1. Introduction: The Study of Self-Esteem in Early Childhood
Self-esteem is one of social psychology’s central constructs (Cvencek et al., 2016) . Self-esteem is widely conceived as a relatively stable trait of the “individual’s subjective evaluation of her or his worth as a person” (Trzesniewski et al., 2013: p. 60) . The origins of self-concepts and self-esteem are deeply connected to social theories of self and have prompted a substantial body of research and theories. Nevertheless, only a handful of studies have focused on early childhood (Pinto et al., 2015) .
Self-esteem refers to the evaluative aspects of the self-concept (Harter, 1998; Harter, 2006) . Hence, self-esteem refers to the children’s 1) understanding of themselves as a separate entity from others, and 2) evaluation of the self. However, young children often lack the cognitive and linguistic ability to accurately and coherently describe certain aspects of their self-concepts. As a result, young children are thought to exhibit relatively high self-esteem because their self-views are unrealistically positive. As children mature, they develop more accurate self-views (Robins & Trzesniewski, 2005) .
Self-esteem measures require the cognitive or verbal sophistication to talk about a concept like “self”. Therefore, the study of young children’s self-concepts has been characterized by methodological challenges, due to difficulties associated with obtaining valid assessments of self-representations and self-esteem for children under six years of age (Cvencek et al., 2016; Pinto et al., 2015) . Yet, using current methodologies (see: children’s self-view questionnaire such as Eder, 1990 ; or Berkeley Puppet Interview, Measelle et al., 1998 ; or the Preschool Implicit Association Test (PSIAT) that measures how strongly children feel positively about themselves, Cvencek et al, 2016 ), has proved that 5 years old children can form coherent representations of their selves (Marsh et al., 2004) and that preschoolers have a global, overall knowledge of their goodness as a person (self-esteem).
Another approach to examine self-esteem in childhood uses the reports of “others” (Pinto et al., 2015) . This can involve observing how children interact with peers, engage in activities, and express their emotions in various contexts. Parents and teachers can provide valuable insights into children’s self-esteem through their observations and assessments. They can report on children’s behaviors, social interactions, and self-perceptions, providing an assessment of a child’s self-esteem. Since measuring self-esteem in young children can be challenging due to their limited cognitive and verbal abilities, researchers and professionals working with young children may rely on a combination of methods to gather information about their self-esteem.
Kindergarteners’ perceptions of children’s self-esteem were not specifically studied. By the time most children in modern, developed societies reach five years of age, it is normative that they spend weekdays in non-parental childcare settings, and many studies have indicated that self-esteem measured in those settings is associated with measures of acceptance and relationships within these contexts (Pinto et al., 2015) . Self-esteem is an evaluation of one’s own worthiness and competence, but theoretical perspectives emphasize the importance of the social world in shaping self-esteem through interactions with others and how a child believes others see, value and accept him/her (Cooley, 2017; Leary et al., 1995; Mead, 1934) .
Theoretical accounts posit that the early self-concept is formed in the context of children’s intimate relationships with caregivers (Harter, 1998, 2006; Miller & Mangelsdorf, 2005; Thompson, 1998, 2006) . Yet despite the interest in children’s’ self-concept, less work has investigated children’s self-esteem through the eyes of the caregivers within their kindergarten environment. Therefore, this study examined kindergarteners’ perceptions regarding children’s self-esteem, and what factors do they perceive as common signs of low and high self-esteem in young children.
2. Factors Influencing Self-Esteem
The development of self-esteem is influenced by a variety of factors. Research results suggest both direct and interactive influences of environmental factors (such as family dynamics), and child characteristics, on children’s self-concept development (Brown et al., 2009) .
Developmentalists have long privileged the role of family in the development of children’s early self-concepts. Parental warmth was correlated with self-esteem (Harris et al., 2017) . Parental hostility (Khaleque, 2017) was negatively correlated with self-esteem. Parental monitoring, characterized by tracking and supervision of children and protecting the child from potentially harmful situations, was positively associated with children’s self-esteem; whereas parental control was negatively associated with self-esteem. Parental involvement in children’s education, characterized by interest, participation, encouragement, and supervision of the child’s schoolwork was positively related to children’s self-esteem.
The results of a longitudinal study (Orth, 2018) , from birth to age 27 years, revealed that the family environment in early childhood may predict self-esteem as the children grew up to young adulthood. The largest effects emerged for quality of home environment, presence of father, and poverty, as influencing the long-term development of self-esteem. The quality of parental relationship had a small but significant effect on children’s self-esteem (Orth, 2018) . Whether the father was absent (e.g. due to divorce or separation, death, work abroad) was associated with lower self-esteem among children and adolescents (Luo et al., 2011) . A research that explored the relationships between 9 to 19 years old students’ self-concept as a function of their family structure (classified into five family types, i.e., intact, reconstituted mother-headed, reconstituted father-headed, single parent mother-headed, single parent father-headed) indicated that the self-concepts of students from single-parent families and from reconstituted families were significantly lower than those from intact families. Overall, these studies suggest that family structure and environment can have an impact on a child’s self-esteem.
With regard to child’s characteristics, several factors have been found related to self-esteem. Shyness and aggressiveness, for example, imply how individuals relate to the social world, reflecting “moving away from the world” and “moving against the world”, and predict outcomes in the psychological, social, and work domains throughout life (Caspi et al., 1987, 1988) . An extant research indicated that shyness and aggressiveness in childhood is concurrently associated with low self-esteem (Crozier, 1995; Kemple et al., 1996; Rubin et al., 2009) . However, Chung et al. (2017) found that early childhood shyness and aggressiveness as rated by parents, teachers, and observers did not influence the self-esteem trajectory.
Some studies signify child’s appearance as an important factor relating to self-esteem. In a national poll on children’s health, by CS Mott Children’s Hospital (Mott Poll, 2022) , parents were asked about how their children, aged 8 to 18 years, perceived their appearance. Results disclosed that according to their parents, of the children 32% were self-conscious about skin, 31% about weight, 27% about hair, 17% about height, 12% about facial features. Children have been judged on their appearance by others, as reported by their parents: 28% by strangers, 12% by other family members, and 12% by teachers. No equivalent study has been done regarding early childhood.
Another emphasized characteristic is a child’s disability, putting the child at a higher risk of developing low self-esteem. Children with physical disabilities may experience negative body image due to their physical differences. This can lead to low self-esteem and social isolation. Children with learning disabilities may experience low self-esteem due to academic struggles and negative feedback from teachers and peers. This can lead to feelings of inadequacy and a negative self-esteem. Children with disabilities may experience social stigma, which can lead to negative self-esteem and low self-esteem. This can be particularly challenging for children with visible disabilities.
Studies revealed that teachers are more likely to rate children with ADHD (attention disabilities) as performing below grade level—regardless of their demonstrated ability (Metzger & Hamilton, 2020) . Teachers’ assessments may be shaped by perceptions of sibling performance, behavior, race, and sex to inform their perceptions of their students (Ferguson, 2007; Rosenthal & Jacobson, 1968) . Teachers’ ratings tend to be lower for children with ADHD, who are assumed to be lazier, more violent, and at a significantly higher risk of getting in trouble (Walker et al., 2008) . Hence, they are more negatively perceived, even without intent on the part of a teacher (Greenwald et al., 1998) . Since student self-esteem relies heavily on teachers’ perceptions and behaviors, as teachers interact with students regularly, negative teacher expectations can lead to unjustifiably low evaluations of students’ self-esteem.
Another factor that may influence the evaluation of child’s self-esteem may be the child’s socioeconomic background. Greater income and education facilitates access to material resources that enhance children’s performance and increase exposure to cultural capital that is rewarded in the education system environment (Metzger & Hamilton, 2020) . Twenge and Campbell (2002) indicated in their meta-analysis of 446 studies, that low socioeconomic status (SES) was associated with low self-esteem among children. They also suggested a cumulative effect of low SES on low self-esteem, thus preventative approaches are needed among younger children to mitigate the impact of low SES on low self-esteem.
In conclusion, it was found that children might develop low self-esteem as a result of beliefs that their teachers do not believe they can succeed at a high level (Eisenberg & Schneider, 2007) , based on characteristics of disabilities or low SES. If children internalize this belief as a result of exposure to negative societal stereotypes about individuals with disabilities, or stigma related to appearance or family background, this might instigate a self-fulfilling prophecy. Therefore, it is vital to study kindergarteners’ perceptions regarding children’s self-esteem, and what factors do they perceive as indicating low and high self-esteem among the young children.
3. The Present Research
This research included three phases, which will be described by order.
Phase 1
Interviews were conducted with 57 kindergarteners who educated children aged 4 - 6 years, their average seniority was 7.3 years (SD = 6.42). They were asked to “choose five children in the kindergarten with high self-esteem and five children in the kindergarten with low self-esteem, and describe them”. A content analysis yielded four categories including a total of twenty-two background traits that were described as characterizing the children with low or high self-esteem:
Appearance: skin or hair color, height, weight, beauty/ugliness, well-groomed appearance;
Disability: learning disability, ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), physical disability/illness, communication disorders;
Family: family structure (child of divorced parents/second marriage), socioeconomic status, parents involved in kindergarten, anxious parents, only child, born after fertility treatments, position of the child in the family, number of children in the family, born premature;
A special situation in kindergarten: a child who entered the kindergarten in the middle of the year, the youngest in the kindergarten, has relatives in the same kindergarten, stayed in kindergarten for a second year.
Phase 2
A questionnaire was formulated in order to quantitively examine to what extent each of these background traits influences kindergarteners’ perceptions of the children’s self-esteem. A total of 321 kindergarten teachers who educated children aged 4 - 6 years participated in this phase of the study. The average age of the participants was 33.4 years (SD = 9.46), and the average seniority 9.6 years (SD = 7.76). The kindergarten teachers were asked to refer to the twenty-two background traits and to mark “to what level do you think each of these items is indicative of the child’s self-esteem” on a 6-point Likert scale (from 1 = not at all, to 6 = very much).
The reliabilities (Cronbach’s alpha) of the four scales were: appearance (α = .61), disability (α = .69), family (α = .73), a special situation in kindergarten (α = .56). Table 1 shows their rating average, in ascending order. In the category of appearance, a well-groomed appearance was highly related to the child’s self-esteem, followed by weight, ugliness, height, and color. In the category of disabilities, communication disorders were marked as the highest related to the child’s self-esteem; however, all disabilities were perceived relatively high related to the child’s self-esteem. In the category of family, the structure of the family (divorce, second marriage, etc.) was perceived as most related to the child’s self-esteem, followed by the attribute of anxious parents and socioeconomic status. The position of the child in the family, the number of children in the family, being an only child, being born after treatments, or being born premature were perceived at a lower degree as influencing the child’s self-esteem. Within the “special situation in kindergarten” category, the child’s staying in kindergarten for a second year was perceived as the highest indicator of the child’s self-esteem according to kindergarteners. Entering kindergarten in the middle of the year, being the youngest child in kindergarten, and having relatives in kindergarten, were perceived as less indicative of the child’s self-esteem.
Phase 3
In this phase of the study 96 kindergarteners (average seniority 11.7 years, SD = 6.83) who educated children aged 4 - 6 years, were asked to rank each of their kindergarten children (total N = 2401) on a two-part questionnaire. At first, they were asked to rank each child on a scale, 1 (-perceived as having a challenged/exceptional condition), or 2 (-average or above), referring to each of the background traits items. Then on the second part, participants were asked to rank each of their kindergarten children’s level of self-esteem on a 6-point Likert scale (from 1 = low, to 6 = high).
34% of the children were ranked “2” (average or above) at all parameters, 24.7% were ranked “1” (low) in one parameter, 17.2% were ranked low in two parameters, 10.5% were ranked low in three parameters, and 13.5% were ranked low in four or more parameters.
Table 2 shows the participants’ ranks of the children’s level of self-esteem (from 1 = low, to 6 = high) for each of the groups (2 = average or above, 1 = lower than average), in the four categories: appearance, disability, family, special situation in kindergarten. It is evident that the structure of the family was more closely related to the child’s perceived self-esteem than other characteristics related to the family that were examined, and that well-groomed appearance was more closely related to the child’s self-esteem than other characteristics related to appearance that were examined. It is also evident that family structure, learning disabilities, and well-groomed appearance were deemed highly related to the self-esteem of the child, while parental involvement, age in relation to kindergarten, and ADHD were less related to the perceived self-esteem of the child.
A significant negative correlation (α = .01) was found with medium-low strength (.272**) between the number of low (=2) background ranks a child received and the perceived level of the child’s self-esteem, as shown in Figure 1.
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Table 1. Averages (M) and standard-deviations (SD) of the traits.
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Table 2. Averages and standard deviations of the self-esteem scores for the various categories.
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Figure 1. Perceived self-image as a function of the number of low background ranks.
4. Discussion
Kindergarten is today one of the first and most important educational stages due to what it instills in the child through experience, and represent the first building blocks and a critical period for the development of self-esteem (Ibrahim & Al Ghurairy, 2022) . During early childhood children begin the process of self-discovery. A stable and positive self-concept is the basis of social and emotional development (Harter, 2006) . Children who know and understand themselves obtain a significant guide for their behavior and social relationships.
Moreover, early childhood self-esteem can have a significant impact on later development and it is positively associated with important life outcomes in the work, relationship, and health domains (Orth & Robins, 2014) . It is important to investigate factors that shape self-esteem early in life, since it becomes more difficult to change as individuals grow up and become adults (Kuster & Orth, 2013) .
Early childhood self-esteem is associated with interactions and expectations of caregivers. Caregivers’ perceptions can play a critical role in helping children develop a positive self-esteem. Positive interactions and experiences with caregivers can help build children’s belief in themselves and their abilities. Therefore, this research focused on the perceptions of kindergarteners regarding factors that are associated with children’s low and high self-esteem.
Overall, the present study revealed that the structure of the family, disability, and well-groomed appearance had the greatest impact according to the kindergarteners’ evaluation of children’s self-esteem. Further research is needed to understand the process of kindergarteners’ evaluation of children’s’ self-esteem. It would be interesting to examine how kindergarteners’ perceptions are impression-biased (Ibrahim & Al Ghurairy, 2022; Naegele & Goffman, 1956) , and to investigate the effect that this evaluation has on emotional, social and academic outcomes among early childhood children.
The structure of the family was more closely related to the child’s self-esteem than socioeconomic status or the degree of parental involvement, according to the kindergarteners. Altogether, these findings add a different perspective to a large body of evidence claiming that social stigmas regarding disadvantaged populations have a crucial impact on educators’ perceptions. Instead, the findings suggest that socioeconomic status is not necessarily a central mediator that influences the caregivers’ perceptions on children.
According to Doi et al. (2019) , previous studies indicated that parenting practice and parent-child relationship are possible mediators explaining the association between poverty and child’s self-esteem: Child poverty can induce poor parental involvement, and poor parental involvement leads to low self-esteem. However, the present findings suggest to break the association and differentiate between these factors’ relations to self-esteem. Yet, the pathway needs to be elucidated in following quantitative studies. The findings highlight the importance of the dialog between parents and kindergarteners regarding building the child’s positive self-esteem especially when the child’s family structure (such as child of divorced parents/second marriage) is perceived as a factor that might have an effect on the process of self-esteem development, if only to avoid a self-fulfilling prophecy.
In the category of appearance, the research findings reinforce the approach that grooming is more significant than perceived beauty/ugliness. It may be plausible to foster a comprehensive approach taking into considerations both child-level, family-level and kindergarten-level factors. Thus, instead of focusing on characteristics that a child is endowed with like beauty, a comprehensive approach offers some “compensation” factors such as family resources of well-dressing the child, to build a positive impression that might influence the self-esteem.
Previous research exposed that teachers’ ratings of ADHD children tend to be lower, since they are perceived as lazier, more violent, and at a significantly higher risk of getting in trouble (Walker et al., 2008) . In the present study, among the types of disabilities examined, ADHD was actually relatively low related to the child’s self-esteem by the kindergarteners. These findings demonstrate that behavior traits such as hyperactivity do not necessarily determine the caregivers’ perceptions, as previously been claimed. These findings offer an alternative to the view (Owens, 2020) that labeling and stigma of ADHD children is a main mechanism underlying observed relationships.
It was also found that a special situation in kindergarten, such as staying in kindergarten for a second year or having relatives in the same kindergarten, was related only to a low degree to the child’s self-esteem, according to the kindergarteners. An underlying theme that emerges from studies about special situations in kindergarten, such as kindergarten retention or kindergarten redshirting (a term used to describe the phenomenon where a parent chooses to keep their child from attending kindergarten so that the child may gain a year’s worth), is the debate among educators and among parents whether being older among peers provides advantages for children’s self-esteem. Robertson (2021) concluded, that this is an important topic of discussion for educators and policymakers with many disagreements among researchers and educators. However, it seems according to the findings, that in the eyes of the kindergarteners, these are (relatively) less important factors influencing child’s self-esteem.
The studies on the relations between various factors and self-esteem in childhood have some limitations. The impact of any factor on self-esteem may be mediated by other factors. This study did not examine possible interactions between the investigated variables. Furthermore, this study is limited to the subjective measurement method it used, whereas other methods of measurements should be examined in this challenging area of study. Additionally, this study is limited by the small sample of kindergarteners, focusing on the age of 4 - 6 years. It would be interesting to further study this topic among teachers of older students in schools. In addition, we should consider the potential impact of important others such as parents and peers to the evaluation of a child’s self-esteem. Indeed, prior research has shown that self-evaluations reflect the opinions of all salient social groups and self-esteem may vary within the individual as a function of shifting salience of different groups over shorter or longer periods of time (Pinto et al., 2015) . Further research is needed to address these limitations and provide a more comprehensive understanding of the topic.
This study carries practical implications. Overall, according to the participants’ perceptions, the structure of the family, communication disorders, and well-groomed appearance are central indicators whether a child in the kindergarten would have low or high self-esteem. These findings add variables to consider beyond what have been found in previous studies, that focused on the negative stigma attached to ADHD among the disabilities factors (Owens, 2020) or socioeconomic background regarding disadvantaged population (Metzger & Hamilton, 2020) . The consequences of the foremost influential factors (such as family structure or appearance) should be well thought-out, and the awareness of both parents and educators to their possible impact might be the first step for building high self-esteem among children in the first critical years of their lives.