Conceptions of self and role : their consistency, salience, and change among nursing students

UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Brian Edward Fogarty (Creator)
Institution
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
Advisor
E. William Noland

Abstract: The notion of consistency between occupational role-conception and self-concept, as derived from symbolic interactionist theory, has been used with some success in predicting occupational success and satisfaction. It is commonly assumed in these studies that role- and self-concepts must be consistent with one another at all stages of the career process. This study sought to test this assumption by hypothesizing that differences in role-conceptions among classes of nursing students would be reflected by similar differences in self-concepts. The sample consisted of 205 university-level nursing students, selected from all four academic classes. Three discrete dimensions of role- and self-concepts were empirically identified by factor analysis. Significant differences of the predicted directions were found between the role-conceptions of freshmen and seniors. However, no such differences were found between their self-concepts. Further, it was found that the degree of consistency between role-conceptions and self-concepts varies from class to class, and from one dimension of the role to another, contrary to previous assumptions. It was suggested that the salience of a given dimension of the role for a particular class of students explains the occurrence of this inconsistency between role- and self-concepts. A measure of salience was constructed from the available data. This measure was found to be positively related to consistency. It is suggested that other researchers in this area should take the salience of a dimension of the role into account as a third variable in using role-conceptions and self-concepts to predict occupational success.

Additional Information

Publication
Thesis
Language: English
Date: 1974
Subjects
Nursing students $x Attitudes
Self-perception
Social role

Email this document to