Journal of American Indian Education

Volume 20 Number 1
October 1980

 

Self-Concept and Native Identity:
COMPARISON OF FOUR COMMUNITIES IN LABRADOR

Carl J. Bognar

HEAPS and Morrill (see Note 2) reported interesting self-concept data comparing white and Navajo students in Arizona, using the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale (see Note 1). They hypothesized that, in spite of economic conditions, Navajo culture provides the basis for a positive self-concept among those who maintain traditional values. The data illustrated that, in general, Navajo students were not significantly different from white students on a variety of measures, although the Navajo students felt less positive about their identity, moral-ethical self and social self, at least as measured by the self-concept scale used in the research. In addition, the Navajo students showed a significantly higher level of social defensiveness. The authors suggest that, with the exception of the latter trait, the differences may be due largely to unique cultural differences in moral values and social comparison between the two groups.

The data reported here were collected as part of a larger study of self-concept and achievement of native and non-native students in Labrador. In particular, the data were generated with two purposes in mind: First, since there are vast differences between the traditional cultures and present social circumstances of various native groups in North America, findings with one group cannot be assumed to hold for all native groups. Thus, these data are intended as a replication of the Heaps and Morrill study with two substantially different native populations.

The second purpose arises from the fact that Heaps and Morrill used the Counseling Form of the Tennessee Scale, and were unable to report true-false ratios, net conflict scores, or total conflict scores, which are only available with the Clinical and Research Form. The true-false ratio is, at least in part, a validity check for the other ratings and therefore assumes importance in interpretation of the scales. The net conflict and total conflict scores are of interest, since, as Heaps and Morrill suggest, "there are very real attitude and value differences, and, at times, conflict between these two cultural groups" (p. 13). It is of interest to determine whether this cultural conflict is evident in self-concept measures.

Method

The Tennessee Self-Concept Scale (Clinical and Counseling Form) was administered to a total of 118 grade 7 and 8 students in four communities in Labrador. Although all of these communities receive radio and television, they vary greatly in terms of isolation from other settled districts of Labrador. All of Labrador, however, share relative isolation from the rest of North America.

Community I is a coastal community with a population of 900 persons, most of whom are of Inuit ancestry. This community is not accessible by road. Air travel to and from Goose Bay (220 air miles, population 8,000) is possible when weather permits. Coastal boats link the community with other Labrador settlements from late spring to early winter, when the sea is free of ice.

Community 2 has a population of 550 persons, primarily Montagnais Indians. It is linked by road to Goose Bay. Community 3, population 500, is separated from Community 2 by a large river, and the population is almost entirely Caucasian. Until very recently, travel between Community 2 and Community 3 was limited to a cable car connecting the two sides of the river; recently a bridge has been opened to road traffic.

Community 4 is a coastal community with a Caucasian population of 220; there is a road connecting this village to other coastal communities, an airport, and marine service to the island of Newfoundland. There were 35,11,20 and 52 students from Communities 1, 2,3,and 4, respectively, included in the study.

Results

As shown in Table 1, abnormally high true-false (TF) ratios were found for students in all four communities. Similarly, net conflict scores and total conflict scores for all four communities were elevated beyond the normal range reported by Fitts. In Community 1, total P, identity, and moral-ethical scores were depressed below the normal range. In Community 3, the identity score was slightly below the normal range.

One-way analyses of variance with a priori contrasts were carried out to test for differences between communities on each of the subscales. Overall F tests showed significant between community differences on six of the 14 subscales: Self-criticism, identity, self-satisfaction, physical self, moral-ethical self, and distribution of responses. Significant differences between Communities 1 and 4 also were noted on net conflict and social self.

Discussion

TF ratios for all four communities are elevated well above expected levels. Fitts suggests that the TF ratio can be interpreted in three ways: as a measure of response set, as a measure of empirical validity, and from the perspective of self-theory. In terms of the first interpretation, the data suggest that many of the students in the sample have somewhat rigid response sets. The empirical validity explanation suggests that the validity of responses on the scale may not be as high as desirable, casting some doubt on the meaning of other subscale scores. However, the means on other subscales are generally within the average range defined by the published norms, although they are somewhat depressed. The self-theory interpretation posed by Fitts suggests that elevated scores on this subscale "indicate the individual is achieving self-definition or self-description by focusing on what he is and is relatively unable to accomplish the same thing by eliminating or rejecting what he is not" (p. 4). The latter explanation suggests a high correlation between the TF ratio and net conflict and total conflict scores; that is apparently the case in all four subsamples, where net and total conflict scores are also elevated beyond the average range.

It is interesting to note, however, that there is only one significant difference between community scores on these two measures. This suggests that the high conflict scores may be an artiface of some deficiency in the scale (perhaps reading difficulty) with students at the grade 7 and 8 level. Alternatively, there may be some aspects of Labrador culture in general which stimulate internal conflict, or which reduce the need for, or opportunities for conflict resolution. However, the lack of significant differences among Inuit, Montagnais Indians, and whites is of interest. Since white Labradorians ("settlers") are generally of higher socioeconomic levels than the native population, it might be expected that whatever conflict exists between the various groups in Labrador would be evidenced in lower scores for Communities 3 and 4. This is not the case; even in Communities 2 and 3, which share a common geographic area, differences between Montagnais and settlers are not apparent.

None of the paired contrasts between the two native communities (1 and 2) were statistically significant. On the other hand, only one of the comparisons (physical self) between the two settler communities was significant, with students in Community 4 having a slightly better self-concept in terms of health and physical well-being than those in Community 3. All of the remaining significant contrasts were between settler and native communities. In general, native people scored lower on the self-criticism scale; Fitts suggests that lower scores suggest defensiveness and an artificially positive self-portrayal. These scores may, however, reflect cultural differences between traditional native and western values, with native cultures placing more emphasis on the importance of self-regard as a basis for collective well-being.

Students in Community 3 rated most positively on the self-satisfaction scale, but both native groups scored significantly lower than both settler groups. While the conflict scores, as mentioned earlier, were similar in all four communities, the problematic element of native identity seems evident in this lower level of self-acceptance. This is in contrast to the findings of Heaps and Morrill that Navajo students did not differ from white students in self-satisfaction.

Heaps and Morrill did find significant differences between Navajo and white students on the moral-ethical self scale. These differences were also found in the present study, with significant differences between Communities 1 and 3, as well as between 1 and 4. Heaps and Morrill suggest that this effect stems from cultural differences in moral values unique and important to each culture.

Finally, students in Community 1 scored lowest on the total positive subscale, with the implication that Inuit identity maybe more problematic in Labrador than Indian identity. Whether this is due to relatively greater isolation, or cultural differences related to traditional values, or current socio-economic conditions is not clear.

In conclusion, it is suggested that the Tennessee Scale be used with caution with native persons, particularly in counseling situations, especially in view of the very high TF ratios. Further research is currently being undertaken to determine the extent to which scores on the scale are influenced by reading ability. In addition, an analysis will be made to determine whether self-concept is related to academic achievement after the possible effects of reading level have been controlled.

References

1. Fitts, W.H. Tennessee Self-Concept Scale Manual. Nashville: Counselor Recording and Tests, 1965.

2. Heaps, R.A., and Morrill, S.G. Comparing the Self-Concepts of Navajo and white high school students. Journal of American Indian Education, 1969, 18 (3), 12-14.

Carl Bognar is Assistant Professor in the Institute for Research in Human Abilities, Memorial University, St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada. He holds a Ph.D. degree in educational psychology from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto. Funding for this project was provided by a Northern Science Training Grant, Department of Indian and Northern Affairs, Canada. The author wishes to thank Jean Blake, Jens Haven Memorial School, Nain, Labrador, for her assistance in data collection.

 
 
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