Korean J Child Stud. 1991; 12(2): 18-36.

The Development of Self - Knowledge in Childhood

아동의 자기 - 지식의 발달

연진영, 김선애

Jin Young YON,Sun Ae Kim

The developmental self-knowledge from preschool to early adolescence was studied from a cognitive-structural perspective. Responses of the subjects to the question "Who am I?" were analyzed by means of a 29-category scoring system. The question was administered to 250 boys and 229 girls from kindergartens, elementary schools and middle schools in Seoul. One way-ANOVA and Duncan test were utilized for the statistical analysis. The major findings of the present study showed that with increasing age there was (1) a significant increase and diversification of self-knowledge. (2) an individual`s self-knowledge became more abstract and less concrete, and (3) self-descriptions shifted from the physical to the psychological self.