Effects of Schools’ Racial Composition on the Self-Concept of Black and White Students¹

General Self-Concept, Self-Concept of Academic Ability and School Achievement: Implications for “Causes” of Self-Concept

“…Significant (p < .05) correlations reported in a number of such studies range roughly from +.18 to +.50 (obviously the n's varied) (Alberti;' Bledsoe, 1967;Brookover and Thomas, 1964;Caplin, 1969;Cole, 1974;Epps, 1969;Gustafson and Owen;" Green and Zirkel;" Linton;" Lekarczyk and Hill, 1969;Peper and Chansky, 1970;Piers and Harris, 1964;Primavera, Simon and Primavera, 1974;Simon and Simon, 1975;and Spaulding"), Also in general, correlational investigations typically yield higher significant correlations (p < .05) between self-concept of academic ability and achievement, than between general self-concept and achievement. Correlations reported range roughly from +.27 to +.70 (Alvord and Glass, 1974;Binder, Jones and Strowig, 1970;Brookover and Thomas, 1964;Busk, Ford and Schulman, 1973;Caplin, 1969;Epps, 1969;Joiner, Erickson, Crittenden and Stevenson, 1969;Jones, 1974;Jones and Grieneeks, 1970;Jones and Strowig, 1968;Linton;" and Sears"). Significant positive correlations between general self-concept or selfconcept of academic ability and academic achievement, however, are not always found.…”

“…General selfconcept correlations with achievement were lower in both groups. Busk et al (1973) suggest that self-concept contributes more to achievement variability among Anglo-Americans than others. When one considers, however, the possibilities of sex, SES, ethnic and racial interaction, such a suggestion should be considered to be very tentative.…”

“…While many investigators examine racial or ethnic differences (Busk, Ford and Schulman, 1973;Gibby and Gabler, 1967;Guggenheim, 1969;Gustafson;" Hare, 1975" Hare, , 1977and Linton"), some do not report achievement related analyses. Gibby and Gabler (1967) did not include a school-related achievement variable in their research.…”

Racial Group Concept and Self-Esteem in Black Children

“…Self-esteem studies have also focused on the impact of sex (Carpenter & Busse, 1969;O'Malley & Bachman, 1979;Rubin, 1978;Samuels & Griffore, 1979); of age (Beglis & Sheikh, 1974;Bewley, 1977;Gray-Little & Appelbaum, 1979), of school racial composition (Busk, Ford, & Shulman, 1973; Rosenberg & Simmons, 1972;Williams & Byars, 1970), of socioeconomic status (Hare, 1977;Rosenberg & Simmons, 1972), and of academic performance (McIntire & Drummond, 1977;Rubin, 1978;Simmons, Brown, Bush, & Blythe, 1978) on self-esteem. Several studies have investigated the relationship of racial preferences and racial attitudes on self-esteem.…”