Age-related increases in accuracy of children's self and peer perceptions have been found in research as diverse as investigations of gender constancy (Gouze & Nadelman, 1980), children's use of social comparison information (Nicholls, 1978, 1979), perceptions of academic achievement (Stipek, 1981) and studies of intimacy and friendship (Ladd & Emerson, 1984; Diaz & Berndt, 1982). However, evidence concerning the sequence of emergence of these perceptions is inconsistent, and direct comparisons of the two are scarce in the literature. The current work directly compared the relative accuracy of self and peer perceptions and investigated peer and expected peer perceptions as a function of rater and ratee gender Thirty-two children (16 female, 16 male) from two grades (third and fifth) completed five modified versions of the Self Perception Profile for Children (Harter, 1985a) in order to assess the child's self perceptions, his/her perceptions of one male and one female classmate, and the child's expectations for how those classmates perceive him/her in three areas of competence: scholastic, social and athletic. Children's subjective ratings were compared with objective criteria in each of the competence areas to provide an index of accuracy of ratings Results provided some support for age-related differences in self perceptions, with younger children's self ratings showing less differentiation across competence areas than did the ratings of older children. The ratings that younger children expected to receive from both same- and opposite-sex peers were best predicted by their self ratings while older children appeared better able to distinguish between their self perceptions and anticipated peer ratings Children's peer ratings showed greater cross-domain differentiation than did their self ratings, providing marginal evidence that accurate peer perceptions might emerge prior to accurate self perceptions. However, the most consistent finding concerned children's inaccuracies in predicting the competencies of opposite-sex peers. Self and same-sex peer ratings did not differ significantly while self and opposite-sex peer ratings varied considerably, indicating that questions concerning the relative accuracy of self and peer perceptions cannot be answered without consideration of the issue of gender / acase@tulane.edu
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TULANE/oai:http://digitallibrary.tulane.edu/:tulane_23342 |
| Date | January 1989 |
| Contributors | Duhe', Debra A (Author), Moely, Barbara E (Thesis advisor) |
| Publisher | Tulane University |
| Source Sets | Tulane University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | Access requires a license to the Dissertations and Theses (ProQuest) database., Copyright is in accordance with U.S. Copyright law |
Page generated in 0.0016 seconds