The relationship between proportional reasoning ability and self concept was studied from a cognitive developmental approach. A sample of 222 adolescents attending junior high and high school in a rural southern state was comprised of 57.7% females, 41.8% males, 61.1% blacks, and 30.8% whites. The adolescents were asssigned to two problem solving groups, concrete operational and formal operational, based on their performance on three sets of proportional reasoning tasks. The mean age for the concrete group was 13.1 and for the formal group the mean age was 15.2. The two groups had comparable Cognitive (intellectual) Skills Index scores, with the concrete problem solvers mean score being 98.68 and for the formal operational problem solvers the mean score was 97.01. Data were also collected on self concept using the My Characteristic Self scale, instrumentality and expressiveness (Self Perception Inventory), and masculinity (Adolescent Sex Role Inventory). / A test of four hypotheses was carried out using a multivariate analysis of variance with two levels of the independent variable, concrete and formal operational problem solving, and four dependent variables, self concept, instrumentality, expressivenesss, and masculinity. The Hotellings multivariate test of significance revealed statistical significance ((alpha) = .05) between the two problem solving groups. The investigation of the univariate F-tests indicated that self concept was a statistically significant ((alpha) = .05) dependent variable. The statistical decision resulting from this analysis revealed that null hypothesis (1) could be rejected and hypothesis (1A) considered. The analysis further indicated that instrumentality, expressiveness, and masculinity were not statistically significant ((alpha) = .05) dependent variables; therefore, null hypotheses (2), (3), and (4) failed to be rejected. The conclusion based on these findings indicate that formal operational problem solvers rate self concept higher than concrete operational problem solvers; increases in proportional reasoning ability were associated with higher self concept ratings. / The results were discussed in relation to similar findings on elementary school and early adolescent age youth. The data from these studies and those from the present investigation indicate that cognitive developmental problem solving appears to be related to higher self concept ratings of children and adolescents. These findings provided support for the study of self concept development from a cognitive developmental framework. Finally, implications and recommendations for improving self concept ratings of adolescents were presented to educators, parents, and therapists. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 45-11, Section: B, page: 3640. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1984.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_75462 |
| Contributors | DENNY, B. MICHAEL., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 160 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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