• Attachment has profound implication for our self-perception and sense of self 

• Children assimilate each part of the self into a sense of who they are 

Self-concept 

Self-concept: refers to a system made up of one’s thoughts and attitudes about oneself

• physical being, social characteristics and internal characteristics 

• Important because individuals’ self-conceptions influence their overall feelings of well-being and self-confidence when faced with external criticism 

Self-concept in infancy 

• Starts as an appreciation of one’s physical self 

• Differentiate themselves from environment – by developing sense that they are physical beings – things are always present while other things come and go

• important lesson – learn through experience is that they can affect their environment 

• Have a rudimentary self-concept in the first months – by 2-4 months, infants have a sense of their ability to control objects outside themselves 

• Become much more distinct at 8 months 

• Recognize that they are their parents are separate entities 

• Development of self-concept is the first necessary step in the development of attachment 

• 15 months – most children are able to distinguish themselves/others by both gender/age 

• Recognition of self becomes more apparent – 18-20 months – children look in mirror/recognize themselves 

• Requires that they have memories of their appearance 

• Mirror self-recognition test 

• Created in USA  – developing countries - children much older than 2 often fail 

• Potential differences on autonomy due to cultural factors accounted for in different test results 

• Cultural contexts can influence how children think about themselves/their environments 

• Age 2 children recognize themselves in photographs 

• 3rd year, children’s self-awareness becomes quite clear in other ways as well 

• Young children use language to store memories of their own experiences and behavior

• Then use to construct narratives of their own “life story” and develop more enduring self-concepts

Self-concept in childhood 

Susan Harter 

• Sense of self is largely a social construction based on the observations and evaluations of others – can be direct or indirect 

• If teacher tells student they are doing well on something – the child will internalize it – teacher had influenced the child’s sense of self – direct 

• Indirect influences come from how children are treated by others 

3 to 4 

• Children understand themselves in terms of concrete, observable characteristics related to physical attributes, physical activities and abilities and psychological traits 

• Self-appraisals are unrealistically confident 

Social comparison: comparing themselves to others on terms of their characteristics, behaviors and possessions (elementary school)

• Increasingly pay attention to discrepancies between their own and others’ performance on tasks     

• Middle to late elementary school – conceptions for self are becoming integrated/more broadly encompassing

• Older children’s self-concept – reflects cognitive advances in their ability to use higher-order concepts that integrate more specific behavioral features of the self 

• Allows to construct more global views of themselves/evaluate themselves as a person overall 

• Also based on others’ evaluations of them, especially their peers 

• Children at this age are vulnerable to low-self esteem if others view them negativity or less competent

Self-concept in adolescence 

• Emergence of abstract thinking

• Typically develop multiple selves 

• May lack ability to integrate these different selves into a coherent whole 

• As develop, are able to appreciate that they can act differently in different situations/still be the same person

• Adolescents can conceive of themselves in terms of a variety of selves, depending on the context 

Personal fable: form of egocentrism in which they overly differentiate their feelings from those of others and come to regard themselves, and especially their feelings as unique and special 

• Evident in late adolescence 

Imaginary audience: the belief, stemming from adolescent egocentrism, that everyone else is focused on the adolescent’s appearance and behavior 

• Become stronger across adolescence for boys but not girls 

• Middle teens – being to agonize over the contradictions in their behavior and characteristics 

• Often feel confused and concerned about who they really are 

• Late adolescence/early adult – individual’s conception of self become both more integrated and less determined by what others think 

• Frequently reflect internalized personal values, beliefs, and standards 

• Instilled by others in the child’s life 

• Older adolescents – more likely to have the cognitive capacity to integrate opposites and contradictions in the self that occur in different contexts or at different times 

• The support and tutelage of others allow adolescents to internalize values, beliefs, and standards that they feel committed to and to feel comfortable with who they are 

Self-Esteem 

Self-esteem: incorporates a child’s overall subjective evaluation of their own worth and the feelings they have about that evaluation  

• Emerges at 8 or so 

• To measure – ask verbally/questionnaire about perceptions of things – also about their global self-worth

• Low-self esteem feel worthless and helpless, high-self esteem good about themselves/hopeful 

• High self-esteem – especially if not based on positive self-attributes, many have costs for children/adolescents 

• Combination of high self-esteem and narcissism has been associated with especially high levels of aggression

Sources of self-esteem 

Age

• Not constant and varies by developmental stage 

• High in childhood, declining in adolescence – rebounding in adulthood 

• Attractiveness linked 

Gender

• Boys – higher overall self-esteem than girls – persists across lifespan 

• boys/men higher in athletics, personal appearance, self-satisfaction

• girls/women higher in behavioral conduct and moral-ethical self-esteem 

• No gender difference in academic performance

Support 

• Most influence – support they receive from other, particular parents 

• Early theories – self-esteem as the internalization of the views of ourselves held by important people in our lives – “looking glass self”

• Others argued that self-esteem is grounded in the quality of their relationships with their parents 

Parents behavior

• Parents behavior/discipline of their children affect self-esteem 

• accepting/involved and supportive yet firm child-rearing practices tend to have children/adolescents with high self-esteem 

• belittlement/rejection – instill children with a sense of worthlessness

Peer acceptance 

• Late childhood, feelings of competence about appearance, athletic ability, and likeability may be affected more by their peers’ evaluations than by parents 

• Associated with preoccupation with approval, fluctuations in self-esteem, lower levels of peers approval, and lower self-esteem 

• Likely affects how peers respond to them 

School/neighborhood environments

• Most apparent in the decline of self-esteem that is associated with the transition from elementary to middle school 

• Forces students to enter a new group of peers and to go from the top of school to the bottom 

• Middle school more competitive 

• Living in low-income and violent neighborhood is associated with lower self-esteem among adolescents 

Culture and self-esteem

• Sources, form, and function of self-esteem may be different, and the criteria that children use to evaluate themselves may vary accordingly

• Western cultures – related to individual accomplishments and self-promotion 

• Asian societies (collectivist) – more related to contributing to the welfare of the larger group/affirming the norms of social interdependence

• Western industrialized cultures, where an autonomous, relatively stable self is valued, adolescents who based their self-evolution on others’ standards and approval are at risk for psychological problems 

• Culture does not appear to be a factor in gender differences related to self-esteem 

• Largest difference in countries that were wealthy, individualistic, and egalitarian

Identity 

Identity: a description of the self that is often externally imposed, such as through membership in a group 

• Have multiples identities – some more salient than others at certain times/situations

• Adolescence – appreciate their multiple identities/begin to forge new ones that may be distinct from those of their family and childhood friends

Erik Erikson

• All adolescents experience an identity crisis, in part as a means of separating from their parents

• Identity achievement 

Identity achievement: an integration of various aspects of the self into a coherent whole that is stables over time and across events 

James Marcia 

• Considered where an individual falls on the dimensions of identity exploration and identity commitment 

• Four categories of identity status: identity achievement, moratorium, identity foreclosure, and identity diffusion 

Moratorium: are exploring possible commitments to identities but have not committed to one 

• May explore potential identities with breadth, trying out a variety of candidate identities before choosing one 

• May make an initial commitment and explore it in depth, through continuous monitoring if current commitments in order to make them more conscious 

Identity foreclosure: individuals who have committed early to an identity before engaging in any real exploration 

Identity diffusion: involves individuals who have neither committed to an identity nor explored potential identities 

• adolescence/early adulthood – generally progress slowly toward identity achievement

• Most typical sequences 

Diffusion – foreclosure – achievement 

Diffusion – moratorium – foreclosure – achievement

• Identity status – related to adjustment, social behavior, and personality – identity being most closely associated with mental health/positive social outcomes 

Factors influencing adolescents’ identity 

Approach parents take with offspring 

• Experience warmth and support from parents tend to have a more mature identity and less identity confusion 

• Subject to parental psychological control tend to explore in breadth and are lower in making commitment to an identity

Larger social and historical context 

• Familial, individual, socioeconomic, historical, and cultural factors all contribute to identity development 

Ethnic and racial identity 

• Especially salient in adolescence

Ethnic and racial identity: encompasses the beliefs and attitudes an individual has about the ethnic or racial groups to which they belong 

• Race is a social construct 

• Prevalence of ethnicity-and-race-based inequities and discrimination in the US underscore the importance of ethnic-racial identity formation in adolescent development 

Preschool children 

• Do not really understand the significance of being a member of an ethnic group 

• They do not understand that ethnicity and race are lasting features of the self 

Early school years

• Children know the common characteristics of ethnic or racial group, start to have feelings about begin members of the group

• Children tend to identify themselves according to their ethnic or racial group between the ages of 5- 8

Family/larger social environment 

• parents/other family members/adults can be instrumental in teaching their children about the strengths and unique features of their ethnic culture or race and instilling them with pride through a process known as parent ethnic-racial socialization

• Combines efforts to instill pride in their heritage with preparation for ethnicity-or race-based bias and discrimination they are likely to face in their lives

Issues of ethnic or racial identity often becomes more central in adolescence, as young people begin actively exploring their multiple identities 

Acculturation: the process of adjusting to a new culture while retaining some aspects of one’s culture of origin    

• Children and parents can acculturate at different rates to their new culture, sometimes resulting in acculturation gaps between them, which can in turn be a source of conflict 

• Higher levels of ethnic and racial identity are generally associated with high-self esteem, well-being, and low levels of emotional/behavioral problems 

• Establishing a clear ethnic identification may be more difficult/less consistent for multiethnic adolescents 

• Ethnic/racial minority youth develop a bicultural identity – comfortable identification with both the majority culture/their ethnic culture

• White parents – don’t discuss race or don’t think they have a “race” and actively teach their children to be “colorblind” 

• Many think it’s best to refrain from discussing race – may be failing to teach their children that racism and ethnic-and-race-based discrimination do exist 

• Ethnic and racial identities are also linked with adolescents’ self-esteem 

• Among adolescents from minority groups – high ethnic-racial identity can be protective against discrimination 

• Minority group parents can help their children develop high self-esteem and sense of well-being by instilling them with pride in their culture and by being generally supportive 

Sexual Identity and Sexual Orientation 

Sexual identity: refers to one’s sense of oneself as a sexual being – includes sexual orientation 

Sexual orientation: an individual’s romantic or erotic attractions to people of the same or different gender, both, or neither – partly hereditary 

• Identical twins more likely to exhibit similar sexual orientations than fraternal 

• Puberty – most common time for youth to begin experiencing feelings of sexual attraction to others

• Majority of adolescents are heterosexual

• The minority status of non-heretosexual youth has led to concern about the well-being of sexual minority youth 

Sexual minority youth: adolescents who are attracted to people of their same of different biological sexes or gender (LGB)  

• Face discrimination both in law and in practice and are frequent targets for harassment and violence

• childhood/adolescence often feel “different” and some even display cross-gender type behaviors from a relatively early age 

• May take time to recognize their sexual identity 

• Beings with first recognition – initial realization that one is somewhat different fro, others – alienation from oneself and others 

• Identifying as having a same-sex sexual orientation had more negative consequences for the older generation than for the younger generation 

Factor that complicates the study of sexual identity

• especially for girls/women – there is considerable instability in adolescents’ and young adults’ reports of same-sex attraction/sexual behavior

• By college age, a notable number of women identify themselves as “mostly straight” – mostly heterosexual but somewhat attracted to women 

• Female adolescents are more likely to describe themselves as gender nonconforming than male 

• Male youth who have engaged in same-sex sexual experiences show an increasing preference for males from adolescence to early adulthood

• LBG youth who are also of minority race or ethnic status are a special source of concern, given that they may experience discrimination on two fronts 

• Reflects an appreciation for intersectionality 

Intersectionality: the potential for someone to experience multiple forms of discrimination and oppression linked to their multiple identities

• Research to date suggests that discrimination and mental health problems can be more common with some combinations of identities, but also that youth who strongly connect with their identities actually report less discrimination and fewer depressive symptoms