Childhood: Developmental Psychology – Lecture 7 (UNIVERSITY OF AMSTERDAM)

The self-concept is something unique to a person. It consists of self-compassion (1), mindset (2), self-efficacy (3) and self-esteem (4). Children first view the self as something that is distinct from the body and children have some intuitive theories about the self. Eventually, the self-concept becomes stable with some fluctuations. It is influenced by culture and the developmental stage of a person.

There are age-related changes in the self-concept. The early self-concept depends on the feedback one receives (e.g. “the teacher tells me you are great!”). Later, the self-concept also depends on social comparison. This comparison is influenced by cognitive ability and self-evaluative tasks (e.g. how good one is at reading and the opportunities one has to compare oneself with others on tasks such as exams). This demonstrates that social relationships are central to the development of the self-concept (i.e. Vygotsky). The interactions and feedback in those interactions with parents (1), peers (2) and teachers (3) shape the self-concept.

Self-perceived ability consists of domain-general ability (i.e. general ability) and domain-specific ability (i.e. specific ability). It can be measured in different contexts (e.g. school context; sports context). Academic achievement is closely and regularly monitored in the school environment and children tend to develop their self-perceived ability based on this regular assessment. One’s self-perceived ability influences one’s effort and one’s subsequent achievement which, in turn, influences self-perceived ability again. This leads to a feedback loop where achievement and self-perceived ability influence each other through effort:

1. One performs successfully on an academic task.
2. One develops positive views of this task.
3. One becomes more likely to engage with these skills and become proficient in them.
4. One performs successfully on an academic task.

The positive perception of skill could be increased by peer comparison and positive feedback. This means that self-concept of ability plays an important role in motivating achievement over time and across achievement levels.

Early math achievement predicts later math achievement even when controlling for a lot of characteristics (e.g. SES; demographics). The same pattern exists for early reading achievement. One’s self-concept in math and reading predict achievement in this domain at a later age and this pattern holds across the achievement spectrum (i.e. low- and high achievement).
at a later age in each domain and this holds across levels of achievement (i.e. low- and high achievement). However, the relationship is smaller when achievement is high compared to when it is lower.

Self-esteem refers to a global evaluation of oneself as a person. It has three characteristics:

• It arises in normal development.
• It is an essential ingredient of personality.
• It typically includes a positive self-regard or attitude.

The sociometer theory states that self-esteem is an internal monitor of how much one is valued by others. A child which has relational value has a higher self-esteem. The social comparison theory states that a child compares oneself with others to evaluate ability and this leads to a sense of self-worth (i.e. self-esteem). The changes in self-esteem during development may be explained by how realistic the comparison is (e.g. a six-year-olds has a less realistic comparison than an eight-year-old).

While self-esteem may fluctuate over time, there is an average tone that remains stable over time. A high self-esteem is a protective factor against developing anxiety and depression. Self-esteem is important for children because:

• It provides an emotional buffer against setbacks.
• It enables children to develop resilience.
• It is important for learning and education.

Parenting influences self-esteem. This can be direct through praise although the praise should not be inflated. It is best to praise the process rather than individual characteristics as this leads to a growth mindset and children do not think negatively of themselves when they realize that in one domain they are not ‘great’. Parenting can also indirectly influence self-esteem through bonding (1), a warm relationship (2), showing interest (3) and feeling loved (4).

It is difficult to measure self-esteem and this especially holds in childhood. There are two general methods of measuring self-esteem;

1. Self-report
   This requires awareness of items measuring positive self-regard and is prone to bias. In the case of children, there is often a distorted self-view due to them basing their self-concept on feedback (e.g. ‘my teacher says I am good so I am good!’).
2. Implicit association task
   This compares the reaction time between different categories (e.g. self-word and positive and self-word and negative). This reaction time reflects self-esteem and this method may reduce bias. In the case of children, the preschool implicit association task (PSIAT) can be used.

In the competency-based model of self-esteem, a child can construct a negative self-image as a result of negative feedback. They may also construct maladaptive self-perceptions of ability to function in the social domain due to peer rejection. This means that peer rejection can lead to both a negative self-image and maladaptive self-perceptions of ability which, in turn, may lead to more internalizing problems.

Peer rejection predicts internalizing problems via social self-concept and the effect is similar for males and females. This means that social self-concept mediates this relationship. However, there is a moderated mediation as this relationship only holds when teacher support is low. This means that teacher support is a protective factor against the development of a negative self-view and internalizing problems when one is the victim of peer rejection. Medium- to high levels of teacher support protected children’s social self-concept against peer rejection but only at the end of the second grade. Teachers are not able to alleviate the full burden of peer rejection.

However, these results are inconsistent over time (e.g. the relationship between peer rejection and internalizing problems exists at one age but not at another). This may be because older children’s self-perceptions are less influenced by the environment. It is also possible that the buffering effect of teacher support takes time and a change of teachers (e.g. typically between grades) counteracts this.

An autoregressive analysis takes all relationships between the variables into account when predicting relationships in the future.

Resilience refers to good mental and physical health despite early adverse life events. This means that it includes an ability to withstand, adapt to and recover from adversities. It may buffer a child from adversity by reducing the impact of trauma (1), reducing negative chain reactions stemming from trauma (2) and may enable opportunities for recovery. It is the process of adapting well in the face of adversity and sources of stress. While a lot of people are resilient, it is likely to involve considerable emotional distress. Resilience is the result of and includes behaviours, thoughts and actions that can be learned and developed in anyone.

All in all, resilience is the result of a complex interplay between a child’s genetics (1), natural temperament (2), knowledge and skills (3), past experiences (4), social supports (5), cultural resources (6) and societal resources (7). It is a mediating factor that reduces the impact of trauma and adversity and increases opportunities to recover.

Resilience should be assessed in the context of child development, meaning that a child’s risk and protective factors need to be assessed. Several factors which promote resilience (i.e. protective factors) include high self-esteem (1), internal locus of control (2), optimism (3), cognitive flexibility (4), reappraisal ability (5) and social competence (6).

There are five modifiable resilience factors:

1. Positive appraisal style and executive function skills (i.e. individual level)
   This includes optimism and confidence in one’s ability to manage adversity. This is modifiable through experience and explicit CBT. Executive function is modifiable through training and especially promotes resilience when it comes to cognitive flexibility and inhibitory control.
2. Parenting (i.e. family level)
   This includes responsive parenting and good parental relationships. This could normalize HPA-axis activity (i.e. cortisol level).
3. Maternal mental health (i.e. family level)
   By screening for, identifying and treating maternal mental health could foster resilience and prevent trauma (e.g. depressed mothers are less responsive and use more punitive disciplinary measures). It is possible that poor maternal mental health leaves the mothers with more difficulties modulating their own stress response and teach coping to their children.
4. Self-care skills and household routines (i.e. family level)
   Teaching self-care skills and using consistent routines and caregiving at home could promote resilience.
5. Trauma understanding (i.e. individual and family level)
   Educating children and families about traumas could promote resilience by understanding the relationships between trauma and feelings.

Resilience exists at three levels:

1. Biological
   This refers to maturation of nervous system.
2. Behavioural
   This refers to temperament expressed behaviourally.
3. Relational
   This refers to a child’s relationships with others (e.g. insecure attachment).

All factors are predictive of externalizing and internalizing problems from age two to age five