Congruence of Adolescents' Self-Concepts and Parents' Perceptions of Adolescents' Self-Concepts

The purpose of the study was to compare parents' perceptions of their adolescent (ninth-grade) children with perceptions of the adolescents about themselves. Other purposes included comparisons of "misunderstood" and "understood" children, mothers and fathers, boys and girls, and parents' perceptions of how their adolescents perceive themselves. Ss were 50 boys and 50 girls and their parents from a Southeastern university town of about 50,000 population. The families were of predominantly middle-class background with education and occupation of parents somewhat above-average. Instruments used were an adaptation of Gordon's "How I See Myself" and "How I See My Child" with the addition of one factor (Parent-Teenager Relations) from Offer's "Self-Image Questionnaire." The data supported the hypotheses that parents perceive their adolescents more favorably than the adolescents perceive themselves; that mothers and fathers agree in their perceptions of their offspring; that parents' perceptions of their adolescents' self-perceptions are more favorable than the adolescents' self-perceptions. Two sex differences, both favorable to girls were obtained on two factors: Teacher-School Relations and Interpersonal Adequacy. Two significant differences on two factors favored "understood" adolescents: Academic Adequacy and Parent-Teenager Relations. In this population, self-perceptions and parent perceptions were generally favorable and relatively congruent.