Piers-Harris Self-Concept Scale Research Articles

A comparative study of the self-concepts of adolescents from intact and non-intact families

Data were collected from a sample of 81 6th-, 7th- and 8th-grade children from intact and non-intact families. The self-concepts of the children from both the intact and non-intact families were measured through the use of the Piers-Harris Self-Concept Scale. The data were analyzed through the multiple-regression approach; demographic variables describing the children, the children's family structures and the number of years since the divorce were built into the analysis. Contrary to much of the clinical literature, the self-concepts of the children in the non-intact families were found not to be negative.

A measure of self-concept for a small group of learning disabled children.

This study investigated the relation between age, grade, and self-concept in a group of learning disabled youngsters during the later elementary to junior high school years. Self-concept refers to the verbal labels a child uses to describe himself and to the positive and negative feelings accompanying these labels. The danger to a child is that a negative self-concept will be confirmed by the way the child is treated by authoriry figures. Also, an adolescent may develop the fear that earlier events in one's life are irreversible and limit choices and directions (2). The Piers-Harris Children's Self-concept Scale (3) for Grades 3 to 12 was adrninistered to 24 subjects, aged 11 to 15 yr. The sample included 4, 3, 8, and 9 subjects in Grades 5 to 8, respectively. All were diagnosed learning disabled beginning in Grade 5 and had been consistently assigned to a resource room. No other handicaps or medical problems were indicated. The 80 declarative statements of the Piers-Harris Self-concept Scale were read and the subjects circled yes if they felt the statement described them, or circled no if the statement did not describe them. A total score ranges from 0 to 80, and a higher score is desirable. The distributions of scores were for Grade 5 (M = 55, SD = 11.84,

Factor Analytic Study of the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale

A factor analysis of the Piers-Harris Self-Concept Scale was conducted with a biracial u sample of children over a wide age range. The Scale was completed by 348 10-17 year old students in a rural community. Seven factors of 10 had sufficient item loadings to be interpretable. Six matched those found in the manual and an additional factor was found relating to Aggression. Race, sex, and age relationships are also reported for these seven factors.

Concurrent Validity of the Children's Personality Questionnaire O Factor as Suggested by the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale

The 0 Factor of the Children's Personality Questionnaire is purported to ,measure self-concept (5); however, little literature demonstrates this relationship. Myers (2), Patterson (3). and Shaw (6) used this to measure self-concepts of elementary school students, whereas Anderson, Lemke, and Lewis (1) used the High School Personality Questionnaire, which has a similar factor structure to discriminate students with high and low self-concepts on Coopersmith Self-esteem Inventory and the Tennessee Self-concept Scale. The present study investigated the correlation between the 0 Factor of the Children's Personality Questionnaire and the Piers-Harris Self-concept Scale (4). Subjects were 96 gifted students, 46 females and 50 males, participating in a summer residential gifted program in a southern state. A Stanford-Binec or WISC-R score of 120 or above was required for admittance to the program. There were 29 fourth graders, 43 fifth graders, and 24 sixth graders. Both measures of self-concept were administered in a classroom bv one examiner. Means, standard deviations, Pearson product-moment coefficients for percentiles of the 0 Factor and Piers-Harris were calculated for each grade and combined grades.

A Cross-Sectional Study of Self-Concept Development in Nigerian Adolescents

Abstract In 1977 the Piers-Harris Self-concept Scale and a 47-item general questionnaire were administered in class to 1380 (552 girls, 828 boys) secondary school students in Ibadan, Nigeria. Subject's mean age was 14.76 years (SD 2.11, median 14.69). Total self-concept score had a mean of 58.19 (SD 10.06, median 59.47). Univariate and multivariate statistics demonstrated that the following variables were significantly associated with self-concept: self-concept stability, age, sex, self-assessed health, physical maturity (indexed by height, weight, and, in the case of girls, onset of menarche), quality of school attended, religion, and how active Subjects were in religious matters. A model of self-concept development based on the findings of this study and on previous work by other writers is presented.

The cip battery: Identification of depression in a juvenile delinquent population

Delinquent adolescents (N = 32) aged 10-16 were given a battery of three psychometric measures to determine characteristics of depressive symptomatology, The CIP battery consisted of the Children's Depression Inventory the Nowicki-Strickland Locus of Control Scale, and the Piers-Harris Self-Concept Scale. On the three measures the delinquent adolescent sample showed evidence of reduced self-esteem, depressive symptomatology, and characteristically external locus of control orientation. Implications for identification and remediation using this battery are discussed.

Gifted Children's Feelings about School and Themselves in Open and Open-Area Classes

The School Sentiment Index and Piers-Harris Self-Concept scale were dependent variables for between 142 and 172 grades 4 and 6 pupils (sample size varied with the test). Their classes were rated on three measures of program openness and architectural plan, and a subsample of 18 students was labelled as gifted on the basis of at least two of three criteria: teacher nominations, standardized reading scores two or more years above grade level, and outstanding school performance. The main results were that these children thought well or poorly of school and themselves in all kinds of class environments much to the same extent as other children. Nontraditional settings did not systematically ill-serve them. Second, much more precise discriminations were possible using classrooms rather than schools as the unit of analysis, even within grade levels.

The Piers-Harris Self-Concept Scale: Norms for behaviorally disordered children

The Piers-Harris Self-Concept Scale was administered to 270 behaviorally disordered children referred to a child study center for antisocial, aggressive, and criminal behavior. Compared to the aggregate mean for published scores of normal children (N=3282), the subject group's scores were significantly lower (p<.0001) and more variable. No sex, race, or age effects were observed. A table of norms for behaviorally disordered children was generated.

Relationship of internal-external locus of control, self-concept, and masculinity-femininity to fear of success in Black freshmen and senior college women

The concepts of locus of control, self-concept, masculinity-femininity, and their relationship to fear of success in Black college women were explored. Scores were obtained from stories written in response to six verbal cues designed to assess fear-of-success imagery. Tabulations ranging from zero (denoting absence of fear) to six (denoting most fear) were correlated with Gurin's I-E Scale, the Modified Piers-Harris Self-Concept Scale, and the Modified Gough Masculinity-Femininity Scale. There was no significant mean difference between freshmen and seniors on fear of success. However, an analysis of variance revealed that externals showed significantly more fear-of-success imagery than internals. Significant inverse correlations were located between the measure of self-concept and certain cues eliciting fear of success. Femininity was not shown to be related to any of the fear-of-success measures.

Effects of reality therapy methods applied in the classroom

Reality therapy methods in the classroom were examined via a four-group experimental design. The groups were as follows: (a) pretested reality therapy, (b) unpretested reality therapy, (c) pretested placebo, and (d) unpretested placebo. Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale scores and observations of on-task behavior constituted the outcome criteria. No significant differences were obtained for self-concept and on-task behavior. The findings were interpreted as not supportive of reality therapy methods as applied in the classroom.