Relationships between self-acceptance and sociometric choice.

"Lipsitt's… [see 34: 4134] Self-Concept and Ideal-Self scales and two Sociometric scales were given to fourth, sixth, and eighth grade subjects… Acceptance of others, acceptance by others, and acceptance by best friends were curvilinearly related to self-concept scores… . trends were not significantly different in different grades or sexes… . Acceptance by others was more strongly related to self-concept than was acceptance by best friends… . The sociometric measures were not significantly related to the discrepancy between ideal-self and self-concept scores suggesting that the discrepancy score obtained by subtraction may not be a valid measure of self-acceptance." From Psyc Abstracts 36:04:4FF72R. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The stability of the self-concept in adolescence.

"A study of the stability of the self-concept over two years in adolescence resulted in the following conclusions:… Relative stability… was demonstrated… between Q sorts… . Subjects whose self-concept was negative at the first setting were significantly less stable in self-concept than subjects whose self-concept was positive… . Subjects who persisted in a negative self-concept over the two year period gave evidence of significantly more maladjustment." 16 refs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Family structure and depression in female college students: Effects of parental conflict, decision-making power, and inconsistency of love.

Based on earlier findings that maladjusted Ss come from families with high interparental conflict and dominance by the parent opposite in sex to the S's, a model was developed that predicted depression in female college students. Depression was predicted to depend on parental conflict, inconsistent love from the father, and the Conflict?×?Dominance?×?Father's Inconsistency interaction. Questionnaire measures of father's and mother's inconsistency, parental conflict, and relative decision-making power (dominance) were completed by 98 college women. Averages of scores on the Beck Depression Inventory and a reworded form measuring worst past depression were entered into a hierarchical multiple regression analysis. Significant relations were found between average depression and (a) parental conflict, (b) father's inconsistency, and (c) mother's inconsistency. Father's inconsistency accounted for twice as much independent variance as mother's inconsistency. The predicted triple interaction approached significance (p?=?0.06), with inconsistent love from the father in high-conflict, paternally dominated families associated with the greatest vulnerability to depression. Consistent paternal love, low conflict, and paternal dominance were associated with the least vulnerability to depression. (10 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Antisemitism and the expression of fantasy aggression.

"In order to test a hypothesis derived from the scapegoat theory of prejudice [Dollard, et al, 1939], two groups… chosen on the basis of… high and… low scores on the Levinson Anti-Semitism Scale, [A-S] were subjected to an aggression arousing situation. Following aggression arousal a specially designed fantasy test was administered, which yielded measures of aggression expressed toward fantasy characters with Jewish or non-Jewish names. Control subjects, matched with Arousal group subjects on… A-S scores, took the fantasy test without prior aggression arousal. Aggression arousal produced significant differences in the fantasy aggression of High and Low A-S subjects… . [supporting] the hypothesis that persons high in anti-Semitism have a greater… tendency… to displace aggression selectively onto Jews." From Psyc Abstracts 36:04:4GD54W. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Family influences on school achievement in low-income, African American children.

The authors examined the achievement-related beliefs and behaviors of parents of economically disadvantaged African American youth, and the relations among parental factors and children's academic self-concept and achievement. Forty-one children and their primary caregivers were interviewed. Parents reported on their academic-related beliefs and behaviors. Children completed measures of academic self-concept and 2 standardized achievement tests: 1 during the summer and 1 at the end of the following school year. Significant and positive relations were found between parental belief and behavior measures within the domains of reading and math; however, parental beliefs were more strongly linked with child outcomes than were parents' achievement-oriented behaviors. The relation between parental beliefs and child outcomes was not mediated by children's academic self-concept. Results are discussed in light of models of family influences on achievement. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-concept and peer acceptance in students with learning disabilities: A four- to five-year prospective study.

Examined the peer relations and self-concepts of students prior to and following their identification by the school district as learning disabled (LD) in a 4- to 5-yr prospective study. Self-concept ratings (kindergarten–4th grade) and peer acceptance ratings (kindergarten–3rd grade), as well as academic achievement scores, were compared across 3 groups: LD students who were placed in resource special education programs during 2nd grade, low-achieving (LA) students, and average-achieving/high-achieving (AA/HA) students. For peer acceptance, AA/HA students' scores were higher than LA students' scores only. No between-groups differences were obtained during any school year on the self-concept measure. Findings suggest that LD students' self-perceptions are not negatively affected by academic and social difficulties in the early grades or by the identification and labeling process. Though generalization is limited by the small sample size, few studies have examined students with learning disabilities longitudinally or prior to and following their identification. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The attribution of similarity: The influence of success and failure.

"One subject in… [a] pair was informed that he had earned high percentile scores on… [tasks], while the other subject was told he had earned low scores. Each subject then received a partially completed Allport-Vernon-Lindzey test booklet designed either to be identical with or systematically dissimilar to the one completed by the subject 6 or more weeks earlier… . he was to complete the booklet as he believed his colleague had. Degree of similarity attributed was defined as the absolute difference between own and attributed score on a… scale… . The results revealed that failure subjects attributed greater similarity to their colleagues than did successful subjects, particularly with respect to presumably dissimilar colleagues." From Psyc Abstracts 36:02:2GE19S. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reticent primary grade children and their more talkative peers: Verbal, nonverbal, and self-concept characteristics.

This report describes research with 128 kindergarten children, the purpose of which was to assess the stability of verbal behavior and the relationship of verbal and nonverbal abilities and self-concept to talkativeness in the classroom. The children were divided into verbal and quiet groups on the basis of teacher rankings in the fall of kindergarten. Rankings in the spring term indicated that about one third of the quiet children became more verbal, thus making for a subdivision of the quiet children into the "reticent" group, who remained quiet, and the "mixed" group, who became more talkative. This distinction proved important because reticent children obtained lower parental ratings of communication skills at home and lower scores on a variety of language tests administered in Grade 1 than did verbal children; the mixed group obtained intermediate scores. No differences were observed among reticent, mixed, and verbal children on a general measure of self-concept. These findings are discussed in light of the literatures on shyness and classroom discourse. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A semantic analysis of a normal and a neurotic therapy group.

"The purpose of the research… was to see if S's entering therapy can be differentiated from persons that have never been in therapy by meanings they associate with certain selected concepts and to test for areas where semantic changes followed therapy, especially as they may relate to parental identification… . The findings indicate that control S's can be differentiated from therapy S's prior to therapy by the meaning they attribute to the concepts of the self and of parents… therapy affects the self-estimate and not the judgment of parents… ." The research is related to the findings of Rogers and Dymond (1954), Greenspoon (see 30: 4488), and Verplanck (see 31: 2940) on verbal reinforcement. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Content specificity of relations between academic achievement and academic self-concept.

In extension of research on the H. W. Marsh/R. J. Shavelson (1985) model of self-concept, a set of 14 academic self-concept scales was related to school performances in 8 school subjects for a sample of 507 high school boys. Correlations between matching areas of self-concept and achievement (.45 to .70; mean r?=?.57) were much larger than those typically found in previous research. Path models and multitrait-multimethod analyses demonstrated that self-concept/academic achievement relations were very specific to particular school subjects. The findings indicate that components of academic self-concepts are more differentiated (i.e., less correlated) than are achievement scores and that relations between academic self-concepts and academic achievements are more content specific than has been previously assumed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Academic, social, and general self-concepts of behavioral subgroups of learning disabled children.

This study assessed perceived competence in 60 children (aged 8–13 yrs) who were classified into 4 carefully matched groups: (1) non-learning-disabled (non-LD), non-behavior-disordered, (2) LD, non-behavior-disordered, (3) LD with externalizing symptoms, and (4) LD with externalizing and internalizing symptoms. Results indicated that the scores of the non-behavior-disordered groups were higher than those of the behavior-disordered groups in cognitive, social, and general self-concept. The scores of the non-LD group did not differ from those of the non-behavior-disordered LD group. Correlation and regression analyses demonstrated that cognitive and social self-concept are at least as strongly related to behavioral factors as they are to achievement level. Implications for education and future research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attitudes toward old people: The development of a scale and an examination of correlates.

"The present paper reports on the development of a Likert scale for assessing attitudes toward old people and discusses empirical relations found between such attitudes and other attitudinal and personality variables. Three samples of college undergraduates served as subjects… a scale containing items making unfavorable reference to old people and a scale containing matched favorably worded items [were constructed]… no clear consistent relation obtained between authoritarianism as measured by the F Scale and attitudes toward old people. On the other hand, unfavorable attitudes toward old people were associated with feelings of anomie, and with negative dispositions toward ethnic minorities and a variety of physically disabled groups. A nurturance factor… was significantly correlated with… scale scores, the more nuturant subjects being more positively disposed toward old people." From Psyc Abstracts 36:01:3GD44K. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A comparison of direct, indirect, and fantasy measures of identification.

"This study was designed to investigate predicted relationships of three levels of directness of assessment (direct, indirect, and fantasy) to two aspects of parental identification, i.e., perceived similarity to a parent and degree of involvement with a parent… . It was predicted that (a) perceived similarity measures would be positively related, (b) involvement measures would be positively related, and (c) since both… are assumed to be components of identification, they should be positively associated with each other." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex-role identification in neurosis: Psychoanalytic-developmental and role theory predictions compared.

Tested 4 hypotheses derived from psychoanalytic and role theories of sex-role identification in 60 20-35 yr. old father-dominated and mother-dominated neurotic and normally functioning adult male Ss (n = 15) with no CNS disturbance and both parents living. Sex-role identification was measured by the Attitude-Interest Analysis Test, the Personal Preference Scale, and the Sexual Differentiation Scale, while parental dominance was assessed by means of the Dominance-Submission Scale. It was found that: (a) father-dominated and mother-dominated neurotics scored significantly lower than their normally functioning counterparts on the measures of sex-role identification, (b) no significant differences existed between father-dominated and mother-dominated neurotics, and (c) neurotics as a whole scored significantly lower than normally functioning Ss in sex-role identification. Findings are discussed in terms of a psychodynamic view of neurosis emphasizing unresolved Oedipal issues. (19 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Infection with Helicobacter pylori

60 male Nigerian prison inmates (30 with convicted status and 30 awaiting trial) and 210 male noninmates were administered the Tennessee Self-concept Scale to test the hypotheses that (1) inmates with convicted status would obtain higher self-concept scores than those with ?awaiting trial? status, and (2) the self-concept scores of prison inmates generally would be lower than those of noninmates. The two hypotheses were strongly supported for this sample. It was concluded that self-concept scores were not only related to delinquency by also to custodial status.     

Personality factors in motor learning and reminiscence.

"… introverts and… extraverts… were given 5-min. continuous work on a pursuit rotor prior to rest periods… . Over the original learning period introverts had a significantly higher performance trend than extraverts. There were no significant differences in reminiscence between the introvert and extravert groups. No relationships were found between neuroticism scores (on the Maudsley Personality Inventory) and either original learning or reminiscence." The results were discussed in terms of Eysenck's postulates regarding neurotic reactions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of parent involvement in isolation or in combination with peer tutoring on student self-concept and mathematics achievement.

The present study examined the effects of a home-based, parent involvement (PI) intervention and the reciprocal peer tutoring (RPT) intervention on the self-concept and mathematics achievement of academically at-risk urban elementary school students. Seventy-two 4th- and 5th-grade students evidencing difficulties in mathematics were selected. Students were assigned randomly to 3 conditions: PI?+?RPT, PI, and practice control (PC). Student self-concept reports showed that students in the PI?+?RPT and PI conditions reported higher ratings of scholastic and behavior conduct than controls. Students in the PI?+?RPT conditions perceived themselves as more socially confident than did PI or PC students. Mathematics findings indicated that students who received PI?+?RPT displayed higher levels of accurate mathematics computations on a curriculum-based measure than PI or PC students. PI?+?RPT students also had significantly higher scores on a standardized measure of mathematics computation than PC students. The relationships between the PI intervention components and school adjustment were discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Role of affective meaningfulness and self-concept in the verbal learning styles of White and Black children.

White and Black 5th graders, representing 2 social class and 2 self-concept (Piers-Harris Self-Concept Scale) levels, recalled nouns which they had prerated for likability in a multitrial free recall format. While self-concept failed to have any noticeable influence on the total sample, it interacted significantly with race. As predicted, the high self-concept White Ss recalled positively rated words more readily than negatively rated words, while their low self-concept peers showed no memory predilection. Although the low self-concept Black Ss also reflected no preference for their affective evaluations, the high self-concept Black Ss showed a greater propensity to recall their negatively rated words. Social class had a negligible effect on affective learning styles. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social class and academic guidance: A social-psychological analysis.

Canadian research has consistently shown that, compared with high social class students, a lower proportion of low social class students have high educational expectations. This difference persists even when the level of mental ability between the 2 groups is the same. To answer the question of why so many low social class students do not have high educational expectations, a sample of 1,329 Grade 8 students were administered Form A of Scale 2 of the Culture Fair Intelligence Test and a measure of academic self-confidence. Results show that academic self-concept played a critical role in the way students developed their educational expectations. Part I found that high social class students had a higher academic self-concept than low social class students, even though both groups had a similar level of mental ability. Using a subsample of low social class students with high mental ability, Part 2 found that such students' perception of guidance information was based more on their academic self-concept than on their mental ability. Their academic self-concept thus operated as a frame of reference for interpreting academic advice. Results thus extend previous research by showing that students' academic self-concept does not necessarily match the level of their mental ability, one consequence being that many low social class students develop low educational expectations even though they have high mental ability. Furthermore, even when academic guidance is offered, many of these students, on the basis of their low academic self-concept, interpret the advice as advocating low educational expectations for them. (French summary) (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Middle class bias in personality testing.

"The higher neurotic tendency scores obtained by the working class on the Bernreuter were found to be accounted for by a third of the inventory items. These items were found to be biased in one of the following ways: (a) they reflected middle-class values, mostly middle-class masculine values… ; (b) their connotations were sufficiently obvious to allow the middle class to benefit from their greater test motivation. We conclude that working-class scores on the inventory are spuriously high." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)