Parents' Appraisals, Reflected Appraisals, and Children's Self-Appraisals of Sport Competence: A Yearlong Study

Abstract

This study investigated the contribution of the reflected appraisal process to the ontogeny of children's self-perceptions of physical competence. Emanating from symbolic interactionist thought, reflected appraisals refer to individuals' perceptions of others' evaluations of their abilities. The influence of parents' appraisals of their child's competence on the child's selfappraisals was hypothesized to be mediated by parents' reflected appraisals. Data were collected from a sample of 147 sixth graders and their parents in three waves over one school year. Structural equation modeling revealed that 1) parents' appraisals at Wave 1 influenced children's reflected appraisals of parents at Wave 2; 2) reflected appraisals at Wave 2 influenced children's self-appraisals at Wave 3, controlling for both the child's actual level in sport (as assessed by the child's grade in physical education) and the child's self-appraisals at Wave 1; and 3) the influence of parents' appraisals on their child's self-appraisals was nonsignificant when reflected appraisals were controlled for. This study supported the mediational role of the reflected appraisal process. The findings from this study provide a unique contribution to the sport socialization knowledge base by highlighting the role of the reflected appraisal process in the formation of children's self-appraisals of ability.Numerous theoretical models in contemporary psychology have highlighted the role of perceived competence, or ability, as a central antecedent of achievement motivation and behavior

“To See Ourselves as Others See Us”: On the Implications of Reflected Appraisals for Ethnic Identity and Discrimination

“…This process thus involves three components, including (1) one's self‐appraisal, (2) the actual appraisal of significant others, and (3) one's perception of the other's appraisal, known as the reflected appraisal (cf. Khanna, 2004), and some empirical evidence supports the claim that reflected appraisals mediate the relation between others’ appraisals and self‐appraisals (Bois, Sarrazin, Brustad, Chanal, & Trouilloud, 2005; Schafer & Keith, 1985; but see Felson, 1989).…”

Parents' math–gender stereotypes, children's self-perception of ability, and children's appraisal of parents' evaluations in 6-year-olds

“…Third, the evidence that perceived appraisal plays a mediating role in the relation between others' evaluation and individuals' self-perception is inconsistent. Whereas some studies have demonstrated the mediating role of reflected appraisal in a variety of domains (e.g., sports ability: Bois, Sarrazin, Brustad, Chanal, & Trouilloud, 2005;interpersonal skills: Ichiyama, 1993;academic and social abilities: Jussim, Soffin, Brown, Ley, & Kohlhepp, 1992;Nurra & Pansu, 2009), other research has failed to support such mediation hypothesis (Felson, 1993;Hergovich, Sirsch, & Felinger, 2002).…”

Relationship among Self-appraisals, Others’ Actual Appraisals, and Reflected Appraisals on Primary School Teachers Teaching Ability

“…The third viewpoint shows that others' actual appraisals could not influence self-perception directly, but could influence self-perception through reflected appraisals (Kinch, 1963;Yue, Huang, 2012;Yue, Huang, & Peng et al, 2008). The study on sport competence of teenagers found that parents' appraisals influence teenagers' self-appraisals through reflected appraisals indirectly, while reflected appraisals had been taken into account because the influence of parents' appraisals on selfappraisals became non-significant (Bois, Sarrazin, Brustad, Chanal, & Trouilloud, 2005). However, the normal college students' reflected appraisals had mediating effects on the relation of others' actual appraisals and self-appraisals on teaching ability (Hu, Yue, & He et al, 2014).…”