Comparison of perception of self‐competence among five ethnic groups of preschoolers in the US

Abstract

This study compared the perception of self‐competence of immigrant Asian‐American, Asian‐Indian, Hispanic, native European‐American, and African‐American preschoolers. Self‐competence is defined by Harter as the “feeling of confidence in achieving certain tasks”. The development of self‐competence emerges gradually as children acquire greater physical, self‐help, social, and cognitive skills and become aware of their own abilities. Preschoolers (n = 205) between the ages of 3 and 5 years participated in the study. The children's perception of self‐competence was measured using the Pictorial Scale of Perceived Competence and Social Acceptance for Young Children. Analyses of variance were conducted to compare the selfcompetence scores of the children by their ethnic origin (race × self‐competence scores). Results indicated cultural variations in the perception of self‐competence among the preschoolers: cognitive competence, F(5, 199) = 5.96, p < 0.0001; peer acceptance, F(5, 199) = 11.301, p < 0.0001; physical competence, F(5, 199) = 6.816, p < 0.0001; and maternal acceptance, F(5, 199) = 2.553, p < 0.05. Post‐hoc analysis indicated that, compared with European‐American, African‐American, and Asian‐Indian children, Hispanic children had lower cognitive competence, physical competence, and peer acceptance.