Five-Year-Olds Have Adult-Level Self-Esteem

A recent study found that at just five years old, children have a sense of self-esteem as strong as that of adults. This self-esteem tends to remain stable throughout life, suggesting that it is formed very early.

Professor Andrew Meltzoff, one of the study's researchers, says:

“Some researchers consider preschool children too young to have developed a positive or negative sense of themselves, or a self-concept. Our findings show that self-esteem—feeling good or bad about yourself—is fundamental. It is a state of mind children bring with them to school, not something they develop at school.”

Until now, it had been difficult to measure self-esteem in young children.

Dr. Dario Cvencek, who led the research team in this study, explains:

“Preschool children, between 3 and 5 years old, can verbally report the things they are good at, as long as these involve specific skills. For example, they may say, ‘I am good at running’ or ‘I am good with letters,’ but they have difficulty giving appropriate answers to questions about whether they are good or bad people.”

The researchers used a newly developed test that measures implicit, or unexpressed, self-esteem. In other words, the children are not asked direct questions; instead, the researcher looks at associations. For example, the test designed for an adult looks for associations between the word “self” and the words “good” or “not good.”

The test was adapted for children who cannot read, while retaining the same principle.

The researchers studied the self-esteem of more than 200 five-year-old children.

Dr. Dario Cvencek, who led the research team, explains the findings:

“Our work offers, for the first time, a glimpse into how preschool children feel about themselves. We found that by as young as age five, self-esteem is sufficiently established to be measured, and we can measure it using sensitive techniques.

Self-esteem plays a fundamental role in how children form various social identities.”

The question now, Professor Meltzoff explains, is what influences self-esteem at such an early age:

“What aspects of the parent-child relationship develop and nurture a preschool child's self-esteem? That is the important question. We hope to discover the answer by perhaps studying even younger children.”

The study was published in 2016 in the Journal of Experimental Social PsychologyJournal of Experimental Social Psychology. (The link does not lead to the study because no free version is available).

Author: Dr. Jeremy Dean

Photographer: Jason Rosewell