lognal of Educational Psychology 1964, Vol. 55, No.

2, 91-95

AGE AND OTHER CORRELATES OF SELF-CONCEPT IN CHILDREN l

ELLEN V. PIERS AND DALE B. HARRIS Pennsylvania Sate University A wide-range self-concept instrument was developed and administered to children in Grades 3, 6, and 10. Original scoring showed Grades 3 and 10 significantly higher in reported self-concept than Grade 6, but not significantly different from each other, although Grade 3 had a largei dispersion. No consistent sex differences were observed. Internal consistency and test-retest reliability coefficients were judged satisfactory enough to continue refinement of the instrument through item analysis. Correlations with IQ and achievement were positive but low. Institutionalized retarded girls reported significantly lower self-concept than did the public school sample. A factor analysis of the present 80-item scale on 457 Grade 6 children resulted in 6 clearly interpretable factors

According to Rogers' self-theory, adjustment is in part a function of the self-concept and self-acceptance. Most efforts to alter the self-concept so as to improve adjustment have taken place in the context of psychotherapy. Research in the area began, therefore, in this context, but has since spread to include interest in the development of the selfconcept and the relation of the phenomenal self to numerous other variables. While parent-child interaction and other early experiences are assumed to be important in the development of the self-concept, investigations into these variables and the measurement of the self-concept, have, with a few notable exceptions (Coopersmith, 1959; Perkins, 19S8; Sears, 1941), been restricted to populations of college age or older. In the absence of longitudinal studies over a period longer than 2 years (Engel, 1959) cross-sectional studies might give partial information concerning changes in content and stability at various ages. So far, no one instrument has been developed that is suitable, and the various
Based on a paper read at American Psychological Association, Philadelphia, September 1963.
1

instruments that have been used are not comparable. Critiques of self-concept methodology (Crowne & Stephens, 1961; Wylie, 1961) invariably refer not only to the lack of equivalence of measures but also the lack of standardization and validation of the instruments. It has been stressed that before further hypotheses are tested in this area, adequate instruments should be developed. It has also been urged that the description of the development of the instrument should be detailed. The study here reported is the first step in a systematic effort to: (a) develop and standardize a general selfconcept instrument which can be used with children over a wide age range, and (b) to determine correlates of self-concept in children. The inevitable question of whether self-report truly reflects the phenomenal self is not dealt with at this time. Nor, in view of the disputed value of and the difficulties in interpreting self-ideal discrepancy scores (Wylie, 1961), have ideal-self-ratings been obtained.
DEVELOPMENT OF ITEM POOL

Many instruments have used the Butler and Haigh (1954) or other items stemming from 91

92

EIXEN V. P a s s AND DALE 8 . HARRIS

client statements in adult psychotherapy. A child's instrument might better stem from the concerns that children have about themselves. An original pool of items was developed, therefore, from jersild's (1952) collection of children's statements about what they liked and disliked about themselves, which he grouped under the following categories: (a) Physical Characteristics and Appearance; (b) Clothing and Grooming; (c) Health and Physical Soundness; (d) Home and Family; () Enjoyment of Recreation; (/) Ability in Sports, Play; (g) Ability in school, attitudes toward school, etc.; (A) Intellectual abilities; (t) Special Talents (music, arts); (;) Just me, myself ; and (k) Personality, Character, Inner Resources, Emotional Tendencies. The items were written as simple declarative statements, e.g., "I am a happy person." At least half were negative in content (e.g., "I behave badly at home") in order to reduce effects of acquiescence, but negative terms such as "don't" were avoided in so far as possible, in order to reduce the confusion of a double negative. Twelve "lie" statements were added, in order to see whether children at these ages could admit common weaknesses. Examples of these are, "I am always good," or "sometimes I act silly." * The preliminary pool of 164 statements was administered in a pilot study to a sample of 90 children from the third-, fourth-, and sixthgrade classes in a small school district, with the items being read aloud by the examiners, while the children followed along on their test blanks and circled "yes" or "no" with their pencils. The title of the inventory was "The Way I Feel About Myself" and the children were instructed to circle yes if the item was true for them and no if it were not true for them. The pilot study established that the children understood the items, and that the inventory could be completed in approximately 30-35 minutes. Following the administration, items answered in one direction by fewer than 10% or more than 90% were inspected, and, in most cases, dropped. However, since the instrument was designed to identify cases of children who are deviant, as well as to establish norms, a few items such as "my parents love me" were temporarily retained even though * Lie statements were later dropped when it appeared that scores for the three grades were not markedly different, even though third graders did answer in somewhat more socially desirable fashion and showed greater variability in total score.

answered "yes" by the great majority of children. One hundred forty items remained, including the Lie scale.
A D M I N I S T R A T I O N A N D SCORING

The 140-item scale was administered to four third-grade classes, four sixth-grade classes, and four tenth-grade classes in a large school system. In the elementary grades classes were chosen from several different schools, representing a cross section of sodoeconomic levels in the community. In the high school slow, average, and bright classes participated. As a preliminary approach to scoring, statements were classified by three judges as reflecting adequate (high) or inadequate (low) selfconcept, repetitious items originally included to estimate consistency were discarded, and the Lie scale was put aside to be scored separately. One hundred items remained, of which 95 could be classified, leaving 5 which were retained but whose direction was not determined. These were "I am a quiet person," "I am like my mother," "I am like my father," "I would rather work alone than with a group," and "I am different from other people."

Means and standard deviations for "high" scores based on 95 items are reported in Table 1. Scores for boys and girls are presented separately, but were lumped together for grade comparisons
TABLE 1
MEANS AND STANDARD DEVIATIONS FOR HIGH SCORES ON THE SELF-CONCEPT SCALE

(95 items) Grade 6

Subjects Girls

10

N M SD
Boys

56 70.3 14.35 63 68.6 15.77 119 69.39 15.14

56 65.7 12.87 71 63.6 13.91 127 64.52 13.50

53
68.4 9.07 64 69.95 12.09 117 69.23 10.85

N if SD
Total

N U SD

SELF-CONCEPT IN CHILDREN

93

when sex was found not to be a significant variable. Third- and tenth-grade classes were found to be not significantly different from each other in mean total score (/=.93), but both were significantly different from the sixth grade at the .01 level (*'s=2.6 and 3). Whether this reflects a true curvilinear developmental pattern remains to be seen with future samples. It should be noted that variability, on the other hand, shows a decrease with age.
RELATIONSHIP TO IQ AND ACHIEVEMENT

TABLE 3
INTERNAL CONSISTENCY OF SELS-CONCEPT SCORES ESTIMATED BY KUDER-RICHARDSON FORMULA 21

(95 items)

Grade 3 6 10

Sex Girls Boys Girls Boys Girls Boys

N
56 63 56 71 53 64

Kuder-Richardson index .90 .93 .89 .90 .78 .88

Correlations between high scores and IQ and achievement test scores for Grades 3 and 6 are shown in Table 2. Since IQs were not reported for all subjects, these coefficients are based on a smaller sample. In general, it would appear that the relationship between selfconcept scores and IQ and achievement is considerably greater at the sixth-grade than at the third-grade level. The correlation of .32 between achievement and self-concept is comparable to the correlation of .36 between achievement and self-esteem reported by Coopersmith (1959) with fifth- and sixth-grade classes.
INTERNAL CONSISTENCY AND RELIABILITY

To judge the homogeneity of the test, the Kuder-Richardson Formula 21, TABLE 2
CORRELATIONS OF SELF-CONCEPT SCORES WITH IQ AND ACHIEVEMENT TESTS

Grade Measure 3 6 r .169 .188* N 116 126

N
IQ Achievement
* p < .05. "#<O1
88 117

r
.251** .322**

which assumes equal difficulty of items, was employed with results as shown in Table 3. This formula, which is represented to be an underestimate as compared with Formula 20, reflects the size of the standard deviation, with the resultant lowering of the estimate for Grade 10 girls.8 As a check, the Spearman-Brown odd-even formula was applied for half the Grade 6 and Grade 10 sample, with resulting coefficients of .90 and .87, respectively. A retest after 4 months on one half the sample, resulted in the coefficients shown in Table 4. Although not outstandingly high, coefficients in the .70s are satisfactory for this type of scale at an experimental stage and over this long a period of time since real changes may be beginning to contribute to errors of measurement. Table 4 also shows that mean scores were consistently higher on the retest well beyond the .01 level (*'s=5.6, 5.13, and 4.05). This finding is reminiscent of Taylor's (1955) study in which self-ideal congruence increased on repeated sortings of self-descriptive statements, without psychotherapy or other theoretically
5 The restriction of range for Grade 10 girls is puzzling and affects several of the calculations.

94 TABLE 4

ELLEN V. PURS AND DALE B. HARRIS

FOUR-MONTH TEST-RETEST MEANS, STANDARD DEVIATIONS, AND RELIABILITY COEJTI ON THE SELF-CONCEPT SCALE

below any of the public school groups (/'s=6.51, 4.02, and 6.89) and indicates that the scale does reflect the hypothesized lower self-concept or at least the level of self-report.
ITEM ANALYSIS

Grade N
3 6 10 S6 66 60

November

March*

~M
68.73 65.88 69.10

ID~
16.97 13 03 11.51

M
77.5 71.9 73.6

ID
12.02 10.85 11.23 .72 .71 .72

All March means significantly higher than November (p < .01). b All coefficients significantly different from zero (p < .01).

relevant variable. It has been suggested that increasing familiarity with response items might account for the change, but in any case, it re-emphasizes the necessity for control groups before making claims regarding changes in selfconcept.
VALIDITY

Validation of self-report scales is always difficult, since the appropriateness of behavioral and other criteria outside the self can be questioned. A first attempt was made by administering the scale to a group of 88 adolescent institutionalized retarded females, whose mean age was 16.8 years and whose mean IQ was 69.6. All of them had a reading level of the third grade or above, but the questions were read aloud as they had been for elementary school children. It might be expected that the selfconcept of those judged mentally retarded would fall below that of normals. Gorlow, Butler, and Guthrie (1963) have also reported that institutionalized retardates manifest significantly more negative self-attitudes than noninstitutionalized retardates. Scores on this sample confirmed expectations. A mean of 57 and a standard deviation of 13.6 was obtained. This mean is significantly

Using the sixth-grade sample, the 30 highest and 30 lowest scores were identified and on each item Cureton's chi test (Lindquist, 1951) was applied to determine whether the item significantly discriminated between the high and low groups at the .05 level or better. In addition, only those items answered in the expected direction by half or over half of the high group were used. Eighty items met these two criteria and constitute the present scale, which can be administered in approximately 20 minutes.4 Three of the previously neutral items were dropped after the analysis, leaving "I would rather work alone than with a group" and " I am different from other people," discriminating at the .01 level when each was scored in the "no" direction.
STRUCTURE

The structure of the scale was investigated at the sixth-grade level by means of a multiple-factor analysis. For this purpose an additional sample of 330 sixth graders was used, from a different school system, making a total sample of 457. Responses to the 80 items of the revised scale along with two additional variables of sex and birth order (dichotomized into "first" and "other") were
* A copy of the testing instrument has been deposited with the American Documentation Institute. Order Document No. 7809 from ADI auxiliary Publications Project, Photoduplication Service, Library of Congress, Washington, D. C , 20540. Remit in advance $1.23 for microfilm or $1.25 for photocopies and make checks payable to: Chief, Photoduplication Service, Library of Congress.

SELF-CONCEPT IN CHILDREN

95

placed in a matrix and intercorrelated with the aid of a 7074 digital computer. A principal-components analysis was made, using unities in the diagonals. Ten factors were extracted and rotated by means of the varimax method (Harman, 1960). Items with loadings of above .30 on each factor were inspected and the factor was named by considering the content of items with the highest loadings. Ten factors accounted for 42% of the variance. Of these, six were large enough to be interpretable. Following are the interpretable factors and their labels in order of size together with sample items containing high loadings on each factor.'
II. Behavior. I do many bad things (.66); I am disobedient at home (.64); I am often in trouble (.60); I think bad thoughts (.55); I can be trusted ( .53). I. General and Academic Status. I am good in my schoolwork ( .66); I am smart ( .63); I am dumb about most things (.56), I am a good reader ( .55); I forget what I learn (.53). VI. Physical Appearance and Attributes. I am goodlooking ( .74); I have a pleasant (ace ( .61); I have a bad figure (.56), I am strong ( .41); I am a leader in games and sports ( .40). HI. Anxiety. I cry easily ( .57); I worry a lot ( - . 5 7 ) ; I am often afraid ( - . 5 5 ) ; I get nervous when the teacher calls on me ( .54); I am nervous ( .49). IV. Popularity. People pick on me ( .62); I am among the last to be chosen for games ( .61); It is hard for me to make friends ( - . 5 6 ) ; I have many friends (.55); I feel left out of things ( .49). X. Happiness and Satisfaction. I am a happy person (.65); I am unhappy ( .62); I like being the way I am (.60); I wish I were different ( - . 5 7 ) ; I am cheerful (.42).

factor (VIII), which was not interpreted, although it seemed to bear some relation to status within the family. The obtained factors cut across some of the original Jersild categories and reflect an emphasis on his last two groups, i.e., "Just Me, Myself" and "Personality, character, inner resources, emotional tendencies." The factors will be used as a basis for constructing teacher and peer rating scales as the next step in the study.
REFERENCES
BUTLER, J. M , & HAICH, G. V. Changes in

the relation between self-concepts and ideal concepts consequent upon client-centered counseling. In C. R. Rogers & Rosalind F. Dymond (Eds.), Psychotherapy and personality change Chicago: Univer Chicago Press, 1954 Pp. 5S-75. COOFERSMITH, S. A method for determining types of self-esteem. J. abnorm. soc. Psychol., 1959, 59, 87-94.
CROWNE, D D., & STEPHENS, M. W. Self-

acceptance and self-evaluative behavior- A critique of methodology. Psychol. Bull., 1961, 58, 104-121.
ENCEL, MARY. The stability of the self-concept

in adolescence. J. abnorm. soc. Psychol., 1959, 58, 211-215.

GORLOW, L., BUTLER, A., & GUTHRIE, G. Cor-

The variable of sex appeared in Factor III, with boys more often denying feeling nervous or worried. Sex also appeared in one of the smaller factors. Birth order appeared only in the smallest
4 A full report of the factor structure may be obtained by writing the authors.

relates of self-attitudes of retardates. Amer J. ment. Defic, 1963, 67, 549-554. HARMAN, H. H Modern factor analysis. Chicago: Univer. Chicago Press, 1960. JERSILD, A. T In search of self. New York Teachers College, Columbia University, Bureau of Publications, 1952. LINDQUIST, E. F. (Ed.) Educational measurement. Washington, D. C.- American Council on Education, 1951. PERKINS, H. V. Factors influencing change in children's self-concepts. Child Dcvelpm., 1958, 29, 221-230. SEARS, PAULINE. Level of aspiration in relation to some variables of personality: Clinical studies. J. soc. Psychol, 1941, 14, 311336. TAYLOR, D. M. Changes in the self-concept without psychotherapy. J. consult. Psychol., 1955, 19, 205-209. WYLIE, RUTH C. The self concept. Lincoln Univer. Nebraska Press, 1961. (Received July 23, 1963)