Self-concept and social acceptance were examined for a sample of
154 Black and 203 White Zimbabwean schoolchildren attending
racially integrated schools. Marsh's Self-Description Question
naire-1 and multiple measures of social acceptance were used.
Although Black children had levels of global self-esteem compara
ble with, or higher than, that of their White classmates, Black pupils
taught by White teachers had significantly lower reading and
academic self-esteem. Pupils in classes taught by Black teachers
tended to choose for best friends peers in other classes significantly
more than did pupils in classes taught by White teachers. Analysis
by gender indicated that male pupils tended to have significantly
higher physical ability, physical appearance, and math self-esteem
and relatively higher levels of social participation than female
students. Results partially supported the bicultural competence,
subjective culture, and the insulation hypotheses on children's
social status in multiracial school contexts.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Asher, S., & Hymel, S. (1981). Children's social competence in peer relationships: Sociometric and behavioral assessment. In J. D. Wine & M. D. Syme (Eds.), Social competence (pp. 125-157). New York: Caniford.
2.
Asher, S.R., & Parker, J.G. (1989). The significance of peer relationship problems in childhood. In B. H. Schneider, G. Attili, J. Nadel, & R. P. Weissberg (Eds.), Social competence in developmental perspective (pp. 5-29). Dordrecht, the Netherlands: Kluwer.
Bradley, F.O., & Newhouse, R.C. (1975). Sociometric choice and self-perceptions of upper elementary schools children. Psychology in Schools, 12, 219-222.
5.
Brophy, J.E., & Good, T.L. (1974). Teacher-student relationships: Causes and consequences . New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
6.
Crocker, J., & Major, B. (1989). Social stigma and self-esteem: The self-protective properties of stigma. Psychological Review, 96, 608-630.
7.
Cross, W.E. (1986). A two-factor theory of Black identity: Implications for the study of identity development in minority children. In J. S. Phinney & M. J. Rotheram (Eds.), Children's ethnic socialization: Pluralism and development (pp. 117-133). London: Sage.
8.
Diamond, L. (1987). Class formation in the swollen state. Journal of Modern African Studies, 25, 567-596.
9.
Dorsey, B.J. (1989). Socialization, gender, academic, achievement and aspirations of secondary school pupils in Zimbabwe. Human Resources Research Center (Zimbabwe) Working Paper, 3, 1-18.
10.
Downs, C.A. (1990). The social biological constructs of social competency . In T. P. Gullotta, G. Adams , & R. Montemayor (Eds.), Developing social competency in adolescence (pp. 43-96). London : Sage.
11.
Eccles, J.S. (1987). Gender roles and women's achievement-related decisions . Psychology of Women Quartely, 11, 135-172.
12.
Greenberg-Lake Analysis Group for the American Association of University Women Educational Foundation. (1991). Shortchanging girls, shortchangingAmerica. Washington, DC: AAUW Educational Foundation.
13.
Habbard, J.A., & Coie, J.D. (1994). Emotional correlates of social competence in children's peer relationships. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 40, 1-20.
14.
Harrison, A.G., Stewart, R.B., Myambo, K., & Teveraishe, C. (1995). Perceptions of social networks among adolescents from Zimbabwe and the United States. Journal of Black Psychology, 21, 382-407.
15.
Hattie, J. (1992). Self-concept. Hilldale, NJ : Lawrence Earlbaum.
16.
Inkeles, A. (1983). Exploring individual modernity. New York: Columbia University Press.
17.
Kasfir, N. (1983). Relating state to class in Africa. Journal of Commonwealth and Comparative Politics, 21, 1-8.
18.
Kistner, J., Metzler, A., Galtin, D., & Risi, S. (1993). Classroom racial proportions and children's peer relations: Race and gender effects. Journal of Educational Psychology, 85, 446-452.
19.
Krause, N. (1983). The racial context of Black self-esteem. Social Psychology Quartely, 46, 98-107.
20.
LaFromboise, T., Coleman, H.L., & Gerton, J. (1993). Psychological impact of biculturalism: Evidence and theory. Psychological Bulletin, 114, 395-412.
21.
Mandaza, I. (1986). Zimbabwe: The political economy of transition . Dakar, Africa: Codresia.
22.
Marsh, H.W. (1986). Global self-esteem: Its relation to specific facets of self-concept and their importance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 1224-1236.
23.
Marsh, H.W. (1988). Self Description Questionnaire: A theoretical and empirical basis for the measuring of multiple dimensions of preadolescent self-concept: A test manual and research monograph. San Antonio, TX: Psychological Corporation.
24.
McAdoo, H.P. (1985). Racial attitude and self-concept of young Black children over time. In McAdoo T. L. (Ed.), Black children: Social, educational and parental environments (pp. 213-242). London: Sage.
25.
McGuire, W.J., & McGuire, C.V. (1988). Content and process in the expression of the self . In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in the experience of the self, Volume 21: Social psychological studies of the self: Perspectives and programs (pp. 97-144). San Diego, CA : Academic Press.
26.
McGuire, W.J., McGuire, C.V., Child, P., & Fujioka, T. (1978). Salience of ethnicity in the spontaneous self-concept as a function of one's ethnic distinctiveness in the social environment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 36, 511-520.
27.
Mpofu, E. (1994). Exploring the self-concept in an African culture . Journal of Genetic Psychology, 155, 341-354.
28.
Parker, J.G., & Asher, S.R. (1987). Peer relations and later personal adjustment: Are low accepted children at risk. Psychological Bulletin , 102, 357-389.
29.
Quintana, S.M. (1994). A model of ethnic perspective-taking ability applied to Mexican-American children and youth. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 18, 419-448.
30.
Rosenberg, M. (1977). Contextual dissonant effects: Nature and causes . Psychiatry, 40, 205-217.
31.
Schneider, B.H., Attili, G., Nadel, J., & Weissberg, R.P. (1989). Social competence in developmental perspective. London: Kluwer Academic Press.
32.
Schneider, B.H., Wiener, J., & Murphy, K. (1994). Children's friendships: The giant step beyond peer acceptance. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships , 11, 323-340.
33.
Seaman, M.A., Levin, J.R., & Serlin, R.C. (1991). New developments in pairwise multiple comparisons: Some powerful and practical procedures. Psychological Bulletin , 110, 577-586.
34.
Shaffer, J.P. (1986). Modified sequentially rejective multiple test procedures. Journal of the American Statistical Association , 62, 626-633.
35.
Shavelson, L.J., Hubner, J.J., & Stanton, G.C. (1976). Self-concept: Validation of construct interpretation . Review of Educational Research, 46, 407-441.
36.
Triandis, H.C. (1976). Variations in Black and White perceptions of the social environment. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.
37.
Triandis, H.C. (1994). Culture and social behavior. New York: McGraw-Hill.
38.
Verkuyten, M. (1986). Impact of ethnic and sex differences on global self-esteem among adolescents in the Netherlands. Psychological Reports, 59, 446.
39.
Verkuyten, M. (1988). General self-esteem of adolescents from ethnic minorities in the Netherlands and the reflected appraisal process. Adolescence, 92, 864-870.
40.
Watkins, D., Akande, A., & Mpofu, E. (1996). Assessing self-esteem: An African perspective . Personality and Individual Differences, 20, 163-169.
41.
Watkins, D., & Mpofu, E. (1994). Some Zimbabwean evidence of the internal structure of the Self Description Questionnaire-1. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 54, 967-972.
42.
Wentzel, K.R. (1991). Social competence at school: Relation between social responsibility and academic achievement. Review of Educational Research, 61, 1-24.
43.
Wentzel, K.R. (1993). Does being good make the grade? Social behavior and academic competence in middle school. Journal of Educational Psychology, 85, 357-364.
44.
Wheeler, L., & Miyake, K. (1992). Social comparison in everyday life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 62, 760-773.
45.
Wylie, R.C. (1989). Measures of self-concept. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press.
46.
Elias Mpofu is a lecturer in educational psychology at the University of Zimbabwe. He is also a Fulbright scholar and Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Rehabilitation Psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research interests are in cross-cultural issues in social behavior, learning, and cognition.
