Self-Concept, Self-Esteem and Psychopathological Symptoms inPersons with Intellectual Disability (original) (raw)

2007, The Spanish journal of psychology

In recent years, research on self-concept and self-esteem has been gaining relevance within the context of the identification of protective factors against psychological problems. Their importance for personal well-being, mental health, professional success, social relationships, academic performance, and so on, has been the focus of numerous research projects in the human and social sciences. Despite the abundance of studies on self-concept, however, there is some conceptual confusion, since researchers have used interchangeably the terms self-concept, self-image, selfesteem, self-acceptance, and even others. As far as distinguishing between the concepts of self-concept and self-esteem is concerned, the majority of authors associate the term self-concept with cognitive aspects of self-knowledge, using the self-esteem label for evaluative-affective aspects. «Concept of oneself» would be equivalent to self-knowledge, which would include all types of cognitive activity and content (concepts, percepts, images, judgements, reasoning, mnesic schemas, etc.). Judgements about oneself most likely constitute the cardinal organization of this entire system of self-knowledge. Two kinds of these judgements can be distinguished: descriptive and evaluative. Descriptive judgements refer to how we actually are, taking into consideration our age, sex, profession, physical characteristics, forms of behaviour, and so on. Evaluative judgements are concerned with appraisal of our characteristics, with what we think about them.