A Different View of Race Attitudes and Self Concepts in Black Pre School Children / Harriette Pipes McAdoo.

This research report provides data refuting the traditional view that the conflict between dominant white values and black values leads to self-hatred in black preschool children. Self-concepts, racial attitudes, racial identification, and sex-role typing were tested in groups of black children from an integrated urban area in Detroit, an all black small Mississippi town, an all black urban community, and a small African and Indian subsample. The results indicated that children in all four samples had good average self-concepts. The children from Mississippi had higher self-concept scores than those in Detroit. In Mississippi, children who scored high in self-concept also were more accurate in the use of appropriate race labels. Children in all the four reference groups saw themselves more positively than they felt they were perceived by their mothers, teachers, and peers. All four groups had similar racial attitude scores, indicating a white preference. There were no differences in racial attitudes between regions. The data support the idea that there is not a linear relationship between racial attitudes and self-concept. It indicates that black children have been able to compartmentalize their views of themselves. While feeling good about themselves, they still maintain a preference for white attributes. (DE)

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