Academic Self-Concept of Japanese Female Private-High-School Students.

The purpose of this study was to examine a profile of academic self-concept for a sample of 293 students of a private girls-only high school in Japan as measured by the Dimensions of Self-Concept (DOSC)-Form S, Japanese version (W. Michael and others, 1984). The DOSC-Form S, Japanese version, yields five scores associated with the five underlying dimensions of academic self-concept: Level of Aspiration, Anxiety, Academic Interest and Satisfaction, Leadership and Initiative, and Identification versus Alienation. Past studies involving Japanese college students have reported that Japanese college students display dispositions indicative of low self-concept relative to their American counterparts, but little empirical study has been done on the academic self-concept of Japanese high school students. Japanese high schools constitute a unique subculture within the entire Japanese educational system, characterized by intensive preparation and competition for college entrance. Data from this study show lower academic self-concept for these students compared with U.S. high school students, but the subjects in this study represent only one segment of the diverse Japanese high school population. (Contains 2 tables and 23 references.) (Author/SLD)