Ram Singh Tomar
Jiwaji University, Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh
Yogendra Verma
Vijayaraje Government Girls Post Graduated College, Murar, Gwalior (M.P.)
Pages: , 342-352
This study asked whether the shape of a boy’s household bears on how well he adjusts
and on how much support he believes is available to him. Family type (single-parent,
two-parent) was crossed with family size (one child, two or more children) in a 2 × 2
factorial design. Participants were 185 boys aged 13 to 18 years drawn from 38
secondary schools of Gwalior district, Madhya Pradesh. Adjustment was measured
with the Adjustment Inventory for School Students — Short Scale by Sinha & Singh,
and perceived support with the Social Support Scale by Dhull & Godara. Because the
cells were unequal, two-way analysis of variance was computed with Type II sums of
squares. Family size produced a significant main effect on overall adjustment, F(1,
180) = 10.66, p = .001, η² = .056: only children reported more adjustment difficulty than
boys who had siblings. Neither factor mattered on its own for perceived support, but
their interaction did, F(1, 181) = 15.21, p < .001, η² = .077, and it was sharper still on
the digital support dimension, F(1, 181) = 17.01, p < .001, η² = .082. The pattern was
a crossover. Where both parents were present, the only child felt better supported than
boys with siblings; where one parent was absent, that advantage disappeared and
siblings appeared to take up the slack. Family type and family size therefore act
together rather than separately, which has practical consequences for how school
counselling services identify the boys who need them