Self-Concepts among Afro-American Students in Racially Isolated Minority Schools: Some Regional Differences

Powell, Gloria J.

doi:10.1016/s0002-7138(09)60439-8

Cited by 13 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…This finding corroborates the findings with African American (Powell, 1985;Spencer, 1984) and Native American (Beuf, 1977) children. This hypothesis was confirmed.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

“…For the majority of the children, we did not find that self-esteem was associated with self-chosen skin color. This conclusion was also supported by Powell's (1985) research. Beuf (1977) stated that Native American children's preference for white dolls is not a measure of their low self-esteem but their desire for the status and power of Whites.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 69%

“…In Cross's (1991) discussion of the Clarks's (Clark & Clark, 1947) and Horowitz's (Horowitz, 1939) early research, he pointed out that the preference for light skin color these researchers observed was mistakenly interpreted as evidence for low self-esteem. He argued that later research (e.g., Beuf, 1977;Powell, 1985;Spencer, 1984) demonstrated that a pro-White choice, observed in some dark-skinned children, is not necessarily associated with low self-esteem. Rather, it is an indication that minority children are aware of mainstream society's preference for lighter skin color.…”

Section: Skin Color and Affectmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Color of My Skin: A Measure to Assess Children's Perceptions of Their Skin Color

Alarcón

Szalacha²,

Erkut³

et al. 2000

Applied Developmental Science

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The Color of My Skin is an instrument developed to assess children's internalized idea (abstraction) of the color of their skin; their satisfaction with that color; the desire, if any, to change the color of their skin; and their affect regarding their skin color. The assessment is part of a questionnaire utilized in a 3-year longitudinal study that examines psychosocial development, physical health, and behavioral adjustment of Puerto Rican children (N = 257) reared in the Greater Boston area. The results demonstrate that children's internalized representation of their skin color is a construct that can be reliably and validly measured. The children's ratings of their skin color were not associated with their sex, school grade, ethnic identity, the child's or the parent's nativity, or the racial or ethnic compositions of 3 social contexts: their neighborhood, their classmates, and their closest friends. Puerto Rican children did not show a preference for light-colored skin. Moreover, there were no significant differences in self-esteem based on the child's self-reported skin color. The lack of association between self-esteem and skin color was interpreted in light of a developmental tendency prevalent in early to middle childhood to place a positive value on different aspects of one's self. Whereas almost all children (96%) reported being happy or very happy with their color, 16% of the children would like to change their skin color if they could (51% to a lighter and 46% to a darker color).

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“…This finding corroborates the findings with African American (Powell, 1985;Spencer, 1984) and Native American (Beuf, 1977) children. This hypothesis was confirmed.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 69%

Section: Skin Color and Affectmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The Color of My Skin: A Measure to Assess Children's Perceptions of Their Skin Color

Alarcón

Szalacha²,

Erkut³

et al. 2000

Applied Developmental Science

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“…On the other hand, our results might be due to cultural differences in belief systems and their relationships to performance among the three groups. Although academic self-concept is consistently related to academic achievement in Caucasian American children (Byrne, 1984;Kurtz-Costes and Schneider, 1994;Marsh, 1990), some evidence indicates that this relationship might be less pronounced among African Americans (Lay and Wakstein, 1985;Powell, 1973Powell, , 1985. Relatedly, Black adolescents show a higher discrepancy between self-ratings of their performance and their actual performance than do White adolescents, with self-ratings of Blacks unrealistically high (Fulkerson et al, 1983).…”

Section: Cultural Differences In Self-system Beliefsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Motivational determinants of reading comprehension: A comparison of French, Caucasian–American, and African–American adolescents

Kurtz‐Costes¹,

Ehrlich

McCall³

et al. 1995

Applied Cognitive Psychology

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The relationships between adolescents' reading comprehension and their metacognitive knowledge and self-system beliefs were studied in three groups of subjects: French nationals, Caucasian Americans, and African Americans. Subjects were tested on measures of reading comprehension, metacognitive knowledge about reading processes, attributional beliefs, and academic self-concept. Correlation and regression analyses indicated cultural differences in the predictors of reading comprehension among the three groups. For French and Caucasian Americans, reading comprehension scores were related to metacognitive knowledge, academic self-concept, and attributions of success to ability. However, metacognition and motivational beliefs were mostly unrelated to comprehension performance for African Americans. Results are discussed in terms of verification of a model of motivational influences on performance, of cultural and ethnic group differences in beliefs, and the implications for generalizability of research results.A growing body of research has addressed motivational influences on individuals' performances in cognitive domains. A starting point for this research is the assumption that cognitive competence is not sufficient for excellent performance; rather, children must be motivated to use their competencies and, relatedly, must have the belief systems that promote effortful performance in order to succeed on challenging We wish to thank Kenneth Levine for assistance with data collection and coding. Portions of this work were completed while Beth Kurtz-Costes was an 352 B. Kurtz-Costes et al.cognitive tasks. The present research was aimed at better understanding the relationship between young adolescents' belief systems and their reading comprehension performance, and at examining potential ethnic differences in this relationship. This research was guided by a model linking children's metacognitive knowledge and regulation to their motivational beliefs about their abilities and about the factors underlying successful performance (Borkowski, Carr, Rellinger, and Pressley, 1990; Schneider, 1987, 1990). According to this model, children who possess accurate knowledge about cognitive processes (i.e. metacognitive knowledge) recognize that effortful performance is necessary for consistent success. Further, children who believe both that they are capable of success (i.e. positive academic self-concept) and that successful outcomes are the result of their own ability and effort expenditure will be more likely to succeed than peers who have maladaptive beliefs Omelich, 1979, 1985). Adaptive beliefs-including a belief in one's own ability as well as the importance of effort in determining task outcomes-serve a motivational role on challenging tasks. Thus children who have adaptive beliefs will be more likely to try hard. Effortful performance, especially in conjunction with appropriate strategy use, will enhance the probability of success .A number of studies have provided evidence supporting this model (Carr and Borkowski, 198...

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“…Paradoxically, from the late 1960s onwards, sociological and educational research has repeatedly demonstrated that ethnic minority children (mostly African American) in fact exhibit equal or even higher selfesteem in de facto segregated schools than in desegregated schools, that is, schools with a higher share of ethnic majority (mostly White) pupils (Drury, 1980;Gray-Little & Hafdahl, 2000;Powell, 1985;Rosenberg & Simmons, 1972;Stephan, 1978). This evidence of the potential harmful consequences of school desegregation on self-esteem has been used as a major argument against school desegregation policies (see Bankston & Zhou, 2002).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ethnic School Segregation and Self-Esteem

2012

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The authors examine whether school segregation is related to pupils' global self-esteem and whether this association is mediated by teacher-pupil relationships. Multilevel analyses based on a survey of 2,845 pupils (aged 10 to 12) in 68 primary schools in Belgian urban areas reveal that, for native-Belgian pupils, a higher proportion of immigrants at school is associated with increasing self-esteem. Initially no such association was found for immigrant pupils, as the effect of schools' ethnic composition on their self-esteem was suppressed by teacher-pupil relationships. For both groups, experiences of supportive relationships with teachers were largely associated with selfesteem.

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Self-Concepts among Afro-American Students in Racially Isolated Minority Schools: Some Regional Differences

Cited by 13 publications

References 15 publications

The Color of My Skin: A Measure to Assess Children's Perceptions of Their Skin Color

The Color of My Skin: A Measure to Assess Children's Perceptions of Their Skin Color

Motivational determinants of reading comprehension: A comparison of French, Caucasian–American, and African–American adolescents

Ethnic School Segregation and Self-Esteem

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