Self-Development in Childhood and Adolescence

The nature of children's and adolescents' concepts of self change with age, in large part due to cognitive-developmental changes. Young children's self-concepts are limited to specific, concrete representations (e.g., I can run fast, I know my numbers). In middle and later childhood, children's self-descriptions represent trait labels (e.g., I am smart because I do well in Social Studies, Language Arts, and Math). At adolescence, self-descriptions become increasingly abstract (e.g., I am intelligent, athletic). In addition to domain-specific self-concepts, the ability to evaluate one's overall worth as a person emerges in middle childhood. The level of such global self-esteem varies tremendously across children and is determined by how adequate they feel in domains of importance as well as the extent to which significant others (e.g., parents and peers) approve of them as a person. Low self-esteem is associated with many psychological liabilities including depressed affect, lack of energy, and hopelessness about the future. However, efforts to promote positive self-esteem can be problematic if they are based on unrealistically positive judgments, namely, overestimations of one's competencies. I review the debate about Self-Esteem Movement, which has taken place largely in our schools, which has been criticized for fostering unrealistic perceptions of children's competencies and, in collusion with some parents, a sense of entitlement. Moreover, one must consider cross-cultural differences in the nature of self-esteem, which are legion. Certain cultures (e.g., China) do not even have a term for self-esteem. Plus, instruments designed for Americans are often inappropriate, in terms of content and psychometric properties, leading to faulty interpretations.