Abstract

Self-Image constitutes a good measure of adaptive ability during adolescence. The Offer Self-Image questionnaire (OSIQ), an instrument for evaluating twelve different dimensions of self-image in adolescence, carried out on a sample of 1.251 adolescents living in Naples, equally distributed according age, gender, living area and kind of school. Statistical analyses (MANOVA) were made considering dimensions of self as dipendent variables and gender, age, living area and kind of school as design variables. The data have displayed significant effects for every factor considered. Boys, especially in the last phase of adolescence, have a better self-image than girls except in the area of moral-self and goals. Subjects who live in commercial areas and in the suburbs have a better self-image than subjects who live in the old area of the city. Students of "professional schools" (specialized vocational school, e.g. accounting engineering) are more adapted than students who attend "licei" (schools specializing in classical or scientific studies). The results show higher stress, during the devolopment, for girls and amongst students of "Licei" and the effect in the process of self-evaluation due to the distance between the image of current-self and ideal-self.