some of the teacherswho scored high on the inner-directed scale ofthe POI so autonomous that their students did

not perceive them as being highly concernedabout students? Were some of the teacherswho scored low on the inner-directed scale ofthe POI expressing their orientation towardothers in ways that were perceived by studentsas showing high levels of concern for students?

Summary __________________

In the first phase of the study, 126 centralIowa home economics teachers responded tothe POI and a questionnaire. Using the inner-directed scale of the POI as a measure of self-

actualization, no relationship was found be-tween self-actualization and 14 backgroundvariables including age, educational and

professional experience, and family character-istics.

In the second phase of the study, the SETCwas used as a measure of teacher-student rap-port. The 39-item form of the SETC identifiedin this study is recommended since it was as

reliable as the 89-item form.Ten teachers with high scores on the inner-

directed scale of the POI were compared with10 teachers with low scores in the third phaseof the studv. Based on responses of ninth grade

homemaking classes to the SETC, there was nosignificant difference between the two groupsof teachers on teacher-student rapport.

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134

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Received November 15, 1976; accepted December17, 977.