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Self-concept, family functioning and problem type: a replication and extension of a study of clinic and non-clinic
1Department of Psychology, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.
Purpose:
This study replicates and extends previous research into self-concept and perceptions of family functioning held by clinic and nonclinic adolescents (1).
Method:
Thirty-five male and 28 female adolescents who sought help from a school counselor for family problems (n = 26) and for educational problems (n = 37) formed the clinic group. A nonclinic group was formed by adolescents who had experienced the same problems but had not sought help. The two groups were matched in terms of age and sex of respondents. Respondents' were clustered into two groups based on their ratings of family functioning. One cluster was characterised by high conflict, the other by high democratic parenting style and intimacy.
Results:
Three MANOVAs with sets of scales (academic, social, and other scales) from the Self-Description Questionnaire II (2) as the dependent variables and with group (clinic/nonclinic), family functioning cluster, and sex as the independent variables confirmed the findings of the previous research. That is, there were multivariate effects on the three sets of self-concept scales. Significant univariate differences between the clinic and nonclinic groups were present for seven of the 11 individual self-concept scales, with higher mean ratings of self-concept shown by the nonclinic group. A range of sex effects and cluster effects were found, however, differences between the reported problem types did not show any consistent effect.
Conclusions:
The major point to be drawn from this research is the identification of a very clear difference between the self-concept of adolescents who seek professional care and those who do not.