Self-Perception and Self-Esteem in Children With Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Abstract

Self-perception is made up of domain-specific judgments of one's own competence and adequacy in areas such as scholastic competence, athletic competence, physical appearance, social acceptance, and behavioral conduct. The purpose of the present study was to investigate differences in self-perception and self-esteem between children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD) and children without that disorder. The test used, the Japanese Version of the Scale for the Self-Cognition for Children (JSSC; Tanaka, Wada, & Kojima, 2005) was based on Barter's (1985) Self-Perception Scale for Children (SPPC). The participants were 4th- to 6th-grade elementary school pupils, 45 of whom had been diagnosed as having AD/HD, and 198 without such a diagnosis. The results showed that the AD/HD group had a lower self-perception of their own behavioral conduct and social acceptance compared to the group not diagnosed as having AD/HD. Influences of self-perception on the self-esteem of children with and without AD/HD were also examined. The results showed that in the children without AD/HD, all domains except for athletic competence influenced self-esteem. However, in the children with AD/HD, scholastic competence and physical appearance influenced self-esteem. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)