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

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

The evolution of a mature self-concept, of course, involves social interaction. Nevertheless, emerging neuroscientific evidence shows a strong correlation between psychological constructs and identifiable physiological processes in the brain. Supporting this view, the preliminary results of the present study indicate that perceptions adolescents have of their personal identity and its various components are relatively uniform across cultures and minority status.

TABLE I

MEANS AND STANDARD DEVIATIONS ON COMPOSITE VARIABLES OF
SELF-CONCEPT
FOR HAN AND MINORITY CHINESE ADOLESCENTS (N = 603)

                           HAN           KOREAN        MONGOLIAN
COMPOSITE                n = 301        n = 102         n = 200

VARIABLES

Body                     3.07 (.79)     3.18 (.81)     3.15 (.79)
Attitude                 3.38 (.52)     3.44 (.52)     3.41 (.50)
Interests                3.46 (.51)     3.58 (.52)     3.51 (.47)
Relations                4.11 (.57)     4.41 (.46)     4.12 (.51)
Perception of Self       3.20 (.53)     3.31 (.48)     3.14 (.54)
Identity                 3.40 (.66)     3.50 (.63)     3.27 (.63)
Academic                 3.78 (.72)     3.98 (.59)     3.95 (.59)
GRAND MEANS              3.48           3.62           3.50

Note. Standard Deviations Are in Parentheses
TABLE 2

MEANS AND STANDARD DEVIATIONS ON COMPOSITE VARIABLES OF
SELF-CONCEPT
FOR FEMALE HAN AND MINORITY CHINESE ADOLESCENTS

                            HAN          KOREAN       MONGOLIAN

COMPOSITE                 n = 13         n = 85         n = 103
VARIABLES

Body                     3.03 (.79)     3.21 (.82)     3.17 (.75)
Attitude                 3.47 (.58)     3.52 (.51)     3.47 (.47)
Interests                3.48 (.53)     3.62 (.55)     3.61 (.41)
Relations                4.16 (.59)     4.46 (.44)     4.19 (.44)
Perceptions of Self      3.25 (.52)     3.34 (.47)     3.16 (.54)
Identity                 3.48 (.65)     3.53 (.64)     3.34 (.57)
Academic                 3.83 (.74)     4.03 (.59)     3.98 (.56)
GRAND MEANS              3.52           3.67           3.56

Note. Standard Deviations Are in Parenthesis
TABLE 3

MEANS AND STANDARD DEVIATIONS ON COMPOSITE VARIABLES OF
SELF-CONCEPT
FOR MALE HAN AND MINORITY CHINESE ADOLESCENTS (N = 252)

                          HAN           KOREAN         MONGOLIAN

COMPOSITE                n = 138        n = 17          n = 97

VARIABLES

Body                     3.11 (.80)     3.03 (.75)     3.12 (.82)
Attitude                 3.28 (.42)     3.04 (.37)     3.34 (.52)
Interests                3.42 (.48)     3.40 (.36)     3.41 (.50)
Relations                4.05 (.55)     4.12 (.44)     4.04 (.57)
Perception of Self       3.15 (.54)     3.15 (.50)     3.12 (.53)
Identity                 3.30 (.65)     3.36 (.53)     3.19 (.69)
Academic                 3.71 (.69)     3.78 (.57)     3.91 (.62)
GRAND MEANS              3.43           3.41           3.44

Note. Standard Deviations Are in Parentheses

REFERENCES

Anderson, M., & Hughes, M. H. (1989). Parenting attitudes and the self-esteem of young children. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 150(4), 463-466.