Father Absence and Self Conception among Lower Class White and Negro Boys

Abstract

The effects of fatherlessness and race on the self conceptions of lower-class adolescent males is explored using the orientation of symbolic interactionism and the semantic differential for measurement. A distinction is made between actual and normative self and the categories of white and black, father-absent and father-present boys are examined. All categories exhibited significant differences between actual and normative self, but the magnitude of differences varies among categories: black father-absent boys have smaller differences than white father-absent boys; no difference between white and black father-present boys. The smaller differences of the black father-absent boys is the result of their more potent actual self conceptions. Several interpretations of these results are discussed.