Racial Group Orientation and Self-Concept: Examining the Relationship Using Meta-Analysis.

An empirical summary of 33 studies considers the relationship between racial group orientation and self-concept of an individual. This issue represents a fundamental assumption of afrocentric education practices, that the racial group orientation of the individual is related to the self-esteem of the individual. The results demonstrate a positive relationship between the degree to which a person has a positive orientation towards his or her own racial group and the person's level of self-esteem. Communication scholars increasingly need to consider the issues of interethnic communication--so much of communication scholarship deals with the issues of how a person relates to another as an individual. The development of additional insights and more refined analysis in this investigation will improve the understanding of how persons identify themselves as members of some particular cultural group. (Contains 39 references and 2 tables of data). (Author/CR)