Individual, Family, and Community Education ETDs

Publication Date

2-3-1972

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to investigate the self-concept of the economically disadvantaged, and the effectiveness of group counseling as a means of changing it. The study also included the relationship of other variables, such as race, age, and achievement in basic skills, to the self-concept.

Subjects for the study were young women between the ages of 16 and 22 enrolled in a federal job training program, divided into four groups of 50 each and treated as follows:

  1. Experimental group. pretest, group counseling, posttest.
  2. Control group. Pretest and posttest.
  3. Hawthorne effect group. Posttest only.

4. Drop-out group. Pretest only. Instruments used were the Tennessee Self Concept Scale and the Stanford Achievement Test.

Groups were matched according to age and race, using the same ratio found in the training program. During the treatment period of three months, the l½-hour counseling sessions were conducted twice weekly by the researcher. The groups were client centered and consisted of eight participants.

Statistical procedures used were t tests of the difference between means, analysis of variance resulting in f ratios, multiple discriminant analysis, and Spearman rank order correlations.

The findings of the study indicated that the mean self-concept of the subjects was significantly poorer than the norms ~f the Tennessee Self Concept Scale. The research group was significantly high on Net Conflict, Total Conflict, General Maladjustment, Psychosis, and Personality Disorder. The subjects scored low on Behavior.

All ethnic groups scored considerably below the norms on mean total self-concept score. In order from high to low, they scored as follows: Negroes, Caucasians, Spanish-Americans, and Indians.

No significant relationship was found between self-concept and achievement, and there were no significant differences among the various age groups in the study. Self-concept did not prove to be a good predictor of attrition.

There were no significant differences between pre­ and posttest scores of the experimental or control groups. Neither participation in the training program nor in group counseling had any significant effect on the self-concept of the subjects.

It was recommended that further research be conducted in the following areas: the importance of the self-concept, how it is formed, how it relates to achievement, its interaction with mental illness, and what methods are most effective for changing it.

Document Type

Dissertation

Language

English

Degree Name

Counseling

Level of Degree

Doctoral

Department Name

Individual, Family, and Community Education

First Committee Member (Chair)

Gordon A. Zick

Second Committee Member

George Leonard Keppers

Third Committee Member

Marion Jacob Heisey

Fourth Committee Member

Louis Elliot Price

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