The Factorial Validity of the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale for Each of Three Samples of Elementary, Junior High, and Senior High School Students in a Large Metropolitan School District

Abstract

For each of three samples of 299 elementary school pupils, 302 junior high school pupils, and 300 senior high school students in a large metropolitan school district, factor analyses of the intercorrelations of the responses to 80 items in The Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale yielded three major dimensions that were essentially invariant across the three samples: (a) physical appearance, (b) socially unacceptable (bad) behavior, and (c) academic or school status. Variance within a complex domain of emotionality was differentiated among a number of factors such as anxiety, abasement, self-contentment, and self-dissatisfaction that were not invariant across samples. In both the junior high school and senior high school samples identifiable factors of popularity and perceived psychomotor coordination appeared. Implications for writing of items to represent the constructs associated with self-concept are discussed.