Who I Am: Exploring the nature and meaning of children’s active and social selves

The aim of this study was to develop a richer picture of children’s core self-concept factors and their meaning in order to increase adults’ understanding of the self factors that children value most. In addition, since self-esteem is based on core self-concept factors, the study aimed to use this richer understanding to assess the content validity of widely used self-esteem questionnaires. The central objectives were: » to develop a richer picture of children’s core self-concept factors, with a focus on their active and social selves; » to compare children’s core self factors with adults’ conceptualisations of children’s self-concept and self-esteem