Locus of control, self-concept, and self-esteem among at-risk African-American adolescents

The purpose of this study was to add to the sparse but growing descriptive data on at-risk African-American adolescents along the dimensions of locus of control, self-concept, and self-esteem. This study will assist professionals in better understanding the boundaries between normal and abnormal psychological profiles among adolescents, particularly on instruments which are widely used in psychology research and clinical and educational practice. Participants were 117 students from a large, urban Midwestern city in an ongoing intervention program with adolescents who were at-risk of dropping out of school because of academic underachievement and whose family's incomes were below the poverty line. Descriptive results and comparisons with data on other at-risk samples are presented, along with multivariate analyses on the three constructs on the basis of gender. This study provides benchmarks for practitioners and researchers in interpreting the results of assessments using these instruments.