Friday, 14 January 2005 - 12:00 PM

This presentation is part of: Poster Session I

Self-Perceptions: Urban and Rural African American Youth in the Mid-South

PURPOSE: This study was developed to determine the differences between urban and rural African American youth in domains specific to adolescent development. The strategic measures of competence included: academic attainment, physical appearance, athletic ability, behavioral conduct, peer social acceptance, global self-worth, and family cohesion.

Youth undergo several developmental transitions in early adolescence that shape self-perceptions. For example, the transition to junior high school or middle school, the onset of puberty, and the presence or absence of physical growth and maturation require tremendous adaptation. Most youth utilize coping mechanisms that aid in adaptation and facilitate normative developmental transitions. For those youth with inadequate problem-solving skills, the transitions of adolescence may reinforce poor self-perceptions, thereby allowing risky behaviors e.g., tobacco use, alcohol consumption, and school failure/dropout, etc. to emerge as coping strategies. It is the cognitive ability to engage in concrete and abstract (e.g., social perspective-taking and hypotheses formulation) thought processes that imprints self-perceptions. Self-perceptions are beliefs held and acted upon as a result of interacting with others. Poor self-perceptions are often cited as the basis for the risky behaviors of urban African American youth. Little is known about rural African American adolescents, which begs the question: Is there a difference in the self-perceptions of African American urban and rural youth?

METHODS: This cross-sectional study employed a non-probability sampling procedure. The sample was comprised of 106 youth between 11-13 years of age. Fifty-nine participants were urban public housing residents, while the other 47 participants resided in a contiguous rural community. Parental consent and adolescent assent was secured prior to survey administration. All participants qualified for a free school lunch program. As an incentive, each adolescent who completed a survey was offered either tickets to a local minor league baseball game or a $10 Visa gift card.

Each participant completed the Harter Self-Perception Profile for Children (SPPC) and the Hudson Multi-dimensional Adolescent Assessment Scale (MAAS) and provided demographic data. Interviewers collected data in community centers adjacent participants’ residents. Participants were read items and asked to select a response from a multiple-choice menu.

RESULTS: Data Analyses revealed many similarities and some differences. Scholastic competence was lower in urban youth (t (104) = -5.14, P = .000. Global self worth was highest for urban youth (t (102) 2.214, P =. 029. Gender comparison (within group analyses) found significance; physical appearance scores were highest for urban males. Additionally, urban males had more family turmoil as measured by the MAAS. No gender differences existed in the rural sub-sample.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: The findings permit practitioners to develop multifaceted intervention strategies designed to reinforce or enhance self-perceptions/competencies. The data driven need for culturally competent and gender-based interventions in targeted domains for specific adolescent subgroups, allows the practitioner-researcher greater opportunity to evaluate practice outcomes. Positive self-worth is a by-product of competency in problem solving and self-regulation. Cognitive and social competencies are synergistic thereby facilitating healthy transitions to young adulthood.

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