Factors Underlying Contextual Variations in the Structure of the Self: Differences Related to SES, Gender, Culture, and "Majority/Nonmajority" Status During Early Adolescence

Multilevel modeling was used to examine contextual variations in the structure of the "self" in a sample of 918 lower- and upper-middle class early adolescents (M age = 10.37 years, SD = 1.19) from a "majority" cultural context (i.e., Barranquilla in the Caribbean region of Colombia) and a "nonmajority" context (i.e., Montréal, Québec, Canada). It was expected that the associations between measures of the self-concept (i.e., indices of self-perceived competence) and a measure of general self-worth would differ in majority and nonmajority contexts and would vary as a function of socioeconomic status, the relative emphasis placed on individualism and collectivism and gender. Findings indicate that contextual factors moderated the extent to which self-worth is associated with components of early adolescents' self-concept.