Effects of Sex, Race, and Class on Self, Ideal-Self, and Parental Ratings in Southern Adolescents

Abstract

This study replicated an earlier one in evaluating the effects of sex, race, and social class on the self- and ideal-self ratings of adolescent Ss. The effects of these three factors on Ss' parental ratings and self-parental congruency were also assessed. Interpersonal Check List data were obtained from 218 Negro and 310 white high school seniors from rural segregated schools whose social class was determined from parental occupations as reported by the students. The results largely replicated the earlier findings on self- and ideal-self-ratings for the sex and race variables. In addition, lower class students obtained higher self- and ideal-self-love scores than upper-class students. The major findings involving the parental ratings and self-parental congruency pertained to the females who described (1) their fathers as possessing more interpersonal warmth than their mothers and (2) greater self-father than self-mother congruency.