Date of Award

8-1978

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Legacy Department

Nursing

Abstract

This study sought to find out if there was a difference between the self concepts of normal adolescents and the self concepts of diabetic adolescents. It was hypothesized that the diabetic adolescents would have a lower measured self concept that normal adolescents. The subjects in this study ranged in age from twelve to sixteen. The fifteen diabetic subjects were chosen from two private physicians in the Anderson, South Carolina, area and then were matched with normal adolescents of the same age, sex, and grade. The subjects were visited in their homes by the researcher where proper permission was obtained from the subjects and their parents, a descriptive data questionnaire given, and the Tennessee Self Concept Scale administered. With the level of significance being set at 0.05, a t-test was performed on the data in order to find out if there was significant difference between the two groups with respect to the twelve sub-scales of the Tennessee Self Concept Scale. In examining the descriptive data obtained from the questionnaire, it was found that the subjects in both groups had many similar qualities. All of the subjects in the study were in the middle-class socio-economic group. The analysis of data revealed that there was no significant difference between the normal adolescent and the diabetic adolescent on the total positive score, therefore the hypothesis was rejected. However, a significant difference did occur with two sub-scales on the Tennessee Self Concept Scale. They were the Behavior and the Personal Self subscales. In both cases the normal adolescents scored significantly higher.

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