Self-Esteem, Self-Acceptance, and Responsibility for Achievement Among Alternative and Regular Secondary Students.

As secondary schools increase in size there is a paralleling increase in the number of students who are referred to alternative educational programs which school districts have developed to prevent students from dropping out of school. Previous research and literature address the psychological effects of hopelessness and dependency, of positive regard from significant others, and of self-concepts which influence academic success and failure. This study investigated the self-perceptions and personal/family factors of 273 students who were r and omly selected from a junior and senior alternative school in a Michigan school district. For comparison, 259 regular junior and senior high school students were r and omly selected from traditional schools in the same district. Both groups of students were administered the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory, the Berger Self-Acceptance Scale, and the Cr and all Intellectual Responsibility for Achievement Questionnaire. Personal/family information was gathered from a cover sheet. The data analysis consisted of a comparison of the two groups of students on each of the self-perception measures; means were obtained and compared with personal/family data. In general, the findings revealed that scores on the three self-perception measures were significantly lower for the alternative students than scores for the regular students. The alternative students were older per grade, consisted of more males, had fewer natural siblings, had more half-siblings, had attended more schools, and had fewer living with both parents. Personal/family factors generally were related to one group only. For instance, grade was positively related to self-esteem for the alternative students but was positively related to self-acceptance and achievement responsibility for regular students. The findings suggest that academic and social disabilities which are characteristics of the alternative students are compounded by extremely low self-concepts and feelings of lack of control for their achievement. These findings indicate the need for further in-depth study to include causal and experimental designs, results of which might assist in modifying curricula and counseling services for alternative students.Ph.D.School counselingUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/159366/1/8314265.pd