Abstract

he present quantitative study was designed to explore the predictors of interpersonal tolerance among

school children. The population consisted of children of private and government schools. A sample of (N=330)

participants was selected by using a random sampling technique. The data was collected from the participants by using

an indigenously developed Interpersonal Tolerance Scale for School Children (ITSSC). Statistical analysis of data was

carried out to find the relationships between different demographic variables and interpersonal tolerance. Results

indicated that different predictors accounted for variance in interpersonal tolerance among school children. Some

variables, including age, school type, residential area and father education, showed significant impact on interpersonal

tolerance among children whereas gender, mother education, family system and socioeconomic status were not

significant predictors in interpersonal tolerance. Findings contributed to understanding the role of predictors in the

formation of interpersonal tolerance among children in a cultural and social context.

Key Words

 Demographics, Interpersonal Tolerance, Predictors, School Children

Introduction

Interpersonal tolerance is an important aspect of the

personality development of children. The word

tolerance is derived from the Latin word tolerare,

which means to bear or sustain (Laursen, 2005).

Tolerance is a multifaceted phenomenon that is

commonly studied in the world due to its importance

in different cultures and societies around the world.

Researchers explored different dimensions and

factors associated with interpersonal tolerance.

Tolerance is the uniqueness of a person that does

not humiliate others while asserting themselves

(Parfilova & Karimova, 2016). Tolerance can be

divided into inter-group and interpersonal tolerance.

Intergroup tolerance is considered as general

positive feelings towards members of the out-group.

At the interpersonal level, tolerance is an ability to

accept, understand, recognize and respect the

social, political and religious views of another person

(Maksymova, 2019). Interpersonal tolerance in

school children is full acceptance and bearing of

thoughts, behaviors and values of others, and

respecting and considering the humanity and dignity

of a person more important than any action, idea or

belief of people around them.

Adolescence is a period of great importance

during which different biological, cognitive, and social

changes take place. Adolescents experience

inevitable biological, cognitive, and social changes

* PhD Scholar, Department of Psychology, University of Gujrat, Gujrat, Punjab, Pakistan. Email: nabil.kgs@gmail.com

† Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Gujrat, Gujrat, Punjab, Pakistan.

during the period of adolescence regardless of their

place of living (Steinberg, 2008). Family and school

environment play an important role in the personality

development of children and adolescents; school

environment helps in developing positive thinking and

behaviors. Similarly, the family environment affects

the socialization of children. Parents and teachers

are the most influential agents for children in the

development of tolerance and other personality

traits. It is difficult to find only a single determinant of

interpersonal tolerance because it is a complex

combination of different factors. Different social,

biological and psychological factors also play an

important role in the development of children (Barlow

& Durand, 2012).

Different researches have been conducted to

explore the phenomenon and predictors of

interpersonal tolerance in children around the world.

Lundberg (2018) studied tolerance and related

factors in the school context in Swedish society and

found that factors at the school level are associated

with tolerance; different factors like socioeconomic

status and social network play a more important role

in tolerance among school children. Schwadel and

Garneau (2017) conducted a cohort study in the United

States of America to find the effects of education and

income on political tolerance. It was found that there was

Predictors of Interpersonal Tolerance among School Children: A Demographic Study

Vol. VI, No. I (Winter 2021) 49

a decline in the importance of both higher education and

income as determining factors in political tolerance.

A number of studies have been carried out to

explore tolerance among children and teachers in

Pakistan. Oskarsson and Widmalm (2016) studied

the influence of personality traits on political

tolerance in the social and cultural context of

Pakistan and India. The findings demonstrate the

importance of personality traits along with the

context which influences individual behaviors. They

studied the complex interplay of personality traits

and situational factors in tolerance in the cultural and

social context. This highlights that there are multiple

social and cultural factors along with personality

traits that influence individual tolerance. Khalid and

Mahmood (2013) studied social and religious

aspects of tolerance among teachers and students.

Results revealed that the level of tolerance was lower

in teachers than students; moreover, there was no

influential relationship between tolerance and

different demographic variables like gender, age,

caste and locality. Similarly, Shoaib et al. (2013)

studied the family environment and concepts of

tolerance among family members. There was a

positive relationship between the family environment

and the concept of tolerance among family

members. Educational level is another predictor and

positively related to tolerance; education increases

tolerance and reduces prejudice of different groups

(Vogt, 1997). There are different other factors that

contribute to the development of tolerance; it is

considered that people with high socioeconomic

status are more tolerant; similarly, people living in

cities are more tolerant than rural areas; moreover,

older people show more tolerance than younger

people, all these variables are believed to be

important in the tolerance, but it is required to

analyze the phenomenon on the basis of scientific

data, tolerance is a multifaceted phenomenon, and

tolerant and intolerant attitudes emerge from

different social and cultural circumstances; however,

the systematic data about the relationship between

tolerance and these demographic variables are

missing (Van Doorn, 2014).

The above findings suggest that there is no

consensus among researchers on the complex

relationship between tolerance and related variables,

there are different determinants of tolerance, and it

may vary from culture to culture due to different

social environment and cultural values, that’s why it

is important to find the relationship between different

demographic variables and tolerance among school

children in cultural and social perspective of the

country. The present study was planned to identify

the factors in the formation of interpersonal

tolerance among school children. It can also be

suggested from the overall research conducted to

study children in Pakistan and around the world that

tolerance has been an area of concern for

researchers. Children are an important component

of society, and the increasing awareness about

children’s rights and mental health also shifted the

focus from the concept of mental illness to the

mental health of children (Peris et al., 2008).

Recently, scientific studies related to children and

adolescents indicate that it is important for different

health professionals to focus on the development

process to fully understand the biopsychosocial

changes in children, especially after puberty.

Childhood and adolescent periods are very crucial;

especially, an adolescent faces many parental and

societal pressures besides developmental changes,

which make it more demanding and challenging

(Rowling, 2006). All these increasing demands put a

child under a tremendous amount of pressure, and

the child is more vulnerable to developing various

problems. The problem of interpersonal tolerance in

children may lead to other mental health issues in

children; consequently, these problems affect the

personal and social functioning of children and may

result in poor school performance (Lane et al.,

2008).

The study of interpersonal tolerance in children

at the school level is very important because school

and family are important contexts in the life of

children; it is essential to explore the influence of

different demographics characteristics like age,

gender, family system etc., on interpersonal

tolerance among school children. The current study

is designed to identify the predictors of interpersonal

tolerance among school children in a cultural context

by using a culturally sensitive scale. Accurate and

timely identification of children’s interpersonal

problems can help in estimating the need for a

formation plan and establishing mental health

services in schools. Research suggests that

tolerance contributes to society individually, socially

and economically. The data about interpersonal

tolerance can be helpful for school authorities and

management to understand interpersonal tolerance

among school children in a better way. The main

objective of the study was to explore relationships

between demographics characteristics and

interpersonal tolerance among students.

Method

The present quantitative study was exploratory in

nature to explore the predictors of interpersonal

tolerance among school children by using a culturally

sensitive scale.

Nabil Hussain and Bushra Akram

50 Global Sociological Review (GSR)

Participants

The study population consisted of children studying in

schools in the city of Sialkot. A sample was selected

for the current study by using a random sampling

technique from government and private schools of

rural and urban areas. The sample consisted of 330

participants from 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th classes’

students of ages between 12-17 years in

government and private school.

Material

The relationship between demographic

characteristics and interpersonal tolerance was

explored by using a demographic proforma and

Interpersonal Tolerance Scale for School Children.

Demographic proforma was developed to get

information about different demographic variables,

which were considered to be related to interpersonal

tolerance among school children. It consisted of

basic information of the participants, including age,

gender, class, school type, family system, father

education, mother education, residential area and

monthly income etc.

Procedure

The data was collected from the children of

government and private schools. The researcher

personally visited each school and gave a briefing to

school management about the aims, objectives and

procedure of data collection of the present study.

The school authorities were assured regarding

confidentiality and privacy of information provided by

participants. The scale was administered in group

settings on children of each class, with an average of

10-20 participants in each group. The participants

completed the task in 20-30 minutes. Participants

were given the option to participate in the study or

not according to their choice. Instructions were given

by the researcher in Urdu to the participants about

the testing procedure. The researcher clearly

informed the participants that this was not an exam,

no right and wrong answer, all their information

would only be used for research purpose and would

be kept confidential. The data was collected, collated

by the researcher and entered in SPSS for further

analysis.

Results

The relationship between different predictors and
interpersonal tolerance among children was
measured by using the Interpersonal Tolerance
Scale for School Children (ITSSC). Different statistical
techniques were used to compute the data.
Table1. Frequencies and Percentages of the Demographic Characteristics of the Participants
Variables Category Frequency Percentage
Gender
Boys 182 55.2 %
Girls 148 44.8 %
Age Group (year)
12 13 3.9 %
13 51 15.5 %
14 70 21.2 %
15 98 29.7 %
16 74 22.4 %
17 24 7.3 %
School Type
Government 134 40.6 %
Private 196 59.4 %
Residential Area
City 183 55.5 %
Village 147 44.5 %
Family System
Individual 195 59.1 %
Collective 135 40.9 %
Father Education
Predictors of Interpersonal Tolerance among School Children: A Demographic Study
Vol. VI, No. I (Winter 2021) 51
Under matric 106 32.1 %
Matric and Inter 186 56.4 %
Graduate 24 7.3 %
Master & above 14 4.2 %
Mother Education
Under matric 180 36.7 %
Matric and Inter 121 54.5 %
Graduate 20 6.1 %
Master & above 9 2.7 %
A standard multiple regression analysis was
performed to measure the proportion of variance in
interpersonal tolerance among school children with
demographic variables.
Table 2. Multiple Regression Analysis for Demographic Variables as Predictor of Interpersonal Tolerance
among School Children
Note: *= p <0.5, **= p <0.01, ***= p <0.001
Note. ITSSC = Interpersonal Tolerance Scale for School Children
All the predictors in combination accounted for
significant 5% of the variability in interpersonal
tolerance among school children. R2=.058, adjusted
R 2= .043, F (8, 522) = 3.986, p = .000. The findings
suggest that collectively all the predictors found to be
significantly accounted for variance in interpersonal
tolerance among school children. The value of ?
showed the individual contribution of each predictor
for variance in interpersonal tolerance among school
children


Discussion

his study was aimed to explore the relationship

between different demographics variables and

interpersonal tolerance among school children. The

findings revealed that all the predictors in

combination were responsible for variance in

interpersonal tolerance among school children,

some variables including age, school type, residential

area, and father education, showed significant

impact on interpersonal tolerance among children,

whereas gender, mother education, family system

and socioeconomic status were not significant

predictors in interpersonal tolerance. The findings

were in line with different researches around the

world explaining the complex relationship between

tolerance and different psychosocial variables

(Björklund & Dahlberg, 2017; Galina, 2013). This

study also determined the individual impact of

different demographic variables on interpersonal

tolerance. The children of 12-17 years of age were

selected for this study, and age was found a

significant predictor in interpersonal tolerance

among children (? = .11, p<.01). The results were

consistent with many other studies conducted to

explore this phenomenon. The reason behind the

relationship between increasing age and

interpersonal tolerance might be the developmental

challenges during puberty and adolescence.

This research also studied the difference in

interpersonal tolerance on the basis of gender. The

results have shown that gender is not a significant

predictor of interpersonal tolerance among children

(? = .08, p>.05). The findings are consistent with

other studies in the same culture, which shows that

there is no statistical difference in tolerance level

among children on the basis of gender (Khalid &

Mahmood, 2013), but studies in other culture

revealed that gender is a significant variable in the

tolerance level of males and females students (Majali

Variables ? adjustedR2 F

Model (ITSSC) (R2= .058) .043*** 3.986

Age 0.11**

Gender 0.08

School type -.19***

Residential area -.14**

Family system -.06

Father education 0.10*

Mother education -.08

Monthly income -.06

Nabil Hussain and Bushra Akram

52 Global Sociological Review (GSR)

and Alkhaaldi, 2020). School type was another

variable in the study; government and private schools

were selected for the study, it was found that type of

school was a significant predictor in the

interpersonal tolerance (?=-0.19, p<.001). The

variance in interpersonal tolerance among children

of private and government school could be due to

differences in academic facilities, teachers and

freedom at school. It is believed that residential area

is an important factor in tolerance level; the

residential area was divided into rural and urban

areas depending upon the locality of the students.

Findings revealed that the residential area of the

children was another significant factor in

interpersonal tolerance (?=-.14, p<.01). The findings

were in line with researches in other cultures as

regional differences are also an important factor in

tolerance (Moore & Ovadia, 2006).

Pakistan is a country with traditional

collectivistic culture; data was collected from the

students belonging to the individual and collective

family systems. It was found that the family system

was not a predictor of the interpersonal tolerance of

children, as shown in the results (?=-.06, p>.05).

Similarly, the family environment is considered an

important factor in the personality development and

traits of the children; the education level of the

parents is an important factor in the family

environment. Findings revealed that there was a

relationship between parents education and

tolerance among children, father education was a

more significant factor in the interpersonal tolerance

of children as shown in results (?=.10, p<.05),

mother education was not a statically significant

factor in interpersonal tolerance among school

children (?=-.08, p>.05); however the mother

education can be a potentially significant factor in

interpersonal tolerance in children because the value

of ? in mother education is near to significant value.

Socioeconomic status was understudy as a

predictor of interpersonal tolerance among school

children, socioeconomic status of the children was

determined by the monthly income of the family,

result highlighted that socioeconomic status did not

cause variance in the interpersonal tolerance among

school children, and this was evident from the result

of monthly income (?=-.06, p>.05). But these findings

contradict studies conducted in other cultures

where socioeconomic status is an important

determinant of tolerance (Katnik, 2002); generally, it

is believed that socioeconomic status is important in

interpersonal tolerance, but the children show

interpersonal tolerance in different situations

according to their cultural and social values.

Conclusion

This study was intended to explore the relationship

between demographic variables and the

phenomenon of interpersonal tolerance among

school children. The findings revealed different social,

cultural and familial variables important in

interpersonal tolerance among school children;

some variables like age, school type, residential area

and father education were important predictors of

interpersonal tolerance among school children. This

study improved our understanding of interpersonal

tolerance and other issues related to children from

a cultural and social perspective. Therefore, this is an

important milestone for exploring the broader and

complex phenomenon of interpersonal tolerance and

factors related to it. The quantitative data was

obtained from the students using a culturally

sensitive scale developed in the collectivistic culture

of Pakistan. This will not only add knowledge to the

existing literature but also open new horizons of

research for future scholars. The current study was

a good initiative to explore the important

phenomenon of interpersonal tolerance; further

research is required to explore the level of

interpersonal tolerance in school children by using

different quantitative, qualitative approaches. This

study provided useful information about important

aspects of interpersonal tolerance and demographic

variables; it will help in developing formation plan of

interpersonal tolerance among children; this will also

provide a guideline to psychologists and

educationists in curriculum development and mental

health issues related to school children

Ethical Considerations

The authors claim no conflict of interest. The present

study was related to children, all the ethical

obligations were fulfilled, and ethical research

standards were followed to comply with national and

international research standards. Informed consent

was obtained from all individual participants included

in the study. The researcher clearly informed the

participants about the purpose of the study and

assured them that all their information would be kept

confidential.

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