Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oklahoma, 1991. / Includes bibliographical references.

The Black experience throughout the history sport has engendered significant transformations to the landscape and culture of both sport and society. However, in the present sociocultural climate of intercollegiate athletics, the disproportion of Black male student athletes in the revenue generating high profile sports have a unique experience in sport unlike their athlete and non-athlete counterparts. The uniqueness of these student athletes’ experiences exists in the ways in which they figure to negotiate their Blackness and their roles as an athlete and student contextualized within the current racial climate of sport culture. There remains a gap in existing literature and research of the conditions and lived experiences of Black student athletes concerning the developmental process of racial identity and its relationship with their athletic identities and academic self-concepts. The present research addresses this gap of knowledge about these stakeholders (i.e. the Black male student athlete) in sport by conducting a mix-methods study exploring the issues of identities, academic self-concept, and developing a deeper understanding based on the experiential knowledge of participants. The relationships between racial and athletic identity and academic self-concept were examined with a participant sample of Black male college football players at Division 1-A universities (N=255). Additionally, a qualitative instrumental case study grounded by Critical Race Theory explored the experiences and perceptions of eleven Black male student athletes participating in high profile athletic programs at predominately White institutions. The research findings indicate at least partial evidence of a relationship between pre-encounter assimilationist and miseducation attitudes with academic self-concept mediated by an elevated athletic identity of participants. There were five themes that emerged from the empirical materials. The themes are presented as: Lane Assignments, Allegiance to the Game versus Classroom, Race Matters??, Conformity, and Still at Work. This research illustrates that the identity, academic self-concepts and experiences of the Black male student athlete in college sport is vastly impacted by complex sociocultural systems. Findings suggest intercollegiate athletic support staff should purposefully accommodate the needs and experiences of student athletes with culturally relevant systems of practice to enhance student athlete development. / text

The academic achievement gap is one of the most important areas of inquiry in education today. Racial-ethnic disparities in achievement continue to be persistent at every level—including post-secondary education. Research suggests African American males are particularly likely to disidentify with academics, resulting in a lack of a significant relation between academic self-concept and academic outcomes. Research has found a relationship between racial-ethnic messages that parents give to their children and academic achievement. Further, the student’s gender may impact the types of parental messages given. Multiple regression statistical analysis will be used to determine if the relation between academic self-concept and GPA is moderated by parental racial-ethnic socialization, teacher mistrust, and gender. / text

The current report reviews the recent research on online social networking sites (MySpace and Facebook), and their impact on adolescent self-concept and identity development. This paper describes the history and recent expansion of social networking sites, followed by an overview of adolescent identity development. The literature suggests both positive and negative effects of social networking use on adolescent self-concept. Positive effects include the strengthening of group identity, the benefits of self-expression, and the ability to reinforce social relationships. On the other hand, negative effects include an intensified discrepancy between one’s ideal and actual selves, false representations of the self, and the risks involved with online disclosure. The relationship between personality factors and social networking use is also explored. Finally included are implications of this research for school counselors working with adolescents growing up in the digital age. / text

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Thesis (Ph.D. (Clinical Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2006.

This study examined the academic achievement, academic self-concept, and academic motivation of 573 immigrant and non-immigrant adolescents in two public secondary schools in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). Multivariate analyses revealed statistically significant differences between immigrant and non-immigrant adolescents with respect to their academic achievement, academic self-concept, and academic motivation. In addition, supplemental exploratory analyses indicated significant ethnic group differences in academic achievement, academic self-concept, and academic motivation. Surprisingly and importantly, analyses showed the absence of statistically significant gender differences among immigrant adolescents in terms of their academic achievement, academic self-concept, and academic motivation. Results from multiple linear regression analyses provided support for the Self-Description Questionnaire II as a measurement to be used with both immigrant and non-immigrant adolescents. In contrast, support for the Academic Motivation Scale, which is based on the Self-Determination Theory, was not adequately substantiated in the current research for either immigrants or non-immigrants. / Thesis (Master, Education) -- Queen's University, 2007-11-20 10:34:07.043

Chronic pain is a public health problem that is likely to increase as the population ages, and has few effective treatments. Although viewed by many as profoundly distressing and disabling, there are a surprising number of people (approximately 30%) who cope well with their chronic pain and do not continue to seek treatment. There is little theory to explain how and why these individuals manage their pain well. This means there is limited knowledge about the approaches used by people who cope well and whether these strategies could help those who have more difficulty. This thesis presents a substantive grounded theory of living well with chronic pain, the theory of re-occupying self. Seventeen individual interviews were recorded, with data collection, analysis and theory generation following classical grounded theory methodological approach. Constant comparison, theoretical sampling, theoretical coding, and theoretical sensitivity were used to identify the main concern of people who cope well with pain. This concern is achieving self-coherence, and is resolved by re-occupying self. Resolution involves making sense to develop an idiographic model of their pain; deciding to turn from patient to person, facilitated or hindered by interactions with clinicians and occupational drive; and flexibly persisting where occupational engaging and coping allow individuals to develop future plans. By completing this process, individuals form a coherent self-concept in which they re-occupy the important or valued aspects of themselves. This study supports using Acceptance and Commitment Therapy because of its functional contextual view of people and their actions. This study illustrates that coping strategies are used in different ways depending on the primary goal within that context. Occupations, or active; purposeful; meaningful; contextualised and human activities, are used by people to make sense of their situation, and as a key motivation for developing coping strategies. These findings lead to new research questions about values-aligned activity, coping with identity change, and acceptance.

The purpose of this study was to discover: (A) Whether the Tennessee Self-Concept Test would predict academic success better than the Scholastic Aptitude Test. (B) Whether Tennessee Self-Concept Test would add to Scholastic Aptitude Test as a predictor of academic success.The subjects were 102 first quarter Freshmen English students enrolled at Ball State University during the Fall Quarter of 1974. The predictor variables studied were: Scholastic Aptitude Test - verbal, Scholastic Aptitude Test -mathematical and Tennessee Self -Concept Test the counseling form. All the 14 scores on Tennessee Self-Concept Test, self criticism, total-P scores, Row 1-identity, Row 2-self satisfaction, Row 3-behavior, Column 1-physical self, Column 2-moral self, Column 3-personal self, Column 4-family self, Column 5-social self, Total variability score, Column total, Row total, and D-distribution score, were included. The criteria of success was the final grade point average.In order to find the statistical significance of the variables studied as a predictor of academic success, step wise multiple regression was applied.The result of this study indicated that (A) the single variable that offered the best information for predicting academic success was Scholastic Aptitude Test-verbal; (B) only one variable on Tennessee Self Concept Test, the personal self, was significant as a predictor of academic success; (C) the combination of variables on Scholastic Aptitude Test and Tennessee Self-Concept Test was test d. Only three variables were found to be significant as a predictor of academic success: SAT-verbal, Column 4-the family self, and Column 3-personal self.