Increase in self-rejection as an antecedent of deviant responses

Abstract

The hypothesis that increase in negative self-attitudes is an antecedent condition of deviant responses was tested. Subjects were seventhgrade students who responded to a questionnaire three times at annual intervals (N=3148). Self-attitudes were measured by a sevenitem self-derogation scale. Change in self-derogation was determined by expressing the posttest score as a deviation from the posttest-on-pretest regression line. For each of 22 deviant acts it was hypothesized and observed that, among students denying performance of the act prior to T2 T3, students affirming performance during T2 T3, relative to students continuing denial of performance, will have manifested significantly greater antecedent increases in self-derogation during T1 T2. The comparisons were significant in 19 of the 22 instances. The findings provide strong support for the position that the genesis of negative self-attitudes is a common influence mediating between adverse membership group experiences and the adoption of any of a wide variety of deviant responses.