The Self-Perception of Competence by Chinese Children

Abstract

STIGLER, JAMES W.; SMITH, SHEILA; and MAO, LIAN-WEN. The Self-Perception of Competence by Chinese Children. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1985, 56, 1259-1270. This study explores cultural differences in self-perceptions of competence between Chinese and American elementary school children. Harter's Perceived Competence Scale for Children was administered to 714 fifth-grade children in Taiwan, and results were compared with American studies that have employed the same scale. Most striking is the nearly perfect replication of the factorial validity of the 4 subscales in the Chinese sample. Also similar across the 2 groups is a high correlation between perceived cognitive competence and actual achievement in school. However, interesting cultural differences are also found. Chinese children tend to underrate their competence compared to American children, except in the social domain where higher ratings are judged to reflect a different social reality. Judging oneself as important to one's peers loaded on the cognitive subscale in the Chinese sample, but on the social subscale for the Americans. Chinese children also differentiated satisfaction with oneself from the desire to change for the better.