BA, Kent State University, 2019, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Sociology and Criminology

Homeschooling has become an increasingly popular form of educating children over the years, with many studies showing homeschooling to be beneficial for the academic and personal well-being of students. In spite of the potential benefits of homeschooling, research suggests that this educational minority may be stigmatized and stereotyped. This stigmatization and stereotyping, if internalized, can negatively affect how these individuals view themselves, which is subsequently associated with lower self-concept, specifically, self-esteem and mastery. Researchers have compared the self-concept of homeschoolers relative to their non-homeschooled peers, yet little research exists examining how stereotypes affect homeschoolers, including the extent to which they internalize stereotypes and whether their self-concept is affected by these stereotypes. Using an online survey of 540 respondents, this study sought to address this gap in literature by examining public and self-perceptions of homeschoolers, as well as from where these perceptions originate and the association between self-perceptions and self-concept. Findings indicated that participants did not endorse common stereotypes of homeschoolers. For the full and non-homeschooled sample of participants, respondents were more likely to indicate direct observation as the source of perceptions regarding homeschooling; while homeschoolers were more likely to indicate they believed perceptions came from popular media. This study also found that internalizing positive and negative stereotypes was significantly associated with mastery for individuals who have been homeschooled, but not with self-esteem.

Committee: Kristen Marcussen Dr. (Advisor) Subjects: Sociology