Although self-concept has been a prominent and highly utilized hypothetical construct in psychological research for many years, studies attempting to establish the validity of self-concept instruments are relatively few in number. The purpose of this study was to determine the cross-structural validity of selected self-concept measures -- to determine if self-reports and behavioral ratings of self-concept measure the same construct.There were 202 subjects who participated in the study. They were selected from a pool of fourth-, fifth-, and sixth grade regular education students whose parents had signed permission to participate. One male and one female were selected from each classroom. Certified psychometrists administered two self-concept instruments and one anxiety measure to the students in their regularly assigned buildings, Order of test administration was counterbalanced among buildings, Each teacher completed two behavioral ratings of self-concept and one behavioral rating of anxiety on the male and female selected from his or her classroom, Order of completion was counterbalanced among teachers.A multitrait-multimethod analysis was conducted to determine cross-structural validity. Four different correlations were analyzed: (1) monotrait-monomethod, (2) heteromethod-monotrait, (3) heterotrait-monomethod, and (4) heterotrait-heteromethod. The .01 level was used to establish statistical significance of the correlations.Results of this study demonstrated that there is little cross-structural validity between the self-report measures and behavioral rating forms used:1. The common factor variance was not sufficient enough to consider the methods comparable in spite of the fact that there was a statistically significant relationship between self-report measures and behavioral ratings of self-concept.2. Method variance contributed to the substantial concurrent validity between the Children's Self-Concept Scale and the Self-Esteem Inventory. Similarly, method variance contributed to the substantial concurrent validity between the Inferred Self-Concept Scale and the Behavior Rating Form.3, High negative correlations between self-concept and anxiety within each method suggested that self-concept and anxiety share enough common method variance to disallow the use of anxiety as a totally distinct trait.4, Self-reports and behavioral ratings may each measure a different aspect of self-concept -- the experienced and the presented. Therefore, a combination of the two methods might yield a more global assessment of self-concept.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BSU/oai:cardinalscholar.bsu.edu:handle/181483 |
| Date | January 1981 |
| Creators | Treloar, Judith |
| Contributors | Joy, Kenneth L. |
| Source Sets | Ball State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Format | 3, v, 62 leaves : ill. ; 28 cm. |
| Source | Virtual Press |
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