Parental responsibility of African-American unwed adolescent fathers

This study investigated factors related to adolescent fathers' willingness to take parental responsibility for their children. Data were collected on a convenience sample of 43 African-American unwed adolescent fathers. Demographic information was gathered, and self-image was measured using the Offer Self-Image Questionnaire. An author-developed questionnaire measured father's parental responsibility, his own role expectations, and the perceived role expectations of his partner and parents. The findings indicated that father's parental responsibility was influenced by his own role expectations and self-image. The perceived role expectations of his partner and parents were not related to his willingness to take parental responsibility. This study helps adolescent care providers in various settings to become familiar with some of the issues related to teenage fathers, and assists them in determining appropriate interventions.     

Contrasts in the self-esteem of unwed teenage mothers

The self-esteem of 93 unmarried females between the ages of fourteen and nineteen was measured upon entry into several state-sponsored training programs. Some significant differences were discovered concerning the impact of early motherhood on these individuals. The symbolic importance of motherhood, as a passage into adult status, and the intervening effects of normative group anchorage may mediate between individuals' cognitive ability and their level of self-esteem.     

A multi-perspective multi-domain model of self-concept: structure and sources of self-concept knowledge

A perspective-specific model which deals with the sources of self-concept knowledge as construed by two theories (symbolic interaction and social comparison) was combined with Shavelson's domain-specific model to form a two-facet model of self-concept. The structure of this two-facet model was tapped by a new self-concept instrument, the Multi-Perspective Multi-Domain Self-Concept Inventory (MMSI), which was constructed by crossing domain and perspective facets. Results of confirmatory factor analysis by grade level of the data from a large sample of primary two, four, and six students lent support to the multi-perspective multi-domain model. The MMSI facilitates the estimation of (a) the differential contribution of domain and perspective factors, and (b) the differential contribution of different sources of self-concept knowledge. It also serves as an exemplar of an interesting application of the multi-trait multi-method model in confirmatory factor analysis.     

Morality and our self-concept

Conclusion One of the most important aspects of our lives is the conception which we have of ourselves. For the way in which we view ourselves fundamentally affects how we interact among others and, most importantly perhaps, how we think others should treat us. For instance, one will not expect others to regard one as having a high mathematical acumen if one. realizes that one's mathematical skills are very minimal. Again, one will not expect others to regard one as a talented artist if one realizes that one is not. And so on. What is more, not every person can rightly take him-or herself to be talented in this or that area. And given that this is so, what inevitably follows is that the self-esteem of some will be lower than the self-esteem of others, and rightly so. But if I have argued soundly in this essay, we have seen that there is a respect in which no person rightly thinks less of him-or herself vis à vis any other person. For each person, it has been shown, is deserving of fair treatment in virtue of the fact that he or she is a person. I have called the sense of worth which corresponds with having this conviction self-respect. Whatever a person's abilities are, whatever a person's moral character is like, he should not lose sight of the fact that he is deserving of fair treatment in any case. The social institutions of a society are fairly arranged, I have argued, when they are conducive to persons having this conviction.Little has been said on the connection between morality and our self-concept. And if anything, I have only touched the surface of what needs to be said.

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Loneliness related to self-concept

The Differential Loneliness Scale and the UCLA Loneliness Scale were given to 30 persons attending a mental growth group (test group) and 36 adult students of psychology (the control group). Ages of the subjects ranged from 19 to 45 years. Self-concept was measured by Fitts' Tennessee Self-concept Scale and scored using both Clinical and Counselling forms. The first group showed greater loneliness, lower scores on physical self, and higher scores on moral-ethical self than the controls, and also had significantly lower scores on the neurosis scale and the defensive positive scale. A trend towards social maladjustment and personality disordered behavior was observed. Shyness and the typical introverted character for many Finns are discussed in connection with loneliness, social maladjustment, and lack of social skills.     

Appropriate sex education for black teens

This article is based on a year-long study of 207 low-income black youths. The major purpose of the research was twofold: (1) to study black teens' perceptions of family relationships in an effort to identify family member(s) who had the most potential for encouraging greater contraceptive responsibility and influencing teens' decisions about being or becoming sexually active, and (2) to study dating and sexual behavior, attitudes toward contraception, and sources of information, in an effort to identify more specific sex education needs of black teens and provide a basis for delineating pertinent characteristics of an effective sex education curriculum.     

The relative importance of global self-concept and self-concept of academic ability in predicting academic achievement

The aim of this study was to establish whether the relationship between self-concept of academic ability and academic achievement correlated more strongly than the relationship between global self-concept and academic achievement among high school students. Data on these variables were collected from 229 tenth-grade students in the U.S. Pacific Northwest public school district. The results indicate that global self-concept and self-concept of academic ability correlate positively with academic achievement, but the relationship between self-concept of academic ability and academic achievement correlated more strongly than the relationship between global self-concept and academic achievement. The results suggest that educational intervention strategies geared to raising academic achievement would probably be more likely to succeed if they were to focus on enhancement of the self-concept of academic ability rather than global self-concept.     

Development of the self-concept during adolescence

Adolescence is a period of life in which the sense of 'self' changes profoundly. Here, we review recent behavioural and neuroimaging studies on adolescent development of the self-concept. These studies have shown that adolescence is an important developmental period for the self and its supporting neural structures. Recent neuroimaging research has demonstrated that activity in brain regions associated with self-processing, including the medial prefrontal cortex, changes between early adolescence and adulthood. These studies indicate that neurocognitive development might contribute to behavioural phenomena characteristic of adolescence, such as heightened self-consciousness and susceptibility to peer influence. We attempt to integrate this recent neurocognitive research on adolescence with findings from developmental and social psychology.     

Relationships between self-concept and achievement

This study is based on a multifaceted and hierarchical model of self-concept and explores the relationships between the various facets of self-concept and academic achievement. The model of self-concept has general self-concept at the apex, then academic self-concept, presentation of self, and social self-concept. There are 7 third-order factors: achievement, ability, and classroom self-concepts (academic), physical self-concepts (social). Further, there are four specific-subject and peer and family self-concepts (social). Further, there are four specific-subject self-concepts. The argument proposed in this study is that the relations between achievement and the facets of academic self-concept are greater than the relations between achievement and presentation of self and social self-concept. This argument is not rejected. Adolescents consistently evaluate themselves across various academic subjects, but there are no relationships between achievement and other aspects of the self.