Racial Group Concept and Self-Esteem in Black Children

Abstract

The relationship of racial group concepts (racial preference and racial attitudes) to general and specific self-esteem in Black children was examined. The study also attempted to validate the belief of Nobles (1973) that racial group attitudes influence the Black American's concept of "self." The subjects were 210 Black children in grades three to six. A Black experimenter administered a variation of the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory to measure general and specific self-esteem, and a measure designed after the PRAM II test to measure racial preference and racial attitude. Results indicated no linear relationships between racial group concepts and general or specific self-esteem, but more complex relationships were found. Significant grade-level differences were found, along with physical/appearance esteem, as the single best predictor of general self-esteem.

Experimenter effects on ingroup preference and self-concept of urban aboriginal children

“…This finding was supported by the significant difference between the two constructs, and supports the findings of Katz et al (1975) and M.L. Clark (1982). In the context of the present study, at least, it was not necessary to sacrifice a positive ingroup identity to achieve a positive selfconcept (and vice versa), as seemed to occur with Corenblum and Annis' (1993) participants.…”

“…M.L. Clark (1982) found no relationship between ingroup preference and self-esteem, while Hughes and Demo (1989) found a positive relationship between racialesteem and self-esteem. One study with native Canadian children found a negative relationship between ingroup preference and self-esteem (Corenblum & Annis.…”

“…But, like M.L. Clark (1982), the knowledge of these stereotypes does not seem to affect their self-concept. As discussed previously, it may be that they are not using the dominant culture for comparison.…”

Understanding Leadership Development in African American Youth

“…In general, Black male youths demonstrate higher levels of self-esteem than their Anglo American cohorts-in many ways, social scientists have been so perplexed by this phenomenon to the point that there is a continued effort to find some pathological cause for high self-esteem levels in black youth (Clark, 1992;Whaley, 1993). For example, Osborne (1995Osborne ( , 1997 refers to high levels of perceived self-esteem in black males who have low academic achievement as the "disidentification" hypothesis.…”

“…In the school setting, African American youth are underrepresented in gifted education programs (Bonner, 2000). In fact, a great deal of education research literature has focused on the perceived social inadequacies of black youth in comparison to their Anglo American cohorts on differences in scholastic achievement, identity development, and levels of self-esteem (Clark, 1992). Studies in these areas tend to describe black youth as less intelligent, bicultural in self-concept, and less confident about their ability to achieve.…”