Self-Esteem as Folk Theory: A Comparison of European American and Taiwanese Mothers' Beliefs

Abstract Objective. Self-esteem is seldom recognized to be a culture-specific, historically situated idea, and parents' folk theories of self-esteem are rarely investigated empirically. This paper remedies these omissions by comparing European American and Taiwanese mothers' beliefs about childrearing and self-esteem. The substantive goals are to understand the variety of meanings that these mothers associate with self-esteem and to delineate the local folk theories that contextualize this idea or offer alternatives. A related methodological goal is to develop an approach to interviewing that respects local communicative norms and thereby offers a sounder basis for comparison. Design. The study was situated in two large towns in rural areas, one in the Midwest and one in Taiwan. In each site, 16 mothers of 3-year-olds participated in in-depth, open-ended interviews concerning childrearing beliefs and practices. Results. Nearly all American mothers spontaneously invoked self-esteem early and often in response to a variety of childrearing questions and spoke at length about the importance of building children's self-esteem. In contrast, very few Taiwanese mothers talked about "self-respect-heart/mind" (a Chinese term that approximates self-esteem) and those who did articulated a view that contradicted the European American view. Conclusions. Self-esteem looms much larger in American mothers' folk theories of childrearing than it does in their Taiwanese counterparts'. In the American version, self-esteem is a central organizing concept, believed to be crucial to many aspects of healthy development. In the Taiwanese version, self-esteem is either not something that mothers worry very much about, or it is believed to create psychological vulnerabilities rather than strengths. Adaptation of the interview to local communicative practice enhanced the cultural validity of these findings.