Adolescent self-concept among Han, Mongolian, and Korean Chinese

Adolescence, Winter, 1997 by Donald K. Sharpes, Xinbing Wang

Moreover, in an age when many believe that there is a separate ethnic self-concept for each minority group (Banks & Grambs, 1972), and that these images of the serf are primarily derived from social experiences or the lack thereof ("In this country the black individual is given a consistent image of who he is by white society"; Banks & Grambs, 1972, p. 122), it is imperative to investigate the biological and developmental factors in the psychological construct of the serf.

METHOD

Adolescent self-concept, for the purpose of this study, is a set of genetically driven perceptions, linked to the conscious and unconscious, of adolescent identity in its multiple manifestations, including perceptions about the body, attitudes, interests, relations with others, perceptions of self, and personal and academic identity. It is assumed that this set of perceptions of identity, together with inherited unconscious patterns of behavior, will change throughout the normal maturational process.

The intent has been to control for cross-cultural factors by conducting an international survey of adolescents from varied cultural backgrounds, although the present report is only on majority and minority Chinese youth. If results are relatively stable from several different countries and across continents, ethnicities, and cultures, then it is probable that adolescent self-concept is influenced mostly by biological determinants. However, if there is demonstrated variability in the results from country to country, then it is probable that cultural determinants predominantly influence general personality conceptions of the self at this formative stage of life.

This long-term study has been pursued in several countries, providing diversity in language, religion and beliefs, customs and living standards. A preliminary report on the pilot testing of the survey instrument and data gathering from America, Cyprus, England, South Africa, and Cameroon revealed that perceptions adolescents have of their personal identity do not vary greatly from country to country, or from culture to culture, and have a high degree of constancy (Sharpes, 1988).

Sample and Procedure

Coopersmith's Self-Esteem Inventory is primarily for children, and hence unsatisfactory for adolescents. The Tennessee Self-Concept Scale (TSCS) is widely used, but its purpose is primarily clinical and it is too lengthy. Thus, a one-page self-concept inventory, modified from similar instruments, was designed for adolescents. The instrument was validated in 1989 with the TSCS. Ezeilo (1982) found that the TSCS was a useful tool for studying Nigerian youth, which supports the cross-cultural acceptability of the instrument used in the present study.

Anderson and Hughes (1989) pointed out that such new instruments are needed: "... one primary focus of future research in the area of self-esteem and parenting should be to develop better measurement instruments" (p. 464). Moreover, they report that "young children's reports of their own self-esteem are likely to be different from reports provided by different sources, for example, parents or teachers" (p. 463).