Testing Kohn's self-reliance hypothesis among high school adolescents.
Melvin Kohn and his associates have established that self-reliance promotes a sense of well-being (lower levels of fatalism) among adults. The present study attempts to test this proposition among adolescents. Instead of the usual job-related activities, however, it incorporates an alternative measure of self-reliance--high school curriculum assignment. Consistent with previous findings among adults, the results of this study show that self-reliance among adolescents also promotes a sense of well-being: students enrolled in tracks where close supervision is kept to a minimum and the exercise of initiative is emphasized tended to exhibit lower levels of fatalism. The implications of this finding for adolescents are discussed.
D000124:Achievement; D000293:Adolescent; D001076:Aptitude; D003858:Dependency, Psychological; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010551:Personality; D010553:Personality Development; D012649:Self Concept; D012718:Set, Psychology; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors