COMPARISON of ADOLESCENTS in URBAN and RURAL AREAS IN TERMS of SELF-CONSTRUALS

In this study autonomous-seperate self, heteronomous-related self and autonomous-related self-construal was examined in terms of living in rural and urban areas and gender among adolescents. The research group consisted of 352 students, 74% (261) of whom from the urban high schools and 26% (91) from rural area. Adolescents were 14 to 18 years of age (M=16.26, SD=1.06). The participants responded to the items of personel information sheet and “Autonomous-related Self-in Family Scales”. Results showed that while adolescents’ heteronomous-relational self-construal did not vary with their rural or urban backgrounds, autonomous-seperate and autonomous-relational self-construal was fond to be higher among adolescents from urban areas. Results also indicated that autonomous self-construal scores did not vary with the gender of adolescents, but heteronomous-relational and autonomous-relational self-construal scores of girls higher than males. Findings were discussed in the contex of self-construal development and culture.