Changes in Children's Evaluations of Self
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Date
1991
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Abstract
The effect of the nature of questions (behavior-based vs. trait-based and comparative vs. noncomparative) on measures of self-esteem for kindergartners and third graders was investigated. A total of 163 subjects answered questions from Harter's Pictorial Scale of Perceived Competence and Acceptance for Young Children and modifications of this measure. Importance scales were also administered to determine which domains the children thought were the most important in determining their self-esteem. MANOVAs revealed that all the children rated their cognitive and athletic competence higher in behavior questions and rated their global self-worth higher in trait questions. Kindergartners in the trait condition had significantly higher global self-worth than both the kindergartners and third graders in the behavior condition. Kindergartners thought that physical appearance was more important than third graders, while third graders had higher scores in the academic and behavior importance domains. Results indicate that both the kindergartners and third graders were willing to use trait labels, although the younger children were not as able to differentiate between different domains.
Description
Program year: 1990/1991
Digitized from print original stored in HDR
Digitized from print original stored in HDR
Keywords
self-esteem, early elementary grade, children, behavior-based questions, trait-based, comparative, noncomparative, global self-worth