Self-Concept in American Indian and White Children

Abstract

Seventy-one American Indian and 149 White children from grades 3 through 6 were tested on an open self-description measure and a transformational measure of self-concept. American Indian children referred more frequently to kinship roles, traditional customs and beliefs, and moral worth in their open self-descriptions than did White children. Developmental changes in the organization of self-concept were found in White as well as in American Indian children; external orientation decreased with age, whereas internal orientation increased with age on the transformational measure only. In comparison to White children, however, American Indian children showed (a) greater external orientation on both measures, and (b) greater and lesser internal orientation on the open self-description and transformational measures, respectively. This latter discrepancy was interpreted as reflecting American Indian children's competent reference to psychological characteristics but their limited ability to use those in judging change.