RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN STUDENTS SOCIAL-STATUS AND GLOBAL AND DOMAIN-SPECIFIC SELF-CONCEPTS

Global and domain-specific self-concept differences among 815 children and adolescents of popular, rejected, neglected, controversial, avera ge, and ''unclassified'' social status were examined. Social status wa s derived using the Cole, Dodge, and Coppotelli (1982) sociometric pro cedure and self-concept assessment was conducted with the Multidimensi onal Self Concept Scale (MSCS). Findings supported the hypothesis that students in the extreme status groups (i.e., popular and rejected chi ldren) would differ in self-concept; however, fewer consistent differe nces emerged between students who were identified as neglected, contro versial, average, or unclassified in social status. Domain-specific su bscales of the MSCS, especially social, proved to be more effective th an the Total Scale Score in differentiating the Various social status groups. Physical and academic self-concepts also contributed meaningfu lly to the differentiation of individual pairs of social status groups , and emphasizes the importance of considering context-dependent subdo mains in the analysis of students' self-concept. (C) 1998 Society for the Study of School Psychology. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.