Learning achievement, social adjustment, and family conflict among Bedouin-Arab children from polygamous and monogamous families

A sample of 146 Bedouin-Arab pupils from polygamous and monogamous families participated in this study, which was conducted in a Bedouin-Arab village in the Negev, Israel. The authors compared learning achievement, social adj ustment, and family conflict. Data revealed differences between the two gro ups: The children from monogamous families had higher levels of learning ac hievement than did the children from polygamous families; in addition, thos e from monogamous families adjusted to the school framework better than did those from polygamous families. The mean conflict rating of children from polygamous families was higher than that of their counterparts from monogam ous families. The father's level of education tended to be inversely correl ated with family size in terms of both number of children and number of wiv es.