Discuss the influences of culture, gender, and ethnicity on self-esteem in middle childhood

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Answer: Cultural forces profoundly affect self-esteem. An especially strong emphasis on social comparison in school may explain why Chinese and Japanese children, despite their higher academic achievement, score lower than U.S. children in self-esteem—a difference that widens with age. At the same time, because their cultures value social harmony, Asian children tend to be reserved in positive self-judgments but generous in praise of others. Gender-stereotyped expectations also affect self-esteem. By the end of middle childhood, girls feel less confident than boys about their physical appearance and athletic abilities. With respect to academic self-esteem, boys, again, are somewhat advantaged: Whereas girls score higher in language arts self-esteem, boys have higher math and science self-esteem—even when children of equal skill levels are compared. At the same time, girls exceed boys in self-esteem dimensions of close friendship and social acceptance. Compared with their European-American agemates, African-American children tend to have slightly higher self-esteem, possibly because of warm extended families and a stronger sense of ethnic pride. Finally, children and adolescents who attend schools or live in neighborhoods where their SES and ethnic groups are well-represented feel a stronger sense of belonging and have fewer self-esteem problems.