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Presentation by: Dr Mimi Tatlow-Golden mimi.tatlow@ucd.ie Presentation Title: Who I Am: Exploring the Nature, Salience and Meaning of Children ’ s Active and Social Selves. Background of the study Self-esteem debate: ‘ Hot ’ variable or mirage?
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Presentation by: Dr Mimi Tatlow-Golden mimi.tatlow@ucd.ie Presentation Title: Who I Am: Exploring the Nature, Salience and Meaning of Children’s Active and Social Selves
Background of the study • Self-esteem debate: ‘Hot’ variable or mirage? • Developmental psychology should move from measurement to exploring meaning (Hogan, 2005) • National Children’s Strategy (2000): Listening to children; understanding their lives; delivering quality supports
Aims of the study • Develop richer picture of children’s core self-concept factors • - Competence in salient activities, & salient relationships, are central to self-esteem (Harter, 2006) • => Focus on active and social self, and their meaning • Compare with adult views of self-esteem • Capitalise on children’s competencies, cultures of communication
A mixed- and multiple-methods study • 526 participants. 5th & 6th class; 10-12 yrs; 52% girls • Random selection from stratified listings of all Dublin Region co-educational National schools • Opt-in participation • Methods: • Draw-and-write x2: Active self, social self • Analogue scales to rate importance • Who I Am ‘Pie’to explore proportionate importance • Follow-up interviews (n = 110) to explore meaning • Self-esteem scales for comparative analyses
Self-esteem scales e.g. Self-Description Questionnaire I (SDQI), Marsh, 1992
Findings I: Active Self • Wide-ranging: > 150 salient activities • Physically active 67%: • Team sports; Non-team physical activities (individual sports; unstructured, peer-based physical activities) • Social 28%: Friends, family and pets • Creative 20%: Music, drama, visual, written etc • Media 13%: Personal entertainment, social networking,education • Reading for fun 7%; Future self 4% ; Shopping 4%; School 1% • Many pronounced gender differences • M>F Team sports (media) • F>M Non-team physical, creative, social, shopping
Findings II: Active self meanings • Social connection 59%: Primarily friends; also family • ‘I like training, because most of my friends are there’ (boy, 11) • Challenge & achievement 37%: Challenge, skill improvement • ‘I’ve really got to like it cause I’m getting better all the time’ (boy, 11) • Having fun 37%: Fun & escape • ‘You just have lots of fun!’ (girl, 11) • Enjoying being physically active 32% • ‘It’s a high-paced game… yeah I like running’ (boy, 12) • Time 18% : How long or how often they engaged in activity • ‘I really like basketball, cause I do it like 5 times a week’ (girl, 11) • Gender: only 1 difference; m>f physically active
Findings III: Social Self • Parents 67% • Siblings 54% • Friends 40% • Extended family 12% • Pets 8% • Celebrities/ fictional 2% • Gender: Girls depicted more people overall than boys However, boys and girls valued people in same order
Findings IV: Social self meanings • Being cared for 68%: Emotionally and practically • ‘When I’m with my friends and family I feel really safe, and happy’ (girl, 11) • Sharing activities and interests, including talking 44% • ‘We have like loads of things to talk about’ (girl, 10) • Relationship quality 36%: Liking, loving and fighting • ‘You fight with your brother… but at the end you still like him’ (boy, 11) • Time 23%: Frequency of seeing people; length of friendship • ‘I’ve known her longer and she’s known me longer as well’ (boy, 12) • Having fun 20% • ‘I just find them really funny and enjoyable to be with’ (boy, 12) • Gender: Only 1 difference; f>m talking
Findings across methods: I • 1. Hierarchy of importance across active and social selves • Family (parents, sibs, extended family, pets) • Friends • Being physically active (team and non-team) • 2. Interrelationships across self domains • Active self: social meanings were primary • Social self: shared activities a key meaning • Fun and time: core meanings across both these self domains
Findings across methods: II • 3. Core meanings for active & social selves • Being social, having fun and time are central to children’s salient positive selves • Social self: Being cared for by both friends and family • Active self: Being challenged & improving in salient activities • 4. Gender patterns • Strong gender differences in salient activities • Few differences re salient people • Hardly any difference re the meanings attached to salient activities and people
Comparing with self-esteem scales • Active Self • Missing factors: Non-team physical; creative; media • Missing meanings: Social; challenge/improvement; fun • Social Self • Missing factors: Parents, siblings, extended family, pets • Missing meanings: Being cared for; fun • Scales present very limited view of children’s salient selves • Self-Description Questionnaire I (Marsh, 1992) closest
Conclusions I • School: Barely registers as a positive salient activity for children (though they recognise its instrumental value) • Physical activity: • - Much more salient than media activities • - Non-team physical activities (including dance) more salient for girls. Should be recognised and developed • Family: More salient than friends • Pets: Highly salient to substantial minority in late childhood • Gender: differences in salient activities – but not relationships, nor meanings. ‘Differences culture’ exaggerated?
Conclusions II • Adult-designed self-esteem measures: limited view of children’s selves • Focus on school ability, team sport ability, peer acceptance • Children focus on non-school activities; improvement; relational caring (friends and family); and fun • Scales measure extrinsic, not intrinsic, ‘true’ esteem? • Children’s selves should be studied using factors and meanings salient to children • Richer picture emerged from consultation with children
