ASSESSING WHAT KIDS THINK ABOUT THEMSELVES: A GUIDE TO ADOLESCENT

Children in the United States tend to experience a de-cline in positive self-concept during their adolescent years. This decline often begins around age 12 for girls and around age 14 for boys. For some, the de-cline can become severe in early adolescence (between the ages 14 and 16) before generally recov-ering in the mid-teen years.1 Having a negative self-concept during adolescence has been associated with maladaptive behaviors and emotions. In contrast, having a positive self-concept has been linked to positive social and emotional development. This brief discusses child and adolescent self-concept and pro-vides information for out-of-school time program practitioners on how to assess self-concept among program participants. The brief also suggests ways that program practitioners can foster positive self-concept in adolescents. WHAT IS SELF-CONCEPT? Self-concept refers to self-evaluation or self-perception, and it represents the sum of an individ-ual’s beliefs about his or her own attributes. Self-concept reflects how an adolescent evaluates himself or herself in domains (or areas) in which he or she considers success important.2 An adolescent can have a positive self-concept in some domains and a nega-tive self-concept in others. Research also suggests that each individual has a global (or overall) self-concept that reflects how the individual evaluates his or her self-worth as a whole.3 …information for program providers on assessing and enhancing self-concept among adolescents