Self-perception and academic achievement: variations in a desegregated setting

The author studied 101 black and 412 white fifth-grade students and found no significant racial differences on any measures of general or area-specific (i.e., school, peers, home) self-esteem when socioeconomic status (SES) was controlled but found significant differences by SES on most measures when race was controlled. There was a positive correlation between self-concept of ability and SES when race was controlled, but when SES was controlled black children scored significantly higher than did white children. Black and lower-SES subjects scored significantly lower than other subjects on academic achievement and achievement orientation. This study highlights the need to move from the current concern with the psychological consequences of desegregation for black children toward addressing the misfit relationship between all lower-SES children and the school.