Increasing positive self-referent statements to improve self-esteem in low-income elementary school children

The purpose of this study was to increase verbalization of positive self-referent statements in an effort to increase corresponding self-esteem scores. A total of 30 children from 10 elementary school classes were divided into an experimental group, a control group, and an inventory group. All children received pre- and post-experiment administration of the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory. The experimental group received teacher praise contingent upon verbalizing positive self-referent statements. Control group students from these same classes received no praise for their statements. Inventory group students were from different classrooms and only took the Coopersmith Inventory. Results showed that experimental group students made significantly more positive self-referent statements than control students. Self-esteem scores for experimental group students were significantly higher than scores for control and inventory students.