Theorists have argued that global self-esteem should be related to performance in academics. However, studies have reported lower academic achievement among African American students than among White students but have failed to find lower global self-esteem among African American students. Steele has attempted to explain this paradox by proposing that African American children detach their self-esteem from academic outcomes, thus protecting them from failure. The present study tested empirical hypotheses derived from Steele's theoretical framework. Data were taken from a nationally representative longitudinal study of American students. Analyses revealed a pattern of weakening correlations between self-esteem and academic outcomes from 8th to 10th grade for African American students particularly African American male students, whereas the correlations for White students remained stable or increased. These results show general support for Steele's model in the context of a nationally representative sample.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Bachman, J. G. (1970). Youth in transition: Vol. 2. The impact of family background and intelligence on 10th-grade boys. Ann Arbor, Michigan: Survey Research Center, Institute for Social Research.
2.
Braddock, J. H. II. , & McPartland, J. M. (1987). How minorities continue to be excluded from equal employment opportunities: research on labor market and institutional barriers. Journal of Social Issues, 43, 5-40.
3.
Brewer, M. B. (1991). The social self: On being the same and different at the same time. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 17, 475-482.
4.
Cohen, J. , & Cohen, P. (1983). Applied multiple regression/correlation analysis for the behavioral sciences. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
5.
Cooley, C. H. (1956). Human nature and the social order. New York: Free Press.
6.
Coopersmith, S. (1967). The antecedents of self-esteem. San Francisco: Freeman.
7.
Crocker, J. , & Major, B. (1989). Social stigma and self-esteem: The self-protective properties of stigma. Psychological Review, 96, 608-630.
8.
Crosby, F. , Bromley, S., & Saxe, L. (1980). Recent unobtrusive studies of Black and White discrimination and prejudice: A literature review. Psychological Bulletin, 87, 546-563.
9.
Demo, D. H. , & Parker, K. D. (1987). Academic achievement and self-esteem among Black and White college students. Journal of Social Psychology, 127, 345-355.
10.
Erickson, E. H. (1968). Identity: Youth and crisis. New York: W. W. Norton.
11.
Festinger, L. (1954). A theory of social comparison processes. Human Relations, 7, 71-82.
12.
Fordham, S. (1988). Racelessness as a factor in Black students' school success. Harvard Educational Review, 58, 54-84.
13.
Gaertner, S. L. , & Dovidio, J. F. (1986). The aversive form of racism. In J. F. Dovidio & S. L. Gaertner (Eds.), Prejudice, discrimination, and racism. Orlando, FL: Academic Press.
14.
Gecas, V. , & Schwalbe, M. L. (1983). Beyond the looking-glass self: Social structure and efficacy-based self-esteem. Social Psychology Quarterly, 46, 77-88.
15.
Harter, S. (1982). The perceived competence scale for children. Child Development, 53, 87-97.
16.
Harter, S. (1986). Processes underlying the construction, maintenance and enhancement of the self-concept in children. In J. Suls & A. W. Greenwald (Eds.), Psychological perspectives on the self (Vol. 3). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
17.
Heatherton, T. F. , & Polivy, J. (1991). Development and validation of a scale for measuring state self-esteem. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60, 895-910.
18.
Herring, R. D. (1989). Minimum competency testing: Implications for ethnicity. Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 17(3), 98-104.
19.
Howard, J. , & Hammond, R. (1985, September 9). Rumors of inferiority. The New Republic, 193, 17-21.
20.
James, W. (1963). The principles of psychology. New York: Holt, Rhinehart & Winston. (Original work published 1890)
21.
Lay, R. , & Wakstein, J. (1985). Race, academic achievement, and self-concept of ability. Research in Higher Education, 22(1), 43-64.
22.
Levine, D. U. , & Eubanks, E. E. (1990). Achievement disparities between minority and non-minority students in suburban schools. Journal of Negro Education, 59(2), 186-194.
23.
Marsh, H. W. (1986). Global self-esteem: Its relation to specific facets of self-concept and their importance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 1224-1236.
24.
Mead, G. H. (1934). Mind, self; and society. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
25.
National Center for Educational Statistics. . (1990). AELS: 88 base year sample design report. Washington, DC: U. S. Department of Education, Office of Education Research and Improvement.
26.
National Center for Educational Statistics. . (1992). National education longitudinal study of 1988 first follow-up: Student component data file user's manual. Washington, DC: U. S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement.
27.
Osborne, J. W. , Major, B., & Crocker, J. (1992, March). Social stigma and reactions to academic feedback. Poster session presented at the annual meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association, Boston.
28.
Porter, J. R. , & Washington, R. E. (1979). Black identity and self-esteem: A review of the studies of Black self-concept, 1968-1978. Annual Review of Sociology, 5, 53-74.
29.
Reyes, L. H. , & Stanic, G. M. (1988). Race, sex, socioeconomic status, and mathematics. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 19(1), 26-43.
30.
Rogers, C. (1961). On becoming a person. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
31.
Rosenberg, M. (1965). Society and the adolescent self-image. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
32.
Rosenberg, M. (1979). Conceiving the self. New York: Basic Books.
33.
Rosenberg, M. , & Simmons, R. (1972). Black and White self-esteem: The urban school child (Rose Monograph Series). Washington, DC: American Sociological Association.
34.
Shade, B. (1982). Afro-American cognitive style: A variable in school success. Review of Educational Research, 52, 219-244.
35.
Simmons, R. G. , Brown, L., Bush, D. M., & Blyth, D. A. (1978). Self-esteem and achievement of Black and White adolescents. Social Problems, 26(1), 86-96.
36.
Steele, C. (1992, April). Race and the schooling of Black Americans. The Atlantic Monthl, 269(4), 68-78.
37.
Tajfel, H. , & Turner, J. C. (1986). The social identity theory of inter-group behavior. In S. Worchel & W. Austin (Eds.), Psychology of intergroup relations. Chicago: Nelson-Hall.
38.
Tesser, A. (1988). Toward a self-evaluation maintenance model of social behavior. In L. L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 21, pp. 181-228). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
39.
Touliatus, J. , Lindholm, B. W., & Rich, A. (1977). Interaction of race with other variables on achievement in school. Psychology in the Schools, 14, 360-363.
40.
U. S. Government. . (1978). Income and earnings differentials between Black and White Americans (Document No. TF-695-0). Washington, DC: U. S. Government Printing Office.
41.
White, R. W. (1959). Motivation reconsidered: The concept of competence. Psychological Review, 36, 953-962.
42.
Wills, T. A. (1991). Similarity and self-esteem in downward social comparison. In J. Suls & T. A. Wills (Eds.), Social comparison: Contemporary theory and research. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
43.
Wylie, R. (1979). The self-concept (vol. 2). Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
