Racial identity attitudes and self-esteem of black adolescents in residential care: an exploratory study

Abstract

The study examined and compared the racial identity attitudes and self-esteem of 40 African Caribbean adolescents in residential care in a city in the West Midlands and a comparison group of 40 African Caribbean adolescents attending a multiracial compre hensive school in the city. The respondents were administered the Rosenberg (Rosenberg, 1965) Self-Esteem Scale, the Racial Identity Attitude Scale (Parham and Helms, 1981) and a Demographic Questionnaire. Multiple regression analysis and ana lysis of variance were used to analyse the data. Both respondents in residential care and the comparison group primarily endorsed positive racial attitudes. Self-esteem and racial identity attitudes were positively related. The study assessed the implications of the findings for social workers working with black children and adolescents.