Configuración y programación del autómata

In Stage 2.9 of this project the Butler Self Image Profile For Children (SIP-C) (Butler, 2001) was administered to the nine boys to investigate their self-image and self-esteem. The Butler Self Image Profile For Children (SIP-C) consists of 25 familiar self-descriptions: 12 of a positive nature, 12 of a negative slant and one neutral item. All self-descriptions are words or short statements generated by children (Appendix 7, p.361).

The rationale for using SIP-C in this project lies in that the SIP-C is built on an acknowledgement of both Personal Construct Theory (Kelly, 1955, Bannister and Fransella, 1986) and the developmental and organisational model of self as

proposed by Harter (1999). Personal Construct Theory and the Harter Self Perception Profile for Children or SPPC (Harter, 1985) were also used with the nine boys, named as bullies within the course of this project. This fact would enable the correlation of the results of the two tests. In addition, the SIP-C is a quick and easy way to assess the child’s view of his self through a variety of notions that were elicited from a broad sample of children. Thus, it could be regarded as a test based on the realisation and acceptance of children’s own perceptions of themselves which could be used in order to enhance an understanding of the bully’s vulnerabilities and to direct suitable intervention programmes.

The scales of SIP-C

The SIP-C is intended for use with children aged 7 to 11 and it provides a measure of:

a) Self-Image: The children are first prompted to rate their ‘Actual Self’ by indicating ‘How I am’ against each of the 25 items using a 0-6 Likert type scales. The positive self-image (SI +ve) score is the sum of scores on items 1-12 (range 0-72), the negative self-image (SI –ve) score is the sum of scores on items 14-25 (range 0-72), the sense of difference score (SD) is the score on item 13 and the self-esteem score (SE) is the sum of discrepancy scores on items 1-25. The age and gender mean for SI +ve for 11-year-old boys is 53.40 (SD: 9.13) and the age and gender mean for SI-ve is 25.44 (SD: 13.07). A Self-image positive score that is above the age-and-gender mean, as it was given in the manual, would suggest that the child has a positive self-image. Conversely, a self-image positive score below the age-and-gender mean would intimate that the child fails to construe

himself in terms of positive attributes. The SIP-C cut-off scores of positive and negative self-image by age and gender for 11-year-old boys are according to the manual 35 for positive self-image (SI +ve) and 52 for negative self-image (SI – ve). SI+ve scores below 35 would be a cause of concern, as would be SI-ve scores above 52.

b) Self-Esteem: Then the children are asked to rate their ‘Ideal Self’ by indicating ‘How I would like to be’ against the same 25 items. The discrepancy between ‘How I am’ and ‘ How I would like to be’ scores provides an estimate of self-esteem (Butler and Green, 1998, Harter, 1999). A high score reflects a wide discrepancy between ‘How I am’ and ‘How I would like to be’ and is therefore indicative of low self-esteem. A low score suggests a correspondence between ‘How I am’ and ‘How I would like to be’ and could be interpreted as reflecting high self-esteem. The SIP-C cut-off scores of self-esteem by age and gender for 11-year-old boys are according to the manual 76. SE scores above this value would be a cause of serious concern. However, a child could have very low self- esteem but low discrepancies if their ideal self is also very low. For this reason the results on this variable of this test should be seen with caution.

The “Sense of Difference” score (item 13) reflects the child’s sense of uniqueness. Scores toward the top end of the range would intimate that the child views the self in terms of more separateness. However, since the Sense of Difference in the SIP-C is reported only by one item its value could not be regarded as reliable. Thus, in this study only the values of Positive Self-Image, Negative Self-Image and Self-Esteem will be considered.

Psychometric Characteristics

Standardisation and validation of the SIP-C was undertaken in 5 primary schools in Leeds with 513 children (Butler, 2001). In addition, a factor analysis of the SIP-C revealed 6 clear factors: behaviour (items 14,16,17,19,20,21,23,24), social (items 1,2,3,5,8,11), emotional (items 13,15,18,22), outgoing (items 4,7,9,), academic (items 6,10) and resourceful (item 25). Item 12 failed to load on any factor and was given the label ‘Appearance’. Moreover, the Self Perception Profile for Children or SPPC (Harter, 1985) was used as a comparison measure in order to check SIP-C construct validity, since the SPPC construction is very similar to that of SIP-C. This comparison led to an indication of a significant relationship (p<0.01) between SIP-C scale scores and SPPC Self Worth domain and between SIP-C aspects of self with corresponding Harter SPPC domains (Butler, 2001, p.21). Finally, SIP-C reliability was investigated by calculating coefficient alpha in relation to self-image. The resulting coefficients were 0.69 for both Positive self-image and Negative self-image.

The method

Before the administration of the SIP-C to the nine boys who participated in this study the SIP-C was translated into Greek with the method of double translation and a piloting was initiated in order to check whether the SIP-C content was meaningful to the population to whom it would be administered.

Firstly the SIP-C was translated from English to Greek by the researcher and then an educationalist who was not aware of the SIP-C was asked to translate the Greek version back to English. It was found that the new version of SIP-C which derived from translating the Greek version back to English, and the original

version of SIP-C were identical in meaning for most items. After administering the SIP-C to 20 11- year-old boys for piloting purposes small adjustments were made to reverse the observed discrepancies in language.

Finally, the SIP-C was given to the nine boys, nominated as “bullies” in this project from January 2002 till April 2002.