Self-Protective Mechanisms among Stigmatized Adolescents.

Crocker and Major (1989) hypothesized three mechanisms by which members of stigmatized groups may protect self-esteem. The mechanisms are: a) ingroup social comparisons, b) valuing/devaluing performance selectively, and c) racial prejudice. We provide a test of Crocker and Major's hypothesized mechanisms with the development of the Protective Style Questionnaire which was administered to a sample of 78 African-American adolescents. Scores obtained from the PSQ indicated reliability estimates of . 89, and high factor loadings supported the orthogonality of the three mechanisms. Results showed varying levels of endorsement for the three mechanisms. Self-Protective Mechanisms Among Stigmatized Adolescents A review of social stigma and self! steem by Crocker and Major (1989) pointed out that "although several psychological theories predict that members of stigmatized groups should have low global self-esteem, empirical research typically does not support this prediction" (p. 608). They argued that this discrepancy could be explained by a number of ways individuals in such groups use self-protective mechanisms . to protect self-esteem. Individuals who are stigmatized (due to race, gender, physical disability, etc.) are people for whom others hold negative beliefs or stereotypes. These individuals have likely been negatively impacted in terms of interpersonal and financial outcomes relative to people who are not stigmatized. There is empirical support for Crocker and Major's (1989) theoretical position on the selfprotective properties of stigma. For example, some recent studies on African-American adolescents indicated that a) their global self-concept was significantly higher than reported norms (Wood, Hillman, & Sawilowsky, 1992), b) they were more external in their beliefs about events which control their lives than reported norms (Hillman, Wood, & Sawilowsky, 1992), and c) they viewed themselves as having more influence over positive life events than negative life events (Hillman, Wood, & Sawilowsky, 1994). Crocker and Major (1989) proposed three mechanisms by which people protect self-esteem. They are a) "the tendency to make ingroup social comparisons" (p. 614) ingroup common fate, b) "selectively devaluing, or regarding as less important for their self-definition, those performance dimensions on which they or their group fare(s) poorly, and selectively valuing those dimensions on which they or their group excel(s)" (p. 616) devaluing/valuing performance selectively, and c) "attributing negative feedback or relatively poor outcomes to the prejudice attitudes of others toward their group" (p. 612) racial prejudice. The purpose of this study is to report on the development of the Protective Style Questionnaire (PSQ). This instrument is designed to further undeistand the use of the three mechanisms by which stigmatized individuals protect self-esteem (Wood et al., 1992) through the use of externalizing attributions when confronted with negative feedback (Hillman et al., 1992; 1994). Methodology The adolescents from whom the data were collected were participants in the Summer Training and Education Program (STEP) at Wayne State University from 1990 1994. The purpose of STEP was to provide a fifteen month intervention (two six-week summer sessions and special support during the intervening academic year) for middle school students who were at-risk for not completing high school. In order to be included in this program, students had to meet the following criteria: their families were documented to be below the federally defined poverty level they were one to four years behind grade level expectation in academic achievement school counselors determined that they were at-risk for dropping out of school (indicators being truancy, low grades, behavior problems, family problems, multiple grade retentions) they were 13, 14, or 15 years of age enrolled in an urban middle school Data were collected on 78 African-American urban middle school students. The average age