African adolescents and their teachers: sex and rural-urban comparisons in teachers' perceived behaviors.

This study investigated rural-urban differences in teachers' perceived behaviors among African adolescent boys and girls. On the Perceived Teacher Behavior Inventory administered to 354 boys and 530 girls from four rural and urban high schools in South Africa no significant sex differences were found on the subscales of Generalized Support, Positive Expectations, and Participation. Rural boys and girls scored significantly higher, however, than their urban peers on the Generalized Support and Participation.

Migrant labor in South Africa: a comparative analysis of the academic achievement of father-present and father-absent adolescents.

This study was designed to determine whether there are significant differences in academic achievement between father-present and father-absent (due to migrant labor) adolescents. Data were collected from 276 high school students in South Africa. Academic achievement was measured by the Human Sciences Research Council's (HSRC) Scholastic Achievement Test, covering biology, English (second language), and mathematics. Father-present students were found to score significantly higher than father-absent students. The findings suggest that a father's absence due to work conditions has deleterious effects on the scholastic performance of young people.

Factors affecting the self-concepts of South African students.

Relationships among family macrosocial structures, proximate family settings, attributions of responsibility, and African adolescents' self-concepts were examined. Data were collected from 460 South African high school students (234 girls, 226 boys; mean age = 18.6 years). On the basis of partial least squares path modeling, the results suggest that (a) family macrosocial structure, proximate family settings, and the individual's sense of responsibility for academic outcomes had modest to strong associations with different dimensions of self-concept; and (b) there were gender-related differences in the structure of the adolescents' social status backgrounds and self-concepts and in the relationships among social status, perceptions of parents' support for learning, personal responsibility, and self-concept.

Self-concept of academic ability as a function of sex, age, and academic achievement among African adolescents.

This study examined (a) sex and age variations for scores on Self-concept of Academic Ability and academic achievement among 244 African adolescents attending a coeducational high school and (b) correlations between scores on Self-concept of Academic Ability and academic achievement by sex and age. No significant sex differences were found, but there were significant age differences on the Self-concept scores and measures of English, science, and history but not in mathematics. A significant positive correlation was found between Self-concept scores and academic achievement for boys and girls and in all age groups, but the magnitude of the correlations with achievement in mathematics was stronger among boys than among girls.

Self-concept and locus of control among South African adolescents.

The present study explored the association of scores on self-concept Self-description Inventory and locus of control (Academic Achievement Accountability) for 192 and 122 South African adolescent girls (M = 17.8 yr.) and boys (M = 19.0 yr.), respectively. For the whole group rs ranged from .00 to .29, confirming that scores on a self-concept scale especially designed for South African adolescent girls and boys are weakly associated with scores on the locus of control scale.

Gender differences in teachers' behaviors in relation to adolescents' self-concepts.

Gender differences in the relationship between teachers' behaviors and adolescents' self-concepts were investigated in 276 (156 boys and 120 girls) Standard Ten students from two coeducational high schools in Langa, Cape Town, South Africa. The Perceived Teacher Behavior Inventory was used to measure adolescents' self-concepts. Analysis indicated significant differences in perceived teachers' behavior and adolescents' self-description scale scores between boys and girls. Further, students' self-concept dimensions most strongly associated with teachers' behaviors were relations with family, general school, and health.

Variations in parenting practices: gender- and age-related differences in African adolescents.

This study examines gender and age differences in parenting practices among African adolescents in South Africa. The Perceived Parent Behavior Inventory (PPBI) was administered to 274 students (14 through 18 years of age) in Standards 6 through 10 who attended one public coeducational high school in Cape Town. The results indicate that for the three scales of the PPBI, girls score higher than boys, and that on the total score and two of the PPBI scales, the level of perceived parental behaviors decreases with age. These findings support the hypotheses that competence in social interaction is a more significant factor for girls than for boys and that younger adolescents have a closer association with their parents than do their older counterparts. The findings have important implications for the study of adolescent development in an African context.

A new multidimensional measure of African adolescents' perceptions of teachers' behaviors.

The Perceived Teacher Behavior Inventory was designed to measure three dimensions of students' perceptions of the behaviors of their teachers. This research was conducted to assess the statistical validity and reliability of the instrument administered to 770 students attending two coeducational high schools in Cape Town, South Africa. Factor analysis clearly identified three subscales indicating that the instrument distinguished the students' perceptions of their teachers' behaviors in three areas. Estimates of internal consistency of the subscales were assessed using the squared multiple correlation as the index of reliability.

Development and initial validation of a perceived parental behavior inventory for African adolescents.

The Perceived Parental Behavior Inventory was designed to measure three dimensions of students' perceptions of the behaviors of their parents. This study was conducted to determine the statistical validity and theta reliability of the instrument which was administered to 274 students attending a co-educational high school in Cape Town, South Africa. Factor analysis clearly identified the three subscales indicating that the instrument distinguished the students' perceptions of their parents' behaviors in three areas. Estimates of internal consistency of the subscales were assessed using the squared multiple correlation as the index of reliability.

Development and construct validity of a self-description inventory for African adolescents.

The present study presents evidence for the reliability and validity of a new measure of self-concept for African adolescents. Procedures for giving the 50-item scale are described. The Self-description Inventory was administered to 634 students in Standards 8 and 9 of two coeducational high schools. Factor analysis clearly identified the eight subscales. The multidimensionality of self-concept among African adolescents is indicated and supports the construct validity. Implications for continued study are mentioned.

The relative importance of global self-concept and self-concept of academic ability in predicting academic achievement.

The aim of this study was to establish whether the relationship between self-concept of academic ability and academic achievement correlated more strongly than the relationship between global self-concept and academic achievement among high school students. Data on these variables were collected from 229 tenth-grade students in the U.S. Pacific Northwest public school district. The results indicate that global self-concept and self-concept of academic ability correlate positively with academic achievement, but the relationship between self-concept of academic ability and academic achievement correlated more strongly than the relationship between global self-concept and academic achievement. The results suggest that educational intervention strategies geared to raising academic achievement would probably be more likely to succeed if they were to focus on enhancement of the self-concept of academic ability rather than global self-concept.

Black adolescents: a descriptive study of their self-concepts and academic achievement.

This study was designed to determine the relationships among global self-concept, self-concept of academic ability, and academic achievement of black American adolescents. The subjects were 211 tenth-grade students in five public high schools in the Pacific Northwest school district who volunteered to participate in the study. Global self-concept was measured by the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory (SEI), self-concept of academic ability by the Brookover Self-Concept of Ability (General) Scale, and academic achievement by the California Achievement Test (CAT). The major statistical tools were the Pearson product-moment correlations and Fisher Z statistic. In all of the tests the decision was made to reject the null hypothesis at the .05 level of significance. No significant relationship was found between global self-concept and academic achievement, although the relationship between self-concept of academic ability and academic achievement reached significance. The relationship between self-concept of academic ability and academic achievement correlated more strongly than the relationship between global self-concept and academic achievement. These results suggest that the enhancement of global self-concept might not be a potent intervention for academic improvement for black adolescents.