- Email: [email protected]
The stability of self-concept in late adolescence: Gender and situational effects
Person. idkid. 015 Vol. I I, No.9. pp. 937-944, Printed in Great Britain. All rights reserved
1990 Copyright
0191~8869,90 $3.00 + 0.00 C 1990 Pergamon Press plc
THE STABILITY OF SELF-CONCEPT IN LATE ADOLESCENCE: GENDER AND SITUATIONAL EFFECTS ED
CAIRNS’*,LIZ MCWHIRTER?,URSULLADUFFY’ and ROBERTBARRY~
‘Departmentof Psychology, University of Ulster, Coleraine and *Policy Planning and Research Unit. Department of Finance and Personnel, Stormont, Belfast, Northern Ireland (Receiaed 29 November 1989)
Summary-The present study examined the stability of various aspects of the self concept as advocated by Harter [Curmichoel’s manual of child psychology (Vol. 4). 19831over an I8 month period. This was done using three contrasting groups of adolescents, those who remained in a relatively stable environment-full-time education in the same school, those who also stayed on in full-time education but changed schools and those who moved from full-time education to full-time work. The study also examined the possibility of changes in the centrality of these various aspects of self in relation to overall self-esteem due both to the passage of time and changing environment. The participants were drawn from a pool of 2490 young people (53% girls) who were interviewed in late 1985 when the average age was I7 yr and who had completed the same questionnaires some 18 months earlier. The results indicated that overall there was evidence of relative stability especially amongst those whose environment had remained stable while the trend was for modest positive increases in almost all aspects of self-esteem over the time period examined. Gender differences (favouring males) were also common. However, there were no interactions between either gender and time or between post-school situation and time. Finally, the results, while only examining five aspects of the self, indicate the complexity of this whole area and in particular that different aspects of self appear to be relatively independent of each other and of overall self-esteem and that all may be open to various influences including those of gender, time and situation.
Despite the fact that psychologists have long recognized the importance of self-esteem relatively little, either theoretically or empirically, has been achieved in this area (Harter, 1983). Part of the problem (Bachman & O’Malley, 1977) is the tradition of regarding the self as a global concept. As a result (Savin-Williams & Dembo, 1984) the majority of studies have tended to employ just one pencil and paper measure of self-esteem. Harter’s work, however (see Harter, 1983 for a review), has helped to make clear the complexities of the self because of her insistence on the fact that the self consists of different dimensions, of which she suggests competence, moral worth, acceptance and locus of control are perhaps the most important, along with her suggestion that these dimensions are not highly correlated with each other nor indeed with overall self-esteem. Another area in which, until recently, simple views have tended to prevail is that involving the question of the stability of the self over time. For many years the accepted view was that the self and particularly self-esteem is a relatively enduring characteristic of the individual. This idea has of course been challenged at least at one particular time period-that of adolescence. Here the typical clinical picture has been that of discontinuity. However, empirical research has recently begun to reverse this view (Marsh, 1985) instead suggesting that relative stability of self-concept during adolescence is more the norm with those changes which do occur evolving slowly (Savin-Williams & Dembo, 1984). According to Harter (1983) however, this whole issue of stability is one which remains to be fully explored. In particular she suggests that what is required is that “we consider the issue of stability from a developmental perspective, taking account not only of age changes but differences in the environmental context”. Only a small number of studies have attempted to examine the self during periods of transition. Further, as Hirsch and Rapkin (1987) note almost all of these have involved transition from one type of school to another and in addition have suffered from the absence of a suitable comparison group that did not make a school transition. These two issues, that of the global status of self and its stability over time are both related to a third issue-the question of whether different dimensions of the self come to be central at different *Completion of this study was aided by a grant from the Economic and Social Research Council (U.K.) to the first author, to whom all correspondence should be addressed. 937
938
ED CAIRNS el al.
times during development or indeed as a result of changing circumstances. Bachman and O’Malley were perhaps the first to suggest that there can be variations in this way and that “changes in the relative weights of the several components which jointly determine self-esteem” may be detectable. Certainly this is an issue that various investigators have speculated about though relatively few have produced actual empirical evidence. For example Simmons, Burgeson, Carlton-Ford and Blyth (1987) noted that the phenomenon where girls become more vulnerable to stress over time may be because of the greater emphasis placed on peer regard and looks as they pass through adolescence. Similarly Bachman and O’Malley (1977) suggest that for boys but not girls athletic ability is a more central dimension and in a similar vein Harter (1983) has suggested that a sense of control becomes more critical to one’s self evaluation at certain developmental periods. Other investigators have dealt with the same idea by suggesting that (Mullener & Laird, 1971) self-esteem undergoes increasing differentiation with age. This is a view which has recently been advocated by Marsh (1985) who suggests that with age the number of dimensions which are central to one’s overall sense of self-worth increases. The present study therefore set out to examine the stability of various aspects of the self concept as advocated by Harter (1983) including locus of control during an important but under-researched developmental period that of late adolescence. In addition an attempt was made to examine the stability of the self not only over time but also in two groups undergoing varying degrees of situational change, compared to one who’s environment remained relatively stable. Finally, this study also took the opportunity to examine the possibility of changes in the centrality of these various aspects of self in relation to overall self-esteem due both to the passage of time and changing circumstances.
METHOD Subjects
The Ss in the present study were drawn from a pool of 2490 young people (53% girls) who were interviewed in late 1985 when the average age was 17 yr. These young people were originally selected as part of a 1: 10 sample of those in their last year of compulsory education in Northern Ireland in 1984 as part of a government commissioned study (McWhirter, Duffy, Barry & McGuinnes, 1987). All the young people (n = 2890) were required to complete a lengthy questionnaire while still at school in April 1984, and were then followed up and interviewed individually in October/November 1984 (n = 2745) and again in October/November 1985 (n = 2490). Measures
In both April 1984 and in late 1985 each person completed, among other things, the Harter Perceived Competence Scale for Children (Harter, 1982). This scale consists of four subscales which social and athletic (originally measure self-assessed competence in three areas-cognitive, labelled physical by Harter) plus a fourth independent scale which measures general feelings of worth or self-esteem. In addition each respondent completed the Nowicki-Strickland Locus of Control Scale (Nowicki & Strickland, 1973) which is a generalized locus of control measure for use with children and young people. Also both in late 1984 and late 1985 a record was obtained as to the young person’s current economic activity, for example whether they were still at school, in employment, unemployed or on a government sponsored scheme.
RESULTS
Table 1 provides the basic information for the whole sample for whom data were available (reduced both because of attrition and missing data) including a measure of internal consistency for each scale-Cronbach’s Z. As Table 1 reveals this was reasonably high for the Harter scales in particular.
Stability of self-concept in late adolescence
939
Table I. Means. SDS, z and ns for the total sample who completed measure at each time Mean
Scale
Harm Perceiced Competence Cognitive (TI) 2.59 Cognitive (T2) 2.64 Social (TI) 2.89 Social (T2) 2.9 I Athletic (TI) 2.57 Athletic (T2) 2.60 Esteem (TI) 2.66 Esteem (T2) 2.71 Locus of control Locus (Tl) 8.13 Locus (T2) 6.12
SD
Testretest
?1
Scale 0.51 0.48 0.45 0.41 0.63 0.56 0.51 0.46
0.75 0.75 0.70 0.66 0.83 0.81 0.73 0.72
3.33 3.44
0.62 0.68
each
n
0.50
2543 2357 2524 2353 2565 2361 2562 2364
0.46 0.67 0.47
2803 2429
0.5 I
Tl = Time I; T2 = Time 2
THE
STABILITY
OF
IDEAS
ABOUT
THE
SELF
In order to examine the consistency of these measures over time correlations were computed between Time 1 and Time 2. These correlations are displayed in Table 1. This reveals that for all the scales the correlations are relatively modest (once again ns are reduced because of missing data). However, it could be argued that given the long time interval and the fact that for many of the young people involved this was a time of change, such results are not surprising. One way to examine this explanation for the rather low test-retest correlations noted in Table 2 is to obtain the same information but this time from three different groups of young people-those whose environment remained relatively stable over the time interval involved and others for whom the environment changed either in a subtle way or more radically. The most obvious subgroups who fit these descriptions (and which have relatively large ns) are first those who remained in full-time education after age 16 and were still in full-time education, and attending the same school (n = 446), when they completed the scales again at age 17 in late 1985. Those whose environment altered in a more subtle way are a further group who remained in full-time education but who began to attend a new school in September 1984 which they were still attending in late 1985 (n = 326). Finally, there are those young people who by late 1984 had already left school and taken up full-time employment and were still in full-time employment in late 1985 (n = 337). Tables 2-7 contain (on the diagonal) the test-retest correlations for these three subgroups which are displayed separately by gender both for theoretical reasons and because the vast majority of Table 2. Employed Esteem Esteem Cognitive Social Athletic Locus Mean SD
(0.38) 0.3 I 0.43 0.26 -0.30 2.83 0.43
group:
Males, Time
Cognitive
I
Social
0.36 (0.47) 0.2 I 0.12 -0.24 2.58 0.46
0.43 0.30 (0.31) 0.42 -0.28 2.98 0.36
above the diagonal, Athletic 0.25 0.13 0.29 (0.59) -0.19 2.79 0.49
Time 2 below Locus
Mean
SD
-0.39 -0.42 -0.35 -0.17 (0.42) 6.72 3.29
2.77 2.55 2.90 2.80 8.28
0.50 0.51 0.38 0.62 3.28
n = 189 at Time I and 166 at Time 2: r ~0.16; P <0.05. Figures in parentheses are test-retest correlations.
Esteem Cognitive Social Athletic Locus Mean SD
Table 3. Employed
group:
Esteem
Coanitive
(0.37) 0.32 0.42 0.20 -0.18 2.61 0.49
0.44 (0.37) 0.20 0.07 -0.19 2.46 0.46
Females,
Time I above the diagonal, Social 0.44 0.28 (0.47) 0.16 -0.15 2.87 0.42
n = I41 at Time I and 148 at Time 2: I >0.17; P <0.05. Figures in parentheses are test-retest correlations. PAID
I I 9-E
Athletic 0.32 0.34 0.42 (0.49) -0.15 2.41 0.49
Time 2 below LOCUS
Mean
SD
-0.29 -0.29 -0.26 -0.29 (0.37) 8.04 3.22
2.52 2.37 2.93 2.46 9.07
0.41 0.48 0.44 0.55 3.24
940
ED CAIRNS et al.
Table 4. Different Esteem Esteem Cognitive SKIal Athletic LOCUS Mean SD
(0.57) 0.52 0.60 0.44 -0.23 2.8 I 0.46
school:
Males, Time
Cwnitive
I
above the diagonal.
Social
0.36 (0.37) 0.26 0.27 -0.01 2.80 0.44
Athletic
0.61 0.22 (0.54) 0.49 -0.11 2.91 0.41
0.46 0.30 0.65 (0.74) -0.16 2.75 0.56
Time 2 below LOCUS
Mean
SD
-0.47 -0.31 -0.46 -0.49 (0.49) 6. IS 3.05
2.71 2.52 2.8 I 2.69 7.64
0.52 O-U 0.46 0.70 3 42
n = 97 at Time I and 96 at Time 2: r >O.Zl; P ~0.05. Figures in parentheses are test-retest correlations.
Table 5. Different
Esteem Cognitive Social Athletic LOCUS MGUl SD
school:
Females,
Time
I above the diagonal.
Esteem
Cognitive
Social
Athletic
(0.38) 0.47 0.4 I 0.24 -0.19 2.69 0.46
0.46 (0.36) 0.25 0.20 -0.24 2.71 0.43
0.45 0.12 (0.47) 0.29 -0.14 2.98 0.42
0.29 0.2 I 0.37 (0.72) -0.14 2.47 0.59
Time 2 below LOCUS
Mean
SD
-0.21 -0.21 -0.14 -0.18 (0.49) 6.55 3.29
2.61 2.60 2.96 2.50 8.16
0.51 0.55 0.45 0.64 3.14
n = 229 at Time I and 207 at Time 2: I > 0.14; P < 0.05 Figures in parentheses are test-retest correlations.
the two groups who remained in full-time education were female. These correlations indicate that indeed there is rather more evidence of stability over time for the two groups who remained at school compared to those who left to take up full-time employment. Further, this conclusion appears to hold for both genders and for all the measures examined. The one exception to this would appear to be the cognitive subscale where those who remained at the same school only, showed signs of much greater stability compared to either of the other two groups. It is tempting therefore, to conclude from this that those who remained in a stable environment retained a broadly similar view of themselves in all five domains while those who entered a new environment altered the way they saw themselves, perhaps in all five areas when the environment was radically different or only slightly if the new environment differed only slightly from the old. In order to explore these ideas further repeated measures analyses of variance were carried out with Time (Time I and Time 2) as the within factor and Group (Employed, Same school, Different school) and Gender as the between factors. Because of the large numbers involved it was decided to report only those results that were statistically significant at the 0.01 level or beyond.
Table 6. Same school: Esteem Esteem Cognitive Social Athletic LOCUS Mean SD
(0.55) 0.53 0.57 0.35 -0.24 2.84 0.46
Males, Time I above the diagonal,
Cognitive 0.35 (0.61) 0.31 0. I5 -0.24 2.84 0.48
Social 0.40 0.07 (0.54) 0.46 -0.28 2.94 0.37
Athletic 0.25 0.08 0.45 (0.77) -0.10 2.74 0.50
Time 2 below LOCUS
Mean
SD
-0.26 -0.33 -0.20 0.07 (0.60) 5.93 3.55
2.78 2.89 2.82 2.76 7.12
0.51 0.42 0.45 0.65 3.94
n = 150 at Time I and 151 at Time 2: I aO.16; P ~0.05. Figures in parentheses are test-retest correlations.
Table 7. Same school: Esteem Esteem Cognitive Social Athletic LOCUS Meall SD
(0.48) 0.27 0.48 0.25 -0.40 2.66 0.49
Females,
Cognitive 0.44 (0.63) 0.16 0.02 -0.12 2.79 0.49
Time
I above the diagonal,
Social 0.43 0.09 (0.54) 0.26 -0.24 2.98 0.39
n = 295 at Time I and 297 at Time 2: r > 0.14; P < 0.05. Figures in parentheses are test-retest correlations.
Athletic 0.30 0.10 0.40 (0.77) -0.19 2.53 0.63
Time 2 below LOCUS
Mean
SD
-0.28 -0.27 -0.22 -0.15 (0.50) 5.73 3.18
2.58 2.74 2.84 2.52 6.67
0.49 0.52 0.46 0.63 2.96
Stability
of self-concept
in late adolescence
941
Cognitive competence
Analyses of these scores revealed a main effect for Groups d.f. (2,1054), F = 50.74, P c 0.000. Examination of the means suggested that those who remained at the same school scored at the highest level (2.80) those who changed school scored at a somewhat lower level (2.69), while those who left school to enter the world of work scored at the lowest level (2.51) on this variable. There were also main effects for Time, d.f. (1,1054), F = 8.37, P c 0.004, and for Gender, d.f. (1,1054), F = 19.94, P < 0.004 and also a Gender x Time interaction d.f. (1,1054), F = 8.49, P < 0.004. The means for this interaction suggest that while males remained constant in terms of their assessment of their cognitive competence (Time 1 = 2.72, Time 2 = 2.72) females self-assessed cognitive competence increased from 2.62 at Time 1 to 2.70 at Time 2. Athletic competence
Only a main effect for Gender was significant d.f. (1,1504), F = 54.51, P < 0.000. This indicated that males assessed themselves much more highly in terms of their athletic competence (2.76) than did females (2.49). Social competence
There was only one statistically
significant result-a
main effect for Time, d.f. (1,1036),
F = 12.14, P < 0.001 due to the fact that self-assessed social competence scores rose slightly from Time I (2.90) to Time 2 (2.95). Ocerall esteem
Again there was a main effect for Time d.f. (1,1068), F = 13.69, P < 0.000 with esteem scores increasing somewhat from 2.65 at Time 1 to 2.72 at Time 2. Also there was a main effect for Gender d.f. (1.1068) F = 52.21, P < 0.000 with males scoring at a higher level (2.80) compared to females (2.61). Locus of control
A main effect for Groups d.f. (1,1069), F = 36.73, P < 0.000 indicated that those who had remained at the same school had the most internal orientation (6.30) compared to those who had moved to a different school (7.21) or those who had taken up employment (8.01). There was also a main effect for Time d.f. (1,1068) F = 154.40, P < 0.000 and a Time x Gender interaction d.f. (2,1068), F = 4.87, P < 0.008. The relevant means indicate that females displayed a more external orientation compared to males in the group who entered employment (8.55 vs 7.57) and in the group who changed schools (7.27 vs 6.78). However, in the group who remained at school, if anything, this trend was reversed with females scoring 6.22 and males 6.48. THE
DIFFERENTIATION
OF SELF-ESTEEM
Tables 2-7 also contain the intercorrelations between all the separate measures for each gender in each group at each time of testing. It is of course difficult to discern a pattern over such a large number of correlations. Nevertheless it would appear safe to suggest that regardless of subgroup or gender or time of testing there is a tendency for the cognitive and social subscales to be relatively independent, as are the cognitive and athletic subscales, while the social and athletic subscales display a modest but positive correlation. Also where relationships with general esteem are concerned, both the social and cognitive subscales are usually positively correlated, the athletic subscale less so. Finally, the Locus of Control scale appears to be negatively correlated with all the other variables, the size of this correlation being of approximately the same order of magnitude across variables within each data set. In order to explore further the relationships with general self-esteem a series of stepwise multiple regression analyses (see Tables 8-10) was carried out. Two sub-groups showed an increase over time in the amount of variance accounted for in self-worth scores-both groups of boys who remained at school. For boys who remained at the same school the increase was from 26 to 47% while for boys who changed school the increase was from 44 to 53%. Only one group showed a
ED CAIRNSer al.
942 Table 8. Multiale
renrcssion
analvses:
variance
accounted
for in nencral self-esteem:
Boys Ttmc
I
Social Locus Cognitive Totals
Time 2 Social Cognitive Locus
(18) (6) (3) 27%
Table 9. Multiple
regression
analyses:
Time
variance
I
Cognitive Social
(18) (5) (2) 25%
Time
(17) (6)
32%
accounted
for in general
23%
self-esteem:
different
school group
Girls
I
Time 2 Social Cognitive Locus
(37) (5) (2) 44%
arouo
Time 2 Social Cognitive
(21) (11)
Boys
Social Cognitive Locus Totals
cmolovcd
Girls
Time 2
Time I (36) (14) (3) 53%
Cognitive Social
Cognitive Social
(21) (16)
(22) (9) 31%
37%
marked decrease over time-girls who left school to take up employment-where the proportion of variance in general self-worth accounted for dropped from 32 to 23% from Time 1 to Time 2. For the boys’ groups the social subscale was always the best predictor of self-esteem regardless of subgroup or time of testing. For the girls, however, the cognitive subscale was the best single predictor for every group at Time 1 and for two of the three groups at Time 2. Finally, in general the social and cognitive subscales were the major predictors of self-esteem in all cases with the Locus of Control measure figuring less often and then only in a very minor way, while the athletic subscale only made a unique contribution to the prediction of self-esteem for one group, girls who remained at the same school, and even then only accounted for 1% of the variance on both occasions. DISCUSSION To begin with it is important to note that the results in Table 1, particularly those with the Harter Scale lend some confidence to the use of both the Harter and the Norwicke-Strickland scale with young people at this age level. a Indicates fairly reasonable levels of internal consistency while the means and standard deviations provide no evidence of ceiling effects such as might have been expected. It is also of interest to note that the means on the Harter scales are always above the scale mid-point of 2.5 and that, at both times of testing, and for all groups except one, the highest means were recorded on the social subscale. Further, all the Harter means, with the exception of the athletic subscale, showed an increase over time. In addition the Locus of Control means reflected a change from outer to inner directed perception of self. It would appear, therefore, that on average the young people in this study had come to perceive themselves as rather more competent, both socially and cognitively and to value their general self-worth rather more and to feel that they were now rather more in charge of their own destiny. These results therefore, are broadly in line with those of other investigators who have also noted a gradual rise in measures of self-concept at similar time periods (e.g. Bachman & O’Malley, 1977; Savin-Williams & Dembo, 1984) and certainly provide no evidence of any discontinuity of development associated with the demise of adolescence. The test-retest correlations for the total sample presented in Table 1 are difficult to evaluate. They are, as noted above, rather modest, but given the long time interval involved (18 months) Table
IO. Multiple
regression
analyses:
variance
accounted
for in general self-esteem:
Totals
(16) (IO)
26%
Social Cognitive
Time 2
Time I
Time 2
Time I Social Cognitive
same school group
Girls
Boys
(33) (14)
47%
Cognitive Social Athletic
(19) (15) (1) 35%
Social LOCUS Cognitive Athletic
(23) (9) (3) (1) 36%
Stability
of self-concept
in late adolescence
943
are nevertheless generally impressive. Further, it is evident from these results and from the results from the various subgroups (see Tables 2-7) that for all groups, but particularly the two groups who remained in the educational system, the assessment of athletic competence shows by far the greatest test-retest stability. Indeed, if one selects only Ss who have remained in a fairly stable environment, then the evidence for the stability of self-concept is strengthened. The exception to this rule is that those who changed school showed less stability where self-assessed cognitive competence was concerned. Overall, however, one gets the distinct impression from Tables 2 to 7 that there is more evidence for stability among those who have not changed environments and perhaps also more evidence for stability among boys than girls. The results of the repeated measures analyses of variance, however, only support some of these impressions. To begin with they indicate that on virtually all of the measures involved, with the exception of athletic competence, there was a significant positive change over time. The absolute size of the increases involved were, however, minimal and therefore, these results could be interpreted as supporting the general impression that the period of late adolescence is one of relative stability. However, what is perhaps remarkable about these results is that they provide no evidence of any interaction between time and situation. In other words, this move towards a more positive assessment of self appears to be a process which continues despite quite marked situational changes. It is also interesting to note that the results presented in Tables 2-7 bear a close resemblance to the results reported by Harter (1982) for samples which covered a much younger age range and which indeed came from a different culture. There is a notable relationship between the social and athletic subscales while the relationship between the social and cognitive subscales is rather weaker and that between cognitive and athletic virtually zero in several samples. The general self-worth subscale appears to be positively, if modestly related to the other three subscales and negatively related to locus of control. Harter (1982) suggested that the social/athletic correlation could be interpreted as suggesting that among her younger Ss one’s athletic prowess is a determinant of one’s peer popularity and if this interpretation is correct it would appear to hold even at a much older age level. The results in Tables 8-10 indicate that, with the exception of one group, the measures used in the present study account for only a small part of overall variance in general self-esteem. Further, it would appear that at this age level perceived social and cognitive competence are the best predicators of the overall score with locus of control figuring in a very minor role if at all. Perhaps surprisingly even for boys perceived athletic competence did not relate to overall self-esteem when the role of the other three components had been accounted for. This would appear to be due to the fact that at this age level at least no unique variance accounted for by the athletic subscale remains after the social subscale has been taken into account. These results therefore confirm Harter’s ideas that the separate components of the self do not necessarily correlate highly with her overall measure of self worth and extends this finding to a later age range. The multiple regressions on general self esteem provide no support for the contention that with age the self becomes increasingly differentiated. Of course the present study was limited in the constructs made available to each respondent and this may account for the failure to find evidence to support the differentiation hypothesis. Neither do these results support Bachman and O’Malley’s (1977) finding that at later stages “educational success and its correlates seemed to grow less central to the self-esteem”. This is particularly important because these authors had issued the caveat that this finding could have simply represented a generational phenomenon because their work was completed during the late 1960s when, according to them, “society placed less emphasis upon education and educational success” (Bachman & O’Malley, 1977). Further, it is interesting that perceived social competence was not a more important determinant of self-esteem for girls compared to boys. Indeed if anything the opposite was true. It is unlikely therefore, that girls become more vulnerable to stress in adolescence because of greater emphasis placed on peer regard as suggested by Simmons et al. (1987). The fact that perceived cognitive competence was more likely to be the major determinant of self-esteem for girls in turn may well be related to a recent report by Wilson and Cairns (1988) that cognitive competence is more strongly related to depression in girls than in boys. This, Wilson and Cairns suggested, could be linked to indications in the literature that, compared to boys, the academic failings of girls are made more salient in school and are more likely to be attributed directly to intellectual failing. This in
94-!
ED CAIRNSet al.
turn could be linked to the finding in the present study that boys tended to rate themselves more highly than girls on three of the five measures, a result which has been partially replicated at a younger age level by Granleese, Trew and Turner (1988). and indeed to the claim made by Ladd and Price (1986) that in fact boys tend to over estimate their cognitive competence compared to girls who tend to underestimate. Certainly this is an area which deserves further study and in particular the finding in the present study that girls may be continuing to assess themselves more positively in terms of cognitive competence while boys’ levels remained stable is one which needs to be replicated and explored further. Also worthy of further investigation is the relationship between locus of control and the various aspects of self-concept under study here. Harter (1979) suggested that “. . . the more a child is intrinsically motivated, the greater will be his or her sense of competence”. The present results appear to support this viewpoint. The locus of control measure correlated negatively with every other measure for all subgroups. Further in the context of the present results the majority of these correlations were reasonably substantial including those correlations between overall esteem and locus of control. However, the multiple regressions suggest that locus of control does not make any independknt contribution to overall self-esteem when other variables are taken into account. This calls into question the direct role of locus of control in the overall assessment of self. In conclusion therefore, the results of this study suggest that late adolescence is a time when modest increases in self-assessment of various aspects of the self-concept can be expected. However, there was no support for the view that marked changes in situation would lead to corresponding changes in self-perception. This finding is in contrast to some of the earlier work noted above. However, much of the earlier research was done with much younger adolescents. It may well be that by late adolescence/early adulthood young people are better able to cope with change. Or indeed the contrast may be due to the fact that in early adolescence changes such as those from one school to another are not occurring in isolation from other important life changes (Simmons et al., 1987). Finally, the present study while only examining five aspects of the self still serves to illustrate the complexity of this whole area and in particular the fact that these different aspects of self are relatively independent and that all are open to various influences including those of gender, time and situation. REFERENCES Bachman,J. G. & O’Malley, P. M. (1977). Self-esteem in young men: A longiitudinal analysis of the impact of educational and occupational attainment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 35, 365-380. Granleese, J., Trew, K. & Turner, I. (1988). Sex differences in perceived competence. Brirish Journal of Social Psychology, 27, 181-184.
Harter, S. (1979).
Manual for rhe perceived comperence scale for children. Denver: University of Denver. Harter. S. (1982). The Perceived Competence Scale for Children. Child Dmelopmenr, 53, 87-97. Harter, S. (1983). Developmental perspectives on the self-system. In Mussen, P. H. (Ed.), Carmichael’s manual o/child psychology (Vol. 4). New York: Wiley. Hirsch, B. J. & Rapkin, B. D. (1987). The transition to Junior High School: A longitudinal study of self-esteem, psychological symptomatology, school life and social support. Child Derelopmenr, 58, 1235-1243. Ladd, G. W. & Price, J. M. (1986). Promoting children’s cognitive and social competence: The relation between parents’ perceptions of task difficulty and children’s perceived and actual competence. Child Deuelopmenr, 57, 446-460. McWhirter, L., Duffy, U., Barry, R. & McGuinnes, G. (1987). Transition from school to work: Cohort evidence. In Osborne, R. D., Cormack, R. J. & Miller, R. L. (Eds), Education andpolicy in Northern Ireland. Belfast: Policy Institute Research. Marsh, H. W. (1985). Age and sex effects in multiple dimensions of preadolescent self-concept: A replication and extension. Ausrralian Journal of Psychology, 37, 197-204.
Mullener. N. & Laird. J. D. (1971). Some developmental changes in the organization of self-evaluations. Deuelopmenfal Psychology, 5, 233-236.
Nowicki. S. & Strickland. B. (1973). A locus of control scale for children. Journal of Consulting and Clincial Psychology, 40, 148-154. ’ Savin-Williams. R. C. & Dembo, D. H. (1984). Developmental change and stability in adolescent self-concept. D~elopmental Psychology, 20, I 100-I 1IO. Simmons, R. G., Burgeson, R., Carlton-Ford, S. & Blyth, D. A. (1987). The impact of cumulative change in early adolescence. Child Development, 58, 1220-I 234. Wilson, R. & Cairns, E. (1988). Sex-role attributes, perceived competence and the development of depression in adolescence. Journal of Child Psychiatry and Psychology, 29, 635-650.
1990 Copyright
0191~8869,90 $3.00 + 0.00 C 1990 Pergamon Press plc
THE STABILITY OF SELF-CONCEPT IN LATE ADOLESCENCE: GENDER AND SITUATIONAL EFFECTS ED
CAIRNS’*,LIZ MCWHIRTER?,URSULLADUFFY’ and ROBERTBARRY~
‘Departmentof Psychology, University of Ulster, Coleraine and *Policy Planning and Research Unit. Department of Finance and Personnel, Stormont, Belfast, Northern Ireland (Receiaed 29 November 1989)
Summary-The present study examined the stability of various aspects of the self concept as advocated by Harter [Curmichoel’s manual of child psychology (Vol. 4). 19831over an I8 month period. This was done using three contrasting groups of adolescents, those who remained in a relatively stable environment-full-time education in the same school, those who also stayed on in full-time education but changed schools and those who moved from full-time education to full-time work. The study also examined the possibility of changes in the centrality of these various aspects of self in relation to overall self-esteem due both to the passage of time and changing environment. The participants were drawn from a pool of 2490 young people (53% girls) who were interviewed in late 1985 when the average age was I7 yr and who had completed the same questionnaires some 18 months earlier. The results indicated that overall there was evidence of relative stability especially amongst those whose environment had remained stable while the trend was for modest positive increases in almost all aspects of self-esteem over the time period examined. Gender differences (favouring males) were also common. However, there were no interactions between either gender and time or between post-school situation and time. Finally, the results, while only examining five aspects of the self, indicate the complexity of this whole area and in particular that different aspects of self appear to be relatively independent of each other and of overall self-esteem and that all may be open to various influences including those of gender, time and situation.
Despite the fact that psychologists have long recognized the importance of self-esteem relatively little, either theoretically or empirically, has been achieved in this area (Harter, 1983). Part of the problem (Bachman & O’Malley, 1977) is the tradition of regarding the self as a global concept. As a result (Savin-Williams & Dembo, 1984) the majority of studies have tended to employ just one pencil and paper measure of self-esteem. Harter’s work, however (see Harter, 1983 for a review), has helped to make clear the complexities of the self because of her insistence on the fact that the self consists of different dimensions, of which she suggests competence, moral worth, acceptance and locus of control are perhaps the most important, along with her suggestion that these dimensions are not highly correlated with each other nor indeed with overall self-esteem. Another area in which, until recently, simple views have tended to prevail is that involving the question of the stability of the self over time. For many years the accepted view was that the self and particularly self-esteem is a relatively enduring characteristic of the individual. This idea has of course been challenged at least at one particular time period-that of adolescence. Here the typical clinical picture has been that of discontinuity. However, empirical research has recently begun to reverse this view (Marsh, 1985) instead suggesting that relative stability of self-concept during adolescence is more the norm with those changes which do occur evolving slowly (Savin-Williams & Dembo, 1984). According to Harter (1983) however, this whole issue of stability is one which remains to be fully explored. In particular she suggests that what is required is that “we consider the issue of stability from a developmental perspective, taking account not only of age changes but differences in the environmental context”. Only a small number of studies have attempted to examine the self during periods of transition. Further, as Hirsch and Rapkin (1987) note almost all of these have involved transition from one type of school to another and in addition have suffered from the absence of a suitable comparison group that did not make a school transition. These two issues, that of the global status of self and its stability over time are both related to a third issue-the question of whether different dimensions of the self come to be central at different *Completion of this study was aided by a grant from the Economic and Social Research Council (U.K.) to the first author, to whom all correspondence should be addressed. 937
938
ED CAIRNS el al.
times during development or indeed as a result of changing circumstances. Bachman and O’Malley were perhaps the first to suggest that there can be variations in this way and that “changes in the relative weights of the several components which jointly determine self-esteem” may be detectable. Certainly this is an issue that various investigators have speculated about though relatively few have produced actual empirical evidence. For example Simmons, Burgeson, Carlton-Ford and Blyth (1987) noted that the phenomenon where girls become more vulnerable to stress over time may be because of the greater emphasis placed on peer regard and looks as they pass through adolescence. Similarly Bachman and O’Malley (1977) suggest that for boys but not girls athletic ability is a more central dimension and in a similar vein Harter (1983) has suggested that a sense of control becomes more critical to one’s self evaluation at certain developmental periods. Other investigators have dealt with the same idea by suggesting that (Mullener & Laird, 1971) self-esteem undergoes increasing differentiation with age. This is a view which has recently been advocated by Marsh (1985) who suggests that with age the number of dimensions which are central to one’s overall sense of self-worth increases. The present study therefore set out to examine the stability of various aspects of the self concept as advocated by Harter (1983) including locus of control during an important but under-researched developmental period that of late adolescence. In addition an attempt was made to examine the stability of the self not only over time but also in two groups undergoing varying degrees of situational change, compared to one who’s environment remained relatively stable. Finally, this study also took the opportunity to examine the possibility of changes in the centrality of these various aspects of self in relation to overall self-esteem due both to the passage of time and changing circumstances.
METHOD Subjects
The Ss in the present study were drawn from a pool of 2490 young people (53% girls) who were interviewed in late 1985 when the average age was 17 yr. These young people were originally selected as part of a 1: 10 sample of those in their last year of compulsory education in Northern Ireland in 1984 as part of a government commissioned study (McWhirter, Duffy, Barry & McGuinnes, 1987). All the young people (n = 2890) were required to complete a lengthy questionnaire while still at school in April 1984, and were then followed up and interviewed individually in October/November 1984 (n = 2745) and again in October/November 1985 (n = 2490). Measures
In both April 1984 and in late 1985 each person completed, among other things, the Harter Perceived Competence Scale for Children (Harter, 1982). This scale consists of four subscales which social and athletic (originally measure self-assessed competence in three areas-cognitive, labelled physical by Harter) plus a fourth independent scale which measures general feelings of worth or self-esteem. In addition each respondent completed the Nowicki-Strickland Locus of Control Scale (Nowicki & Strickland, 1973) which is a generalized locus of control measure for use with children and young people. Also both in late 1984 and late 1985 a record was obtained as to the young person’s current economic activity, for example whether they were still at school, in employment, unemployed or on a government sponsored scheme.
RESULTS
Table 1 provides the basic information for the whole sample for whom data were available (reduced both because of attrition and missing data) including a measure of internal consistency for each scale-Cronbach’s Z. As Table 1 reveals this was reasonably high for the Harter scales in particular.
Stability of self-concept in late adolescence
939
Table I. Means. SDS, z and ns for the total sample who completed measure at each time Mean
Scale
Harm Perceiced Competence Cognitive (TI) 2.59 Cognitive (T2) 2.64 Social (TI) 2.89 Social (T2) 2.9 I Athletic (TI) 2.57 Athletic (T2) 2.60 Esteem (TI) 2.66 Esteem (T2) 2.71 Locus of control Locus (Tl) 8.13 Locus (T2) 6.12
SD
Testretest
?1
Scale 0.51 0.48 0.45 0.41 0.63 0.56 0.51 0.46
0.75 0.75 0.70 0.66 0.83 0.81 0.73 0.72
3.33 3.44
0.62 0.68
each
n
0.50
2543 2357 2524 2353 2565 2361 2562 2364
0.46 0.67 0.47
2803 2429
0.5 I
Tl = Time I; T2 = Time 2
THE
STABILITY
OF
IDEAS
ABOUT
THE
SELF
In order to examine the consistency of these measures over time correlations were computed between Time 1 and Time 2. These correlations are displayed in Table 1. This reveals that for all the scales the correlations are relatively modest (once again ns are reduced because of missing data). However, it could be argued that given the long time interval and the fact that for many of the young people involved this was a time of change, such results are not surprising. One way to examine this explanation for the rather low test-retest correlations noted in Table 2 is to obtain the same information but this time from three different groups of young people-those whose environment remained relatively stable over the time interval involved and others for whom the environment changed either in a subtle way or more radically. The most obvious subgroups who fit these descriptions (and which have relatively large ns) are first those who remained in full-time education after age 16 and were still in full-time education, and attending the same school (n = 446), when they completed the scales again at age 17 in late 1985. Those whose environment altered in a more subtle way are a further group who remained in full-time education but who began to attend a new school in September 1984 which they were still attending in late 1985 (n = 326). Finally, there are those young people who by late 1984 had already left school and taken up full-time employment and were still in full-time employment in late 1985 (n = 337). Tables 2-7 contain (on the diagonal) the test-retest correlations for these three subgroups which are displayed separately by gender both for theoretical reasons and because the vast majority of Table 2. Employed Esteem Esteem Cognitive Social Athletic Locus Mean SD
(0.38) 0.3 I 0.43 0.26 -0.30 2.83 0.43
group:
Males, Time
Cognitive
I
Social
0.36 (0.47) 0.2 I 0.12 -0.24 2.58 0.46
0.43 0.30 (0.31) 0.42 -0.28 2.98 0.36
above the diagonal, Athletic 0.25 0.13 0.29 (0.59) -0.19 2.79 0.49
Time 2 below Locus
Mean
SD
-0.39 -0.42 -0.35 -0.17 (0.42) 6.72 3.29
2.77 2.55 2.90 2.80 8.28
0.50 0.51 0.38 0.62 3.28
n = 189 at Time I and 166 at Time 2: r ~0.16; P <0.05. Figures in parentheses are test-retest correlations.
Esteem Cognitive Social Athletic Locus Mean SD
Table 3. Employed
group:
Esteem
Coanitive
(0.37) 0.32 0.42 0.20 -0.18 2.61 0.49
0.44 (0.37) 0.20 0.07 -0.19 2.46 0.46
Females,
Time I above the diagonal, Social 0.44 0.28 (0.47) 0.16 -0.15 2.87 0.42
n = I41 at Time I and 148 at Time 2: I >0.17; P <0.05. Figures in parentheses are test-retest correlations. PAID
I I 9-E
Athletic 0.32 0.34 0.42 (0.49) -0.15 2.41 0.49
Time 2 below LOCUS
Mean
SD
-0.29 -0.29 -0.26 -0.29 (0.37) 8.04 3.22
2.52 2.37 2.93 2.46 9.07
0.41 0.48 0.44 0.55 3.24
940
ED CAIRNS et al.
Table 4. Different Esteem Esteem Cognitive SKIal Athletic LOCUS Mean SD
(0.57) 0.52 0.60 0.44 -0.23 2.8 I 0.46
school:
Males, Time
Cwnitive
I
above the diagonal.
Social
0.36 (0.37) 0.26 0.27 -0.01 2.80 0.44
Athletic
0.61 0.22 (0.54) 0.49 -0.11 2.91 0.41
0.46 0.30 0.65 (0.74) -0.16 2.75 0.56
Time 2 below LOCUS
Mean
SD
-0.47 -0.31 -0.46 -0.49 (0.49) 6. IS 3.05
2.71 2.52 2.8 I 2.69 7.64
0.52 O-U 0.46 0.70 3 42
n = 97 at Time I and 96 at Time 2: r >O.Zl; P ~0.05. Figures in parentheses are test-retest correlations.
Table 5. Different
Esteem Cognitive Social Athletic LOCUS MGUl SD
school:
Females,
Time
I above the diagonal.
Esteem
Cognitive
Social
Athletic
(0.38) 0.47 0.4 I 0.24 -0.19 2.69 0.46
0.46 (0.36) 0.25 0.20 -0.24 2.71 0.43
0.45 0.12 (0.47) 0.29 -0.14 2.98 0.42
0.29 0.2 I 0.37 (0.72) -0.14 2.47 0.59
Time 2 below LOCUS
Mean
SD
-0.21 -0.21 -0.14 -0.18 (0.49) 6.55 3.29
2.61 2.60 2.96 2.50 8.16
0.51 0.55 0.45 0.64 3.14
n = 229 at Time I and 207 at Time 2: I > 0.14; P < 0.05 Figures in parentheses are test-retest correlations.
the two groups who remained in full-time education were female. These correlations indicate that indeed there is rather more evidence of stability over time for the two groups who remained at school compared to those who left to take up full-time employment. Further, this conclusion appears to hold for both genders and for all the measures examined. The one exception to this would appear to be the cognitive subscale where those who remained at the same school only, showed signs of much greater stability compared to either of the other two groups. It is tempting therefore, to conclude from this that those who remained in a stable environment retained a broadly similar view of themselves in all five domains while those who entered a new environment altered the way they saw themselves, perhaps in all five areas when the environment was radically different or only slightly if the new environment differed only slightly from the old. In order to explore these ideas further repeated measures analyses of variance were carried out with Time (Time I and Time 2) as the within factor and Group (Employed, Same school, Different school) and Gender as the between factors. Because of the large numbers involved it was decided to report only those results that were statistically significant at the 0.01 level or beyond.
Table 6. Same school: Esteem Esteem Cognitive Social Athletic LOCUS Mean SD
(0.55) 0.53 0.57 0.35 -0.24 2.84 0.46
Males, Time I above the diagonal,
Cognitive 0.35 (0.61) 0.31 0. I5 -0.24 2.84 0.48
Social 0.40 0.07 (0.54) 0.46 -0.28 2.94 0.37
Athletic 0.25 0.08 0.45 (0.77) -0.10 2.74 0.50
Time 2 below LOCUS
Mean
SD
-0.26 -0.33 -0.20 0.07 (0.60) 5.93 3.55
2.78 2.89 2.82 2.76 7.12
0.51 0.42 0.45 0.65 3.94
n = 150 at Time I and 151 at Time 2: I aO.16; P ~0.05. Figures in parentheses are test-retest correlations.
Table 7. Same school: Esteem Esteem Cognitive Social Athletic LOCUS Meall SD
(0.48) 0.27 0.48 0.25 -0.40 2.66 0.49
Females,
Cognitive 0.44 (0.63) 0.16 0.02 -0.12 2.79 0.49
Time
I above the diagonal,
Social 0.43 0.09 (0.54) 0.26 -0.24 2.98 0.39
n = 295 at Time I and 297 at Time 2: r > 0.14; P < 0.05. Figures in parentheses are test-retest correlations.
Athletic 0.30 0.10 0.40 (0.77) -0.19 2.53 0.63
Time 2 below LOCUS
Mean
SD
-0.28 -0.27 -0.22 -0.15 (0.50) 5.73 3.18
2.58 2.74 2.84 2.52 6.67
0.49 0.52 0.46 0.63 2.96
Stability
of self-concept
in late adolescence
941
Cognitive competence
Analyses of these scores revealed a main effect for Groups d.f. (2,1054), F = 50.74, P c 0.000. Examination of the means suggested that those who remained at the same school scored at the highest level (2.80) those who changed school scored at a somewhat lower level (2.69), while those who left school to enter the world of work scored at the lowest level (2.51) on this variable. There were also main effects for Time, d.f. (1,1054), F = 8.37, P c 0.004, and for Gender, d.f. (1,1054), F = 19.94, P < 0.004 and also a Gender x Time interaction d.f. (1,1054), F = 8.49, P < 0.004. The means for this interaction suggest that while males remained constant in terms of their assessment of their cognitive competence (Time 1 = 2.72, Time 2 = 2.72) females self-assessed cognitive competence increased from 2.62 at Time 1 to 2.70 at Time 2. Athletic competence
Only a main effect for Gender was significant d.f. (1,1504), F = 54.51, P < 0.000. This indicated that males assessed themselves much more highly in terms of their athletic competence (2.76) than did females (2.49). Social competence
There was only one statistically
significant result-a
main effect for Time, d.f. (1,1036),
F = 12.14, P < 0.001 due to the fact that self-assessed social competence scores rose slightly from Time I (2.90) to Time 2 (2.95). Ocerall esteem
Again there was a main effect for Time d.f. (1,1068), F = 13.69, P < 0.000 with esteem scores increasing somewhat from 2.65 at Time 1 to 2.72 at Time 2. Also there was a main effect for Gender d.f. (1.1068) F = 52.21, P < 0.000 with males scoring at a higher level (2.80) compared to females (2.61). Locus of control
A main effect for Groups d.f. (1,1069), F = 36.73, P < 0.000 indicated that those who had remained at the same school had the most internal orientation (6.30) compared to those who had moved to a different school (7.21) or those who had taken up employment (8.01). There was also a main effect for Time d.f. (1,1068) F = 154.40, P < 0.000 and a Time x Gender interaction d.f. (2,1068), F = 4.87, P < 0.008. The relevant means indicate that females displayed a more external orientation compared to males in the group who entered employment (8.55 vs 7.57) and in the group who changed schools (7.27 vs 6.78). However, in the group who remained at school, if anything, this trend was reversed with females scoring 6.22 and males 6.48. THE
DIFFERENTIATION
OF SELF-ESTEEM
Tables 2-7 also contain the intercorrelations between all the separate measures for each gender in each group at each time of testing. It is of course difficult to discern a pattern over such a large number of correlations. Nevertheless it would appear safe to suggest that regardless of subgroup or gender or time of testing there is a tendency for the cognitive and social subscales to be relatively independent, as are the cognitive and athletic subscales, while the social and athletic subscales display a modest but positive correlation. Also where relationships with general esteem are concerned, both the social and cognitive subscales are usually positively correlated, the athletic subscale less so. Finally, the Locus of Control scale appears to be negatively correlated with all the other variables, the size of this correlation being of approximately the same order of magnitude across variables within each data set. In order to explore further the relationships with general self-esteem a series of stepwise multiple regression analyses (see Tables 8-10) was carried out. Two sub-groups showed an increase over time in the amount of variance accounted for in self-worth scores-both groups of boys who remained at school. For boys who remained at the same school the increase was from 26 to 47% while for boys who changed school the increase was from 44 to 53%. Only one group showed a
ED CAIRNSer al.
942 Table 8. Multiale
renrcssion
analvses:
variance
accounted
for in nencral self-esteem:
Boys Ttmc
I
Social Locus Cognitive Totals
Time 2 Social Cognitive Locus
(18) (6) (3) 27%
Table 9. Multiple
regression
analyses:
Time
variance
I
Cognitive Social
(18) (5) (2) 25%
Time
(17) (6)
32%
accounted
for in general
23%
self-esteem:
different
school group
Girls
I
Time 2 Social Cognitive Locus
(37) (5) (2) 44%
arouo
Time 2 Social Cognitive
(21) (11)
Boys
Social Cognitive Locus Totals
cmolovcd
Girls
Time 2
Time I (36) (14) (3) 53%
Cognitive Social
Cognitive Social
(21) (16)
(22) (9) 31%
37%
marked decrease over time-girls who left school to take up employment-where the proportion of variance in general self-worth accounted for dropped from 32 to 23% from Time 1 to Time 2. For the boys’ groups the social subscale was always the best predictor of self-esteem regardless of subgroup or time of testing. For the girls, however, the cognitive subscale was the best single predictor for every group at Time 1 and for two of the three groups at Time 2. Finally, in general the social and cognitive subscales were the major predictors of self-esteem in all cases with the Locus of Control measure figuring less often and then only in a very minor way, while the athletic subscale only made a unique contribution to the prediction of self-esteem for one group, girls who remained at the same school, and even then only accounted for 1% of the variance on both occasions. DISCUSSION To begin with it is important to note that the results in Table 1, particularly those with the Harter Scale lend some confidence to the use of both the Harter and the Norwicke-Strickland scale with young people at this age level. a Indicates fairly reasonable levels of internal consistency while the means and standard deviations provide no evidence of ceiling effects such as might have been expected. It is also of interest to note that the means on the Harter scales are always above the scale mid-point of 2.5 and that, at both times of testing, and for all groups except one, the highest means were recorded on the social subscale. Further, all the Harter means, with the exception of the athletic subscale, showed an increase over time. In addition the Locus of Control means reflected a change from outer to inner directed perception of self. It would appear, therefore, that on average the young people in this study had come to perceive themselves as rather more competent, both socially and cognitively and to value their general self-worth rather more and to feel that they were now rather more in charge of their own destiny. These results therefore, are broadly in line with those of other investigators who have also noted a gradual rise in measures of self-concept at similar time periods (e.g. Bachman & O’Malley, 1977; Savin-Williams & Dembo, 1984) and certainly provide no evidence of any discontinuity of development associated with the demise of adolescence. The test-retest correlations for the total sample presented in Table 1 are difficult to evaluate. They are, as noted above, rather modest, but given the long time interval involved (18 months) Table
IO. Multiple
regression
analyses:
variance
accounted
for in general self-esteem:
Totals
(16) (IO)
26%
Social Cognitive
Time 2
Time I
Time 2
Time I Social Cognitive
same school group
Girls
Boys
(33) (14)
47%
Cognitive Social Athletic
(19) (15) (1) 35%
Social LOCUS Cognitive Athletic
(23) (9) (3) (1) 36%
Stability
of self-concept
in late adolescence
943
are nevertheless generally impressive. Further, it is evident from these results and from the results from the various subgroups (see Tables 2-7) that for all groups, but particularly the two groups who remained in the educational system, the assessment of athletic competence shows by far the greatest test-retest stability. Indeed, if one selects only Ss who have remained in a fairly stable environment, then the evidence for the stability of self-concept is strengthened. The exception to this rule is that those who changed school showed less stability where self-assessed cognitive competence was concerned. Overall, however, one gets the distinct impression from Tables 2 to 7 that there is more evidence for stability among those who have not changed environments and perhaps also more evidence for stability among boys than girls. The results of the repeated measures analyses of variance, however, only support some of these impressions. To begin with they indicate that on virtually all of the measures involved, with the exception of athletic competence, there was a significant positive change over time. The absolute size of the increases involved were, however, minimal and therefore, these results could be interpreted as supporting the general impression that the period of late adolescence is one of relative stability. However, what is perhaps remarkable about these results is that they provide no evidence of any interaction between time and situation. In other words, this move towards a more positive assessment of self appears to be a process which continues despite quite marked situational changes. It is also interesting to note that the results presented in Tables 2-7 bear a close resemblance to the results reported by Harter (1982) for samples which covered a much younger age range and which indeed came from a different culture. There is a notable relationship between the social and athletic subscales while the relationship between the social and cognitive subscales is rather weaker and that between cognitive and athletic virtually zero in several samples. The general self-worth subscale appears to be positively, if modestly related to the other three subscales and negatively related to locus of control. Harter (1982) suggested that the social/athletic correlation could be interpreted as suggesting that among her younger Ss one’s athletic prowess is a determinant of one’s peer popularity and if this interpretation is correct it would appear to hold even at a much older age level. The results in Tables 8-10 indicate that, with the exception of one group, the measures used in the present study account for only a small part of overall variance in general self-esteem. Further, it would appear that at this age level perceived social and cognitive competence are the best predicators of the overall score with locus of control figuring in a very minor role if at all. Perhaps surprisingly even for boys perceived athletic competence did not relate to overall self-esteem when the role of the other three components had been accounted for. This would appear to be due to the fact that at this age level at least no unique variance accounted for by the athletic subscale remains after the social subscale has been taken into account. These results therefore confirm Harter’s ideas that the separate components of the self do not necessarily correlate highly with her overall measure of self worth and extends this finding to a later age range. The multiple regressions on general self esteem provide no support for the contention that with age the self becomes increasingly differentiated. Of course the present study was limited in the constructs made available to each respondent and this may account for the failure to find evidence to support the differentiation hypothesis. Neither do these results support Bachman and O’Malley’s (1977) finding that at later stages “educational success and its correlates seemed to grow less central to the self-esteem”. This is particularly important because these authors had issued the caveat that this finding could have simply represented a generational phenomenon because their work was completed during the late 1960s when, according to them, “society placed less emphasis upon education and educational success” (Bachman & O’Malley, 1977). Further, it is interesting that perceived social competence was not a more important determinant of self-esteem for girls compared to boys. Indeed if anything the opposite was true. It is unlikely therefore, that girls become more vulnerable to stress in adolescence because of greater emphasis placed on peer regard as suggested by Simmons et al. (1987). The fact that perceived cognitive competence was more likely to be the major determinant of self-esteem for girls in turn may well be related to a recent report by Wilson and Cairns (1988) that cognitive competence is more strongly related to depression in girls than in boys. This, Wilson and Cairns suggested, could be linked to indications in the literature that, compared to boys, the academic failings of girls are made more salient in school and are more likely to be attributed directly to intellectual failing. This in
94-!
ED CAIRNSet al.
turn could be linked to the finding in the present study that boys tended to rate themselves more highly than girls on three of the five measures, a result which has been partially replicated at a younger age level by Granleese, Trew and Turner (1988). and indeed to the claim made by Ladd and Price (1986) that in fact boys tend to over estimate their cognitive competence compared to girls who tend to underestimate. Certainly this is an area which deserves further study and in particular the finding in the present study that girls may be continuing to assess themselves more positively in terms of cognitive competence while boys’ levels remained stable is one which needs to be replicated and explored further. Also worthy of further investigation is the relationship between locus of control and the various aspects of self-concept under study here. Harter (1979) suggested that “. . . the more a child is intrinsically motivated, the greater will be his or her sense of competence”. The present results appear to support this viewpoint. The locus of control measure correlated negatively with every other measure for all subgroups. Further in the context of the present results the majority of these correlations were reasonably substantial including those correlations between overall esteem and locus of control. However, the multiple regressions suggest that locus of control does not make any independknt contribution to overall self-esteem when other variables are taken into account. This calls into question the direct role of locus of control in the overall assessment of self. In conclusion therefore, the results of this study suggest that late adolescence is a time when modest increases in self-assessment of various aspects of the self-concept can be expected. However, there was no support for the view that marked changes in situation would lead to corresponding changes in self-perception. This finding is in contrast to some of the earlier work noted above. However, much of the earlier research was done with much younger adolescents. It may well be that by late adolescence/early adulthood young people are better able to cope with change. Or indeed the contrast may be due to the fact that in early adolescence changes such as those from one school to another are not occurring in isolation from other important life changes (Simmons et al., 1987). Finally, the present study while only examining five aspects of the self still serves to illustrate the complexity of this whole area and in particular the fact that these different aspects of self are relatively independent and that all are open to various influences including those of gender, time and situation. REFERENCES Bachman,J. G. & O’Malley, P. M. (1977). Self-esteem in young men: A longiitudinal analysis of the impact of educational and occupational attainment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 35, 365-380. Granleese, J., Trew, K. & Turner, I. (1988). Sex differences in perceived competence. Brirish Journal of Social Psychology, 27, 181-184.
Harter, S. (1979).
Manual for rhe perceived comperence scale for children. Denver: University of Denver. Harter. S. (1982). The Perceived Competence Scale for Children. Child Dmelopmenr, 53, 87-97. Harter, S. (1983). Developmental perspectives on the self-system. In Mussen, P. H. (Ed.), Carmichael’s manual o/child psychology (Vol. 4). New York: Wiley. Hirsch, B. J. & Rapkin, B. D. (1987). The transition to Junior High School: A longitudinal study of self-esteem, psychological symptomatology, school life and social support. Child Derelopmenr, 58, 1235-1243. Ladd, G. W. & Price, J. M. (1986). Promoting children’s cognitive and social competence: The relation between parents’ perceptions of task difficulty and children’s perceived and actual competence. Child Deuelopmenr, 57, 446-460. McWhirter, L., Duffy, U., Barry, R. & McGuinnes, G. (1987). Transition from school to work: Cohort evidence. In Osborne, R. D., Cormack, R. J. & Miller, R. L. (Eds), Education andpolicy in Northern Ireland. Belfast: Policy Institute Research. Marsh, H. W. (1985). Age and sex effects in multiple dimensions of preadolescent self-concept: A replication and extension. Ausrralian Journal of Psychology, 37, 197-204.
Mullener. N. & Laird. J. D. (1971). Some developmental changes in the organization of self-evaluations. Deuelopmenfal Psychology, 5, 233-236.
Nowicki. S. & Strickland. B. (1973). A locus of control scale for children. Journal of Consulting and Clincial Psychology, 40, 148-154. ’ Savin-Williams. R. C. & Dembo, D. H. (1984). Developmental change and stability in adolescent self-concept. D~elopmental Psychology, 20, I 100-I 1IO. Simmons, R. G., Burgeson, R., Carlton-Ford, S. & Blyth, D. A. (1987). The impact of cumulative change in early adolescence. Child Development, 58, 1220-I 234. Wilson, R. & Cairns, E. (1988). Sex-role attributes, perceived competence and the development of depression in adolescence. Journal of Child Psychiatry and Psychology, 29, 635-650.