Family Correlates of South African Students' Self-Concept: A Regression Surface Analysis

Abstract

This study examined relationships between family social status, perceptions of proximal family environment and students' self-concept scores. Data were collected from 189 female and 146 male 18-yr.-old South Africans. Regression surfaces were constructed from models that included terms to account for linear, interaction, and curvilinear associations among the variables. The study suggests the general propositions (a) family social status and proximal family environment combine to have large associations with students' general self-concept and small to medium associations with scores on measures of specific self-concept, (b) proximal family environment is related more strongly to self-concept scores than is family social status, (c) there are complex interaction and curvilinear relationships between family and self-concept scores, and (d) there are sex differences in the nature of the associations between family social status, proximal family environment, and students' self-concept.