A classificatory investigation of self-concept development of Junior High and High School Students as measured by autodescriptive responses

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to describe the normative patterns of self-concept development in adolescents. Responses from the "Who Am I?" questionnaire were categorized by frequency into consensual and nonconsensual statements. There was a total of 2,886 responses from 192 subjects in grades 7 through 12. The overall categories by frequency of response were: caring, Christian, nice, smart, friendly, and helpful. "Caring" and "Christian" occurred more frequently in the upper grades while "nice" and "smart" were more frequent in the lower grades.

The major categories were separated into subcategories describing social interaction. Junior high school subjects responded more frequently with "friend" or "family" subcategories while senior high school subjects responded more frequently with a more general social field or "religion" category. "Student" appeared more frequently in the 9th grade in junior high and the 12th grade in senior high. In the "family" category the 11th and 12th graders referred at times not to the family of origin, but to the family they hoped to have one day. The responses to the 21st question, which asked the subject to rank the best description of self, second best, and third best, were difficult to analyze due to the idiosyncratic nature of the responses as only eight to 12 responses were in the same categories. More nonconsensual statements were made overall, but occurred with a higher frequency in the upper grades. Consensual statements remained fairly consistent across grade levels. The coding of the data was done by the investigator and coinvestigator and indicated a 90% reliability on the initial coding. After the computer printout was obtained, the data were checked and corrected for 100% accuracy.