Significant others and self-esteem: methods for determining who and why

The early work of Cooley (1912) established the importance of the appraisals of significant others in the development of self-esteem. Subsequent research identified parents and peers as significant others and offered some dimensions of significance. Much of this work utilized researchers' assumptions that there is a common basis for self-esteem and a standard set of significance dimensions. This paper reports the results of a series of questions posed to children and youths to determine the verbal and nonverbal behaviors that "earn" significance. Their qualitatively rich responses demonstrated the effectiveness of the format and procedures with groups of different ages, cultures, and ethnic backgrounds. Data could be categorized meaningfully in regard to who is significant, what they do or say, how this impacts on self-esteem, and how subjects react to this feedback. Evaluation indicates that this exploratory methodology elicits valuable information which adults can use in order to have a significant influence on the self-esteem of children. The methodology also raises additional questions and indicates the direction of future research.