Gender and Sex‐Role Influences on Children's Self‐Esteem

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Abstract
This study examined direct and moderating influences of gender and sex‐role orientations on children's general self‐esteem Moderating influences of these variables on the prediction of self‐esteem were examined with respect to two sets of competence beliefs regarding school achievement perceived capacities and perceived strategies for doing well in school One hundred nineteen fourth‐, fifth‐, and sixth‐grade children were assessed using the perceived Competence Scale for Children (Harter, 1982), the Multidimensional Measure of Children's Perceptions of Control (Connell, 1985), and the Children's Personal Attributes Questionnaire (Hall & Halberstadt, 1980) Correlational and hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicated that upper elementary schoolchildren's general self‐esteem is (a) marginally related to biological gender, with boys showing a slight advantage, (b) significantly related to masculinity and androgyny, and (c) predicted more strongly by perceived capacities to do schoolwork in girls than in boys, and by perceived (lack of) strategies for academic success in nontraditionally sex‐typed children than in traditionally sex‐typed children Of the two nontraditionally sex‐typed groups, androgynous children were found to have more positive school competence beliefs than were undifferentiated children