ERIC Number: EJ924112
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2011-Jun
Pages: 12
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0140-1971
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Dimensions of Adolescent Subjective Social Status within the School Community: Description and Correlates
Sweeting, Helen; West, Patrick; Young, Robert; Kelly, Shona
Journal of Adolescence, v34 n3 p493-504 Jun 2011
School pupils strive to meet both school-defined and social goals, and the structure of adolescent self-concept is multidimensional, including both academic and non-academic self-perceptions. However, subjective social status within the school community has been represented as a single dimension. Scottish 15-year olds participating in a school-based survey (N = 3194) rated their own status, compared to their school year-group, via images of seven 10-rung ladders. These generated a very high response rate, and factor analysis distinguished three dimensions: (1) ladders representing "popular", "powerful", "respected", "attractive or stylish" and "trouble-maker"; (2) "doing well at school" and "[not] a trouble-maker"; and (3) "sporty". Unique relationships with variables representing more objective and/or self-report behavioural measures suggest these dimensions are markers of "peer", "scholastic" and "sports" status. These analyses suggest multiple dimensions of adolescent social hierarchy can be very simply measured and contribute towards the development of more robust instruments within this area.
Descriptors: Social Status, Self Concept, Factor Analysis, Adolescents, Correlation, Foreign Countries, Surveys, Student Attitudes, Academic Ability, Peer Acceptance, Self Evaluation (Individuals), Academic Achievement, Athletics
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: United Kingdom (Scotland)
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A