Abstract:

The aim of the present study was to analyse cultural differences in self-concept scores among Spanish, Portuguese and Chinese students of Secondary Education.
For this purpose Self Description Questionnaire-II (SDQ-II; Marsh, 1992) was administered to 1615 students from Grades 7 to 11. The Spanish sample consisted of 520 middle and high school students (265 males and 255 females). Ages ranged from 12 to 17: 150 were between 12 and 13 years of age, 270 between 14 and 15 years of age, and 100 between 16 and 17 years of age. The Portuguese sample consisted of 562 middle and high school students (279 males and 283 females). Ages ranged from 12 to 17: 155 were between 12 and 13 years of age, 303 between 14 and 15 years of age, and 104 between 16 and 17 years of age. The Chinese sample consisted of 533 middle and high school students (287 males and 246 females). Ages ranged from 12 to 17: 143 were between 12 and 13 years of age, 288 between 14 and 15 years of age, and 102 between 16 and 17 years of age.
The SDQ-II measures eleven self-concept facets: Math, Verbal, General School, Parent Relation, Physical Abilities, Physical Appearance, Same Sex Relations, Opposite Sex Relations, Emotional Stability, Honesty-Trustworthiness and General Self. It also provides a global score of self-concept.
ANOVA analyses were used to determine if there were differences among those populations in the self-concept scales. Once the differences were obtained post-hoc analysis (Scheffe test) were performed to determine between which countries appeared the differences. Furthermore effect size (d index) was used to set the magnitude of these differences.
Results showed that Portuguese students had higher global self-concept of themselves than Spanish and Chinese students. Portuguese students also presented a higher self-concept than Spanish and/or Chinese students in Physical Appearance, Honesty-Trustworthiness, Opposite Sex Relations and Same Sex Relations. Spanish and Portuguese students showed higher scores than Chinese students in Parent Relation, Physical Abilities, General Self, Verbal and General School. Chinese students presented higher scores in Math self-concept than Spanish and Portuguese students. Finally Chinese and Portuguese students obtained higher scores than Spanish students in Emotional Stability. Most effect sizes were of small or moderate magnitude.
As shown in these results, cultural differences appear in the perceptions that students made of themselves. In future research it would be interesting to study more in depth which are the cultural patterns that are behind these differences in self-concept perceptions.

Keywords:

self-concept, cultural differences, adolescents.