Summary & Implications

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their girl counterparts, while only fifteen comparisons (9%) revealed that sex differences were in favour of girls.

When the studies were analysed, it could be seen from Table 2 in Appendix C that most of these studies were American. However, a total of eight British, and thirteen Turkish studies were included in this review and when findings of British and Turkish studies were examined separately, among eight British studies, two studies (Louden, 1977;

Bagley et al., 1979) obtained significant sex differences, in favour of boys. Cassidy (1991) obtained mixture results. He found sex differences in favour of boys among science revision students, but did not find them among medical students, in Northern Ireland. Although Lee (1986) obtained sex differences in favour of boys, he did not report whether these differences were significant or not. None of the remaining four studies, however, obtained any sex differences (Moore, 1980; Lok, 1983; Abdallah, 1989a; Lalkhen & Norwich, 1990). In contrast to what was expected, sex differences among Turkish students in favour of boys were only found in one study (Özogul, 1988) while the rest of the twelve studies reported no sex differences between the self-esteem scores of Turkish boys and girls (Koyuncu, 1979; Onur, 1981; Serifi, 1985; Berber, 1986; Can, 1986; Dogusal-Tezel, 1987; Süzen, 1987; Yurdagül, 1987; Satılmıs, 1988;

Güçray, 1989; Türkmen, 1989; and Ersek, 1992).

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differences in self-esteem have used a wide variety of instruments and have produced an equally varied set of results.

In summary, the most frequent finding is an absence of statistically significant sex differences in self-esteem. This is consistent with Wylie’s (1979) assessment of the evidence concerning overall self-esteem. Since the majority of the studies obtained null findings which are inherently ambiguous, one could only speculate about the meaning of these results. As over 20 different instruments were used in order to measure self-esteem and self-concept in this review, it seems likely that instrument deficiencies are responsible for a certain level for null results, many of which have not received a good deal of psychometric exploration. Some of the instruments have been used for the first time, such as the Taisir Self-Esteem Questionnaire (Abdallah, 1989a). Furthermore, some of the instruments have consisted of only a few items. The self-esteem instruments which are used in the study of Martinez & Dukez (1991) and Sax (1994) consisted of only one item, the instrument which is used in the study of Bekhuis (1994) consisted of only four items. Although the Coopersmith SEI (17 studies) and the Piers-Harris Self-Concept Scale (7 studies) were the two most commonly used instruments in this review, the reliability and validity of some other instruments are however, questionable, since they were used for the first time. Apart from this reason, another possibility for obtaining null results might be the inequality of the sex groups. When reviewed studies were examined it could be seen that investigators often failed to establish their whether sex groups were comparable on other variables (such as academic achievement or SES) which may be related to self-esteem. The sex of the experimenter might also be a factor. Wylie (1979) regards this as being an important factor which may influence the student's answer. The sex of the experimenters were not controlled for most of the studies reviewed.

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Although it is possible that the recurrent failure to find significant sex differences for the majority of the studies indicates genuine similarity between the sexes in overall self-esteem, this would be inconsistent with the many theories that predict lower self-regard in females than males. In fact, the findings of the present review do not reveal exact equality between self-esteem of males and females. Although about 75% of all the comparisons failed to obtain a significant sex difference in self-esteem, the number of comparisons which show that males had significantly higher self-esteem scores than females are more than double the comparisons which found that females had higher self-esteem scores than males. While the present review overall does show girls to have somewhat lower self-esteem than boys, the differences are quite modest. In fact many recent discussions have emphasised the importance of the changing self-concepts of women. The influence of the recent feminist movement might be an important factor in relation to these results. However, evidence across different research studies is largely consistent, revealing a common core of stereotyped characteristics. Males are described as competent and logical, possessing self-confidence, direct in manner and dominant.

Females are described as warm and sensitive, socially skilled and inclined toward interpersonal and artistic interests. Despite the fact that women now constitute a greater percentage of the nation’s workforce than in the past, female roles still continue to be stereotyped primarily in terms of domestic responsibilities in many societies. Such stereotypes are slow to change within in culture. However, the modern women’s movement does take the position that basic changes in attitudes are essential to achieve true equality of opportunity.

Since one of the aims of the present study is to find out sex differences in self-esteem, previous Turkish studies have been examined. Past Turkish studies reveal that a total of twelve Turkish studies were identified which produced self-esteem data for Turkish male and female students separately (Koyuncu, 1979; Onur, 1981; Serifi, 1985; Can, 1986; Dogusal, 1987; Süzen, 1987; Yurdagül, 1987; Özogul, 1988; Satılmıs, 1988;

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Güçray, 1989, Türkmen, 1989, and Ersek, 1992). When these studies were examined it could be seen that eleven of them revealed no significant differences between self-esteem of Turkish male and female students. The only exception was the study of Özogul (1988). This study reports that boys had significantly higher self-esteem scores than girls among primary school students. Six of the twelve studies were primary school students, and four studies were secondary school students. The other two studies were undergraduate students, and homeless adolescents. After examining the instruments used for these studies, a total of five instruments were identified. The Baymur Self-Concept Scale was used for four studies, the Piers-Harris Self-Self-Concept Scale for Children, and the Coopersmith SEI were each used for three studies. The remaining two instruments were the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Inventory and the Giessen Self-Concept Scale. These studies of sex differences in self-esteem showed that the Coopersmith SEI had not been used in any study of secondary school students in Turkey. All three studies used the Coopersmith SEI for primary school students. When these Turkish studies were examined it could be seen that nearly all of them were conducted either in Ankara or Istanbul and therefore they do not represent the whole country. From the writer's observations, the sex role of women is very different in rural areas and in the eastern part of Turkey. Therefore one needs to be careful before making any firm conclusions.

In summary, the majority of the reviewed studies fail to support a relationship between sex and self-esteem both in Western countries and Turkey. Although various speculative interpretations may be offered to explain the repeated finding of null results, no firm conclusions can yet be drawn. The question of sex differences in the literature remains unresolved.

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