Changes in children's self concept and parents' prediction of their children's self concept

The construct of self concept has often been the focus of treatment and research in the mental health field. Both the development of and function of self concept in human behavior are important to nursing and other social theorists who are interested in understanding and changing human behavior. The self concept is said to develop from the perceived appraisals of interaction with significant other. Thus interpersonal experiences are the basis for perceptions of the "self" and are integral to the formation of the human personality. The family unit affords the initial opportunities for interpersonal experiences with parents playing an important role in their child's developing self concept. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate change in emotionally disturbed children's self concept and their parent's prediction of their children's self concept, due to interpersonal growth experiences offered to them through a therapeutic day camp. The Piers-Harris Children's Self Concept Scale was administered to 43 parents and 44 children before the camp program and 40 parents and 41 children after the program. The scores of the 40 children and their 40 paired parents who completed the pre and post rating were subjected to complete within subjects analysis of variance. The results of the analysis showed that the effect for role and for pre and post means of treatment and for role by Treatment Interaction were all highly significant. The variance between parent and child role showed that parents viewed their children's self concept lower than the children did (F=14.97; 1, 39; p<.001). The pre and post scores of variance due to the treatment effect showed that there was a change is self concept in a positive direction (F=24.87; 1, 39; p<.001). The significant interaction (F=7.48; 1, 39 p<.009) between role and Treatment showed that parents was more change in their children's self concept then the children saw in their own self concept. It may be argued that parents inferred self concept changes from their children's behavior sooner that the children perceived their own behavior and attitude change. The results of the present study suggest there was positive self concept change, after a therapeutic day camp the offered interpersonal growth experiences for emotionally disturbed children. The highly significant change in the parent's prediction of their children's self concept is however subject to alternative interpretations.