The self-esteem of black university students

[摘要] The purpose of this exploratory study was to determine theeffectiveness (representativeness) of a variety of instruments thatare intended to measure the level of global and specific dimensionsof self-esteem, and the level of defensiveness amongst Blackuniversity students. The literature review emphasized: (a) thelnconclusiveness .of the operationalization of self-esteem; (b) theneglect of the dimensions of self-esteem; (c) the paucity ofattempts at cross-method convergence; (d) the neglect to specify themeasurement context; (e) the inattention being paid to the role ofdefensiveness on self-report measures; and (f) the paucity ofresearch into Black self-esteem in this country. Following theliterature review,of Black students.were tested.a number of hypotheses were tested among groupsA total of 430 first year full-time students. A major purpose of the research was to determine the effect ofspecific measurement· contexts upon self-esteem and defensiveness.Using Levene's variance-ratio test, the results indicated thatdifferent measurement contexts produced no significant differencesbetween groups with regard to measures of global and the dimensionsof self-esteem. However, the results revealed significantdifferences between groups with regard to measures of defensiveness.A further purpose of .he research was to descriptively illustratethe characteristics of self-esteem with regard to measures ofcentral tendency. The data. revealed that Black university studentspossess a moderately positive level of global self-esteem, and amar.kedly elevated level of academic self-esteem. The data alsoindicated that those groups who had been exposed to a measurementcontext with inherently greater demand characteristics revealed ahigher level of defensiveness than those groups who had been exposedto a context with fewer demand characteristics. A third purpose of the research was to examine the intercorrelationsof various measures of self-esteem and defensiveness inorder to identify the most representative measurement proceduresrespectively. The results indicated that Coopersmith's Self-EsteemInventory (a measure of global self-esteem), Brookover'sSelf-Concept of Ability Scale (a measure of academic self-esteem),and Marlowe-Crowne's Social Desirability Scale (a measure ofdefensiveness) possessed the highest levels of cross-methodconvergence.A fourth purpose of the research was to examine the relationshipbetween self-esteem and defensiveness. The results revealed ahighly significant correlation between self-esteem and defensiveness. Finally, the data of a post-hoc analysis partly confirm thatpersonality traits as measured by standardized South African testsappear to be significantly related to measures of global andacademic self-esteem and defensiveness.In conclusion, it is suggested that further cross-method studies ofself-esteem be conducted in South Africa within and across differentethnic groups, and serious attention be paid to the use of more thanone modality of the measurement of self-esteem.

[发布机构] University of the Free State