Validity of Children's Self-Reports of Psychological Qualities1 1This research was supported by a grant from the Foundation for Child Development as part of its efforts to advance research methods and knowledge in the field of social and affective development. The first study reported in the manuscript was part of S. Hans' doctoral dissertation. The authors wish to thank Robin Mount and Mark Szpak for help in collecting and analyzing the data and Leland Miller, Mary Blessington, Mary Murphy, Peggy Silverio

School and peer competence in early adolescence: A test of domain-specific self-perceived competence.

“…Empirical research suggests that there is often only a smalt relation between self-evaluations as measured with such scales and the evaluation of others (Rosenberg, 1979;Shrauger & Schoeneman, 1979). As Kagan et aL (1982) aptly noted, the continued use of such flawed iastru-Tfae author was funded in part by the American Psychological Association Minority feilowship Program and by the Yak; Bush Center of Child Development and Social Policy while this research was undertaken. She thanks Edmund Gordon.…”

“…Developmental theorists and researchers have long been interested in children and adolescents' perceptions and categorizations of their psychosocial attributes (see Kagan, Hans, Markowitz, Lopez, & Sigal, 1982, for a brief review of the early literature). This interest remains current as theorists from various perspectives continue to view constructs such as “self-esteem,” “self-efficacy,” “self-concept,” and “perceived competence” as essential to their formulations (Bandura, 1977; Bem, 1972; Ford, 1982; Harter, 1978, 1982; Lepper & Greene, 1981; Marcia, 1967).…”

“…Although an array of diverse scales have been developed to tap into them (Coopersmith, 1967; Piers, 1969; Rosenberg, 1969; etc. ), there is a growing consensus that such measures may be seriously flawed (Harter, 1982; Kagan et al, 1982; Robinson & Shaver, 1973; Wells & Marwell, 1976; Wylie, 1974, 1979). Content analysis of the most frequently used self-concept scales, for example, reveals that scores on items related to cognitive abilities, physical prowess, and popularity are often summed to produce one total score (Harter, 1982).…”

“…Empirical research suggests that there is often only a small relation between self-evaluations as measured with such scales and the evaluation of others (Rosenberg, 1979; Shrauger & Schoeneman, 1979). As Kagan et al (1982) aptly noted, the continued use of such flawed instruments poses serious methodological problems for continued work in this area.…”