Self-Derogation and Childhood Broken Home

Findings are reported regarding the relationship between the level of self-derogation of adult subjects and the prior experience of a broken home during childhood. Data were collected by survey research methods from a sample (N=500) of the adult population of Harris County (including the city of Houston), Texas. The data were analyzed to determine the particular characteristics of the broken home situation (those relating to resultant living arrangements, cause of broken home, subject's age at time of broken home, parental remarriage, and subject's age at time of parental remarriage) which were associated with high self-derogation scores relative to subjects from intact families. Results are reported for the total sample and for subgroups differentiated by the race, sex, and social class of the subject.