Possible selves and truancy in high school students

Traditionally, the “self” has been viewed as a unitary construct that is relatively consistent across time. More recently, however, Markus and Nurius (1986) have characterized the self as being a multifaceted, dynamic construct that includes representations of past selves, current selves, and the possible selves we hope to become or are afraid of becoming. These possible selves are important because they have motivational and cognitive components that serve as guides for present and future behavior. This study examined the relationship between the “possible selves” of high school students and the problem of truancy. Data were collected from 117 female and 52 male 9–12th graders enrolled in the Stockton Unified School District. The participants were given The Possible Selves Measure, The Self-Esteem Scale, and The Life Orientation Test-Revised. Measuring self-efficacy of possible selves could assist schools in “screening” students for potential attendance problems. In this way, schools could prevent students from reaching the point of non-attendance by identifying at-risk students early. (Abstract shortened by UMI.