Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Retrospective Theses and Dissertations Dissertations 2004 Student self-esteem and the looking-glass self: perceptions of emotional support, role models, and academic success on a community college campus Robert Lee McNair Iowa State University Follow this and additional works at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd Part of the Higher Education and Teaching Commons, Social Psychology Commons, and the Social Psychology and Interaction Commons Recommended Citation McNair, Robert Lee, "Student self-esteem and the looking-glass self: perceptions of emotional support, role models, and academic success on a community college campus " (2004). Retrospective Theses and Dissertations. 802. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd/802 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Dissertations at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Retrospective Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Student self-esteem and the looking-glass self: Perceptions of emotional support, role models, and academic success on a community college campus by Robert Lee McNair A dissertation submitted to the graduate faculty in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Major: Education (Higher Education) Program of Study Committee: Larry H. Ebbers, Co-major Professor Mack C. Shelley, Co-major Professor Larry L. Bradshaw Shu-Min Huang John H. Schuh Iowa State University Ames, Iowa 2004 UMI Number: 3136335 INFORMATION TO USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleed-through, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. ® UMI UMI Microform 3136335 Copyright 2004 by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 ii Graduate College Iowa State University This is to certify that the Doctoral dissertation of Robert Lee McNair has met the dissertation requirements of Iowa State University Signature was redacted for privacy. Co-major Professor Signature was redacted for privacy. Co-major Professor Signature was redacted for privacy. For the Major Program iii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES viii LIST OF FIGURES ix ABSTRACT x CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale and Relevance 1 Historical background 2 Current relevance 4 Conceptualizing the Research 5 Research problem 5 Theory 6 Objectives 8 Other conceptual aspects of self 8 Derivation of definitions 9 Definitions 10 Methodology, Assumptions, and Scope of the Investigation 12 Methodology 13 Assumptions 13 Scope of the investigation 14 Delimitations of the research 14 Limitations of the methodology 14 Summary 15 CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW 16 Introduction 16 Theories 16 Structuralism and culture 16 Phenomenology, existentialism, and self 16 Phenomenology 17 Existentialism 18 Self-awareness, perception, and anxiety theories 19 Summary 20 Developmental theory and the self 20 Chickering's psychosocial theory 20 Loevinger's theory 21 Identity formation theory 21 Other developmental theories 21 Other theories of self 22 Social learning and modeling theories 22 Cognitive theory 23 Exchange theory 23 Overview 23 Philosophical Background 23 European philosophers 23 American pragmatism 24 From philosophy to social science 25 iv Theoretical Perspective: Symbolic Interactionism 25 Concept 26 Foundation: James and others 27 Cooley: The looking-glass self 27 Mead: Development of self 28 Concept of other 28 Stages of socialization 29 Developments following Mead 30 Two schools of interactionism 30 Processes and components of self-esteem 31 Two approaches of self-esteem 31 Applications of self-esteem to education 31 Summary 32 Social Interpretation of Reality 32 Social construction of self and of reality 32 Integration of self and other 32 Self-other perceptions 33 Imitation, role-taking, and empathy 33 Self-esteem and survival 34 Evaluation, attribution, and consistency 34 Internal and external influences 36 Social construction of self 37 Summary 38 Self-esteem and Other Key Variables 38 Looking-glass self 38 Emotional support 38 Role models 39 Identity 39 Aspirations and commitments 40 Role conflict 41 Gender 41 Age 41 Ethnicity 41 Other 41 Interaction of statuses 41 Control and achievement 41 Background variables 42 Summary 42 Problems of Self-esteem 42 Good self-esteem 43 Weak self-esteem 43 Self-alienation 43 Loss of esteem 44 Student status and self-esteem 44 Strengthening and maintaining self-esteem 45 Summary 46 Criticisms and Defense of Self-esteem 46 Conceptual 47 Cultural 47 Conformist 48 V Postmodern 48 Defense 49 Results of Empirical Research 49 Self-esteem process variables 49 Looking-glass process 49 Achievement process 50 Self-esteem as a dependent variable 50 Looking-glass self 51 Social and emotional support 52 Role models 52 Identity 53 Locus of control 53 Background variables 54 Family 54 Educational 56 Demographic 57 Summary 60 Self-esteem as an independent variable 60 Self-esteem as a possible cause 60 Plasticity hypothesis 61 Consistency and enhancement of self-concept 61 Looking-glass self and intimacy 61 Identity 61 Locus of control and academic achievement 62 Career-related choices, perceptions, and behaviors 63 Relationships among the independent variables 64 Peers 64 Support 64 Role models 64 Identity 65 Achievement 65 Motive 65 Socioeconomic status (SES) 65 College adjustment 66 Summary 67 Models and Measures of the Variables 67 Theoretical approaches 67 Interactionist 67 Phenomenologist 68 Models of self-esteem 68 Quantitative 68 Unidimensional 68 Multidimensional 68 Combined 69 Integrated 69 Qualitative 69 Measures of the variables 69 Measuring self-esteem 70 Measuring other variables 70 Emotional support 70 vi Role models 70 Academic adjustment 71 Academic achievement 71 Problems of Self-esteem Research 71 Summary 71 CHAPTER 3. METHODOLOGY 74 Introduction 74 Variables 74 Hypotheses 75 Null hypotheses 75 Alternative hypotheses 78 Role models 78 Emotional support 80 Locus of control 81 Summary 82 Population and Sample 82 Survey Instrument and Data Collection 83 Human subjects and other approvals 83 Pilot study 83 Instrument reliability 83 Instrument validation 84 Data collection 84 Analysis of the Data 84 Historical Reliability of the Data 85 Interviews 85 Demographics 88 Summary 92 CHAPTER 4. RESULTS 93 Variables 93 Frequencies 94 Demographics 94 Education 94 Looking-glass self 96 Role model traits and looking-glass self 96 Emotional support and looking-glass self 97 Academic adjustment and achievement variables 98 Discrimination 98 Family characteristics 99 Family socioeconomic status 99 Other family of orientation characteristics 99 Hometown demographics 99 Self-esteem 100 Transition, crisis or abuse, and self esteem 100 College enrollment and self-esteem 100 Factor Analysis 100 Dependent variable: Self-esteem 101 Independent variables 101 Reliability Analysis 105 vii Dependent variable: Self-esteem 106 Independent variables 106 Tests of Hypotheses 1-12: Chi-square and correlations 107 Summary of Results 122 Role models 124 Emotional support 125 Academic adjustment and success 126 Other variables 126 Summary 126 CHAPTER 5. CONCLUSIONS, INTERPRETATIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS 128 Conclusions 128 Analysis of constructs 128 Effects of independent variables 128 Interpretations 129 Assumptions 129 Caveats 130 Possible causes and effects of self-esteem 130 Tentative generalizations 131 Recommendations 132 Practice 132 Future research 134 Summary 136 APPENDIX A. SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE AND COVER LETTER 138 APPENDIX B. COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE CHANGE IN DEMOGRAPHICS AT DMACC-BOONE CAMPUS FROM 1993-2003 149 APPENDIX C. SUPPLEMENTARY DATA 154 BIBLIOGRAPHY 192 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 217 viii LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1. Description of the constructs 75 Table 4.1. Gender of students, role models, and support persons (items 1, 21, & 41) 95 Table 4.2. Age of students, role models, and support persons (items 2, 22, & 42) 95 Table 4.3. Ethnicity (minorities combined) of students, role models, and support persons (items 3a, 23a, & 43a) 96 Table 4.4. Students' perceptions of how their academic role models might see them (items 29-32) 97 Table 4.5. Students' perceptions of how their emotional support persons would see them (items 49-52) 98 Table 4.6. Summary of factor analyses of constructs: Eigenvalues and percentages of variance (POV) 102 Table 4.7. Matrices for factors that represent a construct (A-O) 103 Table 4.8. Summary of the reliabilities of the constructs 106 Table 4.9. Summary of Chi-square analyses for role model traits versus student traits 108 Table 4.10. Summary of correlations for role model traits versus student traits 109 Table 4.11. Chi-square analyses for support person traits versus student traits 111 Table 4.12. Correlations for support person traits versus student traits 111 Table 4.13. Crosstabulations for self-esteem