Читать книгу The Wiley-Blackwell Handbook of Childhood Social Development - Группа авторов - Страница 27

Priorities within this sphere were to further illuminate when children develop a sense of self (i.e., emergence of self‐recognition), how children revise their self‐construals with age and experience (i.e., development of self‐concept), and how children appraise their abilities and worth (i.e., self‐esteem). Findings suggested that self‐recognition emerges early (i.e., around age two) and becomes more reliable and less context‐dependent across early childhood (Miyazaki & Hiraki, 2006).

Constructivist perspectives dominated research on self‐concept and, for the most part, investigators examined stability and change children’s self‐construals using self‐descriptive tools and methodologies. Principal findings implied that children’s self‐theories become more complex and abstract as they are shaped by age‐, gender‐, and context‐related experiences (Harter, 2012).

Self‐esteem was investigated for scientific purposes and to address the popularized assumption that high self‐esteem is a prerequisite for children’s achievement and well‐being. Discoveries illuminated developmental shifts in children’s self‐evaluations, suggesting a progression from global and unrealistic appraisals during early childhood to more domain‐specific (i.e., ability‐based) and accurate appraisals during middle childhood and thereafter. Findings also revealed that children’s overall sense of self‐worth varied as a function of their perceived competence within multiple, specific domains (e.g., social, scholastic, athletic; Harter, 2012).

Potential causes and consequences of self‐esteem were explored by examining dimensions of children’s social relations and experiences. Evidence indicated, for example, that self‐esteem correlated positively with warm, affectionate parent–child relations (Ojanen & Perry, 2007), and negatively with parental abuse (Cicchetti & Toth, 2006). Likewise, children were found to have higher self‐esteem when their peer relationships were supportive as opposed to abusive (e.g., friendships vs. peer victimization; Hodges et al., 1999). Decrements in self‐esteem were documented following school transitions (Wigfield & Eccles, 1994) and parental divorce (Bynum & Durm, 1996). The premise that self‐esteem is a precondition for healthy development received mixed support in that higher levels of this construct were linked with positive as well as negative outcomes (e.g., happiness, lower internalizing problems vs. drug use, prejudice; Baumeister et al., 2003).