Sex Differences in the Relationship of Self Concept to Locus of Control in Children

Abstract

The Coopersmith (1967) Self Esteem Inventory was given to 480 third and fourth grade children. From the distribution- of inventory scores, 28 boys and 28 girls were selected to form a 2x2 classification of low and high self-concept males and females. The Intellectual Achievement Questionnaire (Crandall, Katkovsky, and Crandall, 1965) was administered to determine if the four groups differed in accepting personal responsibility for success and/or failure. High self-concept boys were found to demonstrate a higher total index of internal locus of control than low self-concept boys while the converse was true of high and low self-concept girls (p <.025). Although high self-con cept boys were generally more internal than high self-concept girls (p <.05), high self-concept children, regardless of sex, assumed more personal responsibility for successful outcomes than failures (p <.01).

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References

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