Self-concept of Finnish children on the second grade of normal elementary school.

The study deals with the self-concept of healthy and disturbed pupils on the second grade of normal elementary school. The self-concept is defined as the cognitive and emotional concept of an individual about himself. The material consisted of 143 urban children (67 boys, 76 girls) and 241 rural children (116 boys, 125 girls). The instruments used were "I think I am" a childrens' self-estimation questionnaire of self-concept (by P. Ouvinen-Birgerstam) and Parent's Questionnaire A2 and Teacher's Questionnaire B2 (both by M. Rutter). The study was carried out as a point-prevalence study in April 1986. The boys had a highly significantly worse self-concept than the girls. There were no differences in self-concept between urban and rural children. The boys and girls who were estimated as psychically disturbed according to the ratings made by parents had a nearly significantly worse self-concept than the children who were estimated as healthy. There were no differences in the self-concept of boys and girls rated as disturbed or healthy by the teachers. The boys and girls rated as disturbed by parents had a worse self-concept than the boys and girls rated as disturbed by teachers. There were no differences in the self-concepts of disturbed boys and girls rated as hyperactive or non-hyperactive by parents and/or teachers.