Date of Award

Summer 2019

Degree Type

Masters Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

School

Psychology

Committee Chair

Stephanie Dunkel Smith

Committee Chair School

Psychology

Committee Member 2

Sara S. Jordan

Committee Member 2 School

Psychology

Committee Member 3

Nora L. Charles

Committee Member 3 School

Psychology

Abstract

Numerous studies have examined discrepancies between youths’ self-perceptions and others’ ratings across different domains of competence (i.e. academic, behavior, social) (e.g., Jia, Jiang, & Mikami, 2016; Kistner, 2006; Owens et al., 2007) and it is well-established that discrepant self-perceptions are risk factors for maladaptive outcomes (e.g., aggression, depression) in children and adolescents (David & Kistner, 2000; Jia et al., 2016; Kistner et al., 2006). Only one study has examined discrepant self-perceptions (e.g., perceptual bias) in a sample of male juvenile offenders (JOs) (Smith, Lynch, Stephens, & Kistner, 2015). This study sought to extend the literature examining discrepant self-perceptions within juvenile offenders in two important ways: first, by examining whether two separate facets of discrepant self-perceptions (i.e., perceptual bias and inaccurate self-perceptions) in the behavioral domain were predictive of JOs’ rule violations following their incarceration; second, by examining if race moderated the relationship between discrepant self-perceptions and rule violating behaviors. A series of negative binomial regressions revealed that JOs who underestimated their behavioral competence were more likely to have rule violations when first adjusting to the facility. Further, race was found to moderate the relationship between inaccurate self-perceptions and rule violating behaviors, such that more accurate self-perceptions were associated with heightened levels of rule violating behaviors for only Caucasian JOs. These findings are further discussed and explained in the context of psychological theories (e.g., self-verification theory; low self-esteem hypothesis).

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