RESILIENT HISPANIC YOUTHS SELF-CONCEPT AND MOTIVATIONAL PATTERNS

This is a study of 36 Hispanic youths taken from a pool of 123 Hispani c youths. It examines the role of self-concept, motivation, and enviro nmental facilitation in ameliorating risk and promoting resiliency. Fo r the purposes of this study, high school sophomore youths from impove rished, stressful backgrounds with grade point averages of 2.75 or abo ve were considered academically resilient. This study differs from tra ditional and contemporary studies of resilience in that it focuses on academic competence rather than on social competence. Self-concept and motivation are measured by the High School Assessment of Academic Sel f-Concept and the Assessment of Personal Agency Beliefs. The findings of this study indicate that resilient youths' self-concepts differ fro m the nonresilient youths' self-concepts in the cognitive and belongin gness areas: Findings also show that the school environment is support ive of the youths' personal and social needs. However it does not supp ort their cognitive, belongingness, and extracurricular needs.