Effects of sex, race, and class on self, ideal-self, and parental ratings in southern adolescents

Relationship between Preference for a Type of Sport and Two Aspects of Personality: Social Alienation and Self-Esteem

96 casual sport participants took part in a study investigating the relationship between sport-preference and social alienation and between sport-preference and self-esteem. 32 subjects were primarily involved in individual sports, 32 in team-of-two sports, and 32 in larger team sports. Males and females were equally represented in each group. Preference for team sports was related to lower levels of social alienation in male and female participants. Higher levels of self-esteem were found among males involved in individual sports and females participating in team sports.

Self-Concepts of Korean High School Students as Related to Socio-Economic Status

To investigate the relationships of self-concept to socio-economic status, the Self-concept Questionnaire of 30 adjective items was administered to 349 Korean high school students. They were divided into two groups: 177 high and 172 low socio-economic groups, using school type as the primary index of social class and father's occupation as the secondary index. Socioeconomic status was not significantly related to self-concept in spite of the highly stratified nature of the Korean society. High-status students, however, generally showed more positive self-concepts. Apparent reason for the lack of relationship was discussed in terms of a social learning view.

THE PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PHYSIOLOGICAL DYNAMICS OF A SIMPLE CONVERSATION

Two experiments examined several variables that influence first impressions between previously unacquainted, opposite gender participants. The first experiment investigated the relationship among measures of extroversion, cheerfulness, and attractiveness during a first encounter. Results showed that measures of attractiveness did not correlate with measures of extroversion and cheerfulness. The second experiment examined galvanic skin response (GSR) from male and female couples engaged in conversation. The results showed a significant direct relationship between the electrical conductivity of the skin for 10 pairs of participants who were engaged in a simple conversation.

Self-esteem of adolescent females as related to race, economic status, and area of residence

The Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale was used to measure the self-esteem of 109 14- and 16-yr.-old (+/- 6 mo.) girls. The self-esteem scores were categorized by economic status, race, and area of residence. For urban girls mean self-esteem of upper economic status subjects was significantly higher than that of those at the lower economic status. The self-esteem of upper economic status urban girls was significantly higher than the self-esteem of their rural peers. Finally, the self-esteem of the urban black girls was significantly higher than the self-esteem of the urban white girls.

THE EFFECTS OF SOCIAL CLASS DIFFERENCES ON THE SELF-CONCEPTS OF SOME NIGERIAN ADOLESCENTS

A purpose-built Semantic Differential Scale was administered to 372 adolescents. One hundred and eighteen of them came from middle class homes while two hundred and fifty four came from lower socioeconomic homes. There were two hundred and sixty four boys, and one hundred and eight girls. Their mean age was 16.7 years. The results showed that adolescents from middle class homes had more significantly positive self-concepts than those from lower class homes. The lower class adolescents had more positive self-concepts than their counterparts on only the religious – non-religious scale (p < .001). The observed differences were discussed. It was suggested that concerted effort should be made in homes and schools to enhance the self-concepts of adolescents, particularly those from low socio-economic status groups.

Parental Self-Actualization and Children's Self-Concept

The relation between parental self-actualization and the self-concept of the junior high-school-aged child was investigated. The subjects were 154 families (39 of whom had 2 children). Self-actualization was measured by the Personal Orientation Inventory and self-concept by the Tennessee Self-concept Scale. Girls showed a stronger relationship to their parents than did boys; fathers had a greater influence on their children than did mothers, and the strongest sex combination was father-daughter. Few rs were significant; all were low and accounted for small amounts of common variance.