Tell us about the research. The Self-Portrait Project is
designed to investigate how adolescents in seventh, ninth and
11th grade develop their view of themselves. Past research has
demonstrated that ninth graders experience the most distress or
conflict over their differing self-dimensions (They might be
outgoing with friends, but quiet at school, for example). Why?
While they are cognitively aware of their differing ways of
being in different settings, they aren’t yet ready to deal with
the seeming contradictions in the self. Current theoretical and
empirical work suggests that environmental factors may modify
this evolution of the self. For example, youth of color may have
earlier experiences with being different in different
situations, so they may experience distress or conflict over
opposite self-dimensions in seventh grade or even earlier. Other
environmental factors that may impact self-development that are
being considered in this study are divorce and experiences with
humiliation. Differences in mas