NCJ Number
199126
Journal
Journal of Youth and Adolescence Volume: 32 Issue: 2 Dated: April 2003 Pages: 141-155
Editor(s)
Daniel Offer
Date Published
April 2003
Length
15 pages
Annotation
Drawing on psychological pragmatics, this study examined how well preadolescents understood the mental states and emotions of others and how this understanding influenced their sense of self-worth and school behavior.
Abstract
This study utilized prior research on the notion of psychological pragmatics to investigate individual differences and links among sociomoral understanding, self-concept, and peer and teacher ratings of school behavior in preadolescent girls and boys. Psychological pragmatics refers to a dynamic knowledge system composed of self-views, emotions, and cognitions that undergo constant creation and re-creation through social interaction. The study focused on the role gender played in certain aspects of preadolescents’ perceived competencies and both peer and teacher rated social behavior. The study consisted of a sample of 239 elementary grade school children and 12 teachers. A two-part study was initiated involving an in-class group administration of three standardized measures and a gender-role self-perception questionnaire, and the second involved the withdrawal of individual children from their classroom to participate in a brief interview containing questions on self and social understanding. Overall, the findings present a picture of how sociomoral understanding and self-understanding play an important role in preadolescents’ school behavior. Girls scored higher than boys on perceived behavioral conduct, teacher ratings of relational aggression, and self understanding, particularly a sense of self-agency. The content analyses showed that girls were more likely than boys to mention their parents. The findings suggest the need for further research to explore how, when, and why students develop inaccurate beliefs about themselves and how they effect their social relations with others. Appendix and references