Three Studies Supporting Self-Protective Mechanisms in Stigmatized Minority Adolescents.

Individuals who are stigmatized are people for whom others hold negative beliefs. In these three 1989 studies members of a stigmatized group were 7th- and 8th-grade adolescents, aged 14 and 15 years old, from a large urban midwestern African-American population. In the first study the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale was administered to 196 African-Americans. Scores for this sample were significantly higher than the norms for the total self-concept score and for all six self-concept subscales. In the second study the Nowicki-Strickland Scale, a measure of internal-external locus of control was administered to 110 adolescent African-Americans. The results indicated that the African-American youngsters in this sample were more external in their beliefs about events which control their lives than the 1973 comparison group of Nowicki and Strickland. In the third study the Attributional Style Questionnaire was used to examine the use of externalization as a self-protective mechanism. The results showed that attributional style in response to positive events is significantly different than for styles in response to negative events. The three studies indicated that the global self-concept of these youngsters was significantly higher than reported norms; that they were more external in their beliefs about events which control their lives than reported norms; and that they view themselves as having more influence over positive life events than over negative life events. (ABL)