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PEER ACCEPTANCE AND SELF-PERCEPTIONS IN CHILDREN: THE IMPACT OF GENDER AND RACE
| Title: | PEER ACCEPTANCE AND SELF-PERCEPTIONS IN CHILDREN: THE IMPACT OF GENDER AND RACE |
| Author: | Trzepacz, Angie M. |
| Description: | This study examined the impact of gender and race on specific dimensions of self-perception and on the relationships between peer acceptance and dimensions of self-perception. In addition, the psychometric properties of the Self-Perception Profile for Children were examined for this population of children. The data included peer acceptance scores and self-perception profiles for 466 children between the ages of 7 and 15. Girls reported lower self-perceptions than boys on the dimensions of Athletic Competence and Physical Appearance, but higher self-perceptions for Behavioral Conduct. No gender differences were found for Global Self-Esteem or perceptions of Scholastic Competence or Social Acceptance. Black children had higher perceptions of Physical Appearance than White children but reported similar scores on the other five dimensions. No interaction effects for gender and race were identified for any of the dimensions of self-perception. Peer acceptance was positively correlated with perceived Social Acceptance and Global Self-Esteem. There were no significant main effects of gender or race for any of the correlations between peer acceptance and dimensions of self-perception. A significant interaction effect was identified for the relationship between peer acceptance and perceptions of Physical Appearance: the relationship between peer acceptance and perceived physical appearance was significantly stronger for Black boys than for each of the other three groups. The evaluation of the Self-Perception Profile for Children indicated that its psychometric properties are acceptable for Black and White children of both genders. These results suggest that for children in America, gender and race do not generally have a significant clinical impact on specific dimensions of self-perception or on the relationships between self-perceptions and peer acceptance. In addition, the gender effects found here for a mixed-race group are generally in agreement with prior research, which was conducted using mostly White samples. This finding suggests that self-perceptions and the relationships between self-perceptions and peer acceptance are not race-specific. Although some gender and race differences were statistically significant, the effect sizes were small in all cases. Therefore, the few identified differences should be kept in perspective, and attention should be focused on the overwhelming similarities among these groups of children. This project was supported by a 12-month Dissertation Research Grant in Child and Adolescent Developmental Psychopathology from the National Institute of Mental Health. |
| Permanent Link: |
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin989252512
http://hdl.handle.net/2374.OX/10846 |
| Date: | 2001 |
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