Poster #80 - An Exploration on Self-Concepts of Vietnamese Children through Children Drawings

• In Event: Poster Session 07

Abstract

The self serves as a guide for individuals to make sense of their lived experiences, build a sense of coherence, and foster appropriate social behaviors and self-regulation (Harter, 2012). In this study, we will examine the self-concept of Vietnamese children. The development of the self is influenced by both cognitive and sociocultural factors (Harter, 2012). Consequently, Vietnamese children will likely highlight different aspects of their self-concept compared to what is known about children from North American and European countries. Additionally, the disruptions and overwhelming changes in Vietnamese children’s lives due to the Covid-19 pandemic may be reflected in their self-concepts. Hence, it is necessary to study Vietnamese children's self-concepts in their current context.

Standard self-report measures using likert-type items are limited for the study of cultural selfhood (Vignoles et al., 2016). Thus, there is a need for research that adopts a more culturally sensitive framework and research methods to study in self-concept development.

This study aims to explore the content of self-concepts among Vietnamese children. Participants will be 25 – 30 children ages 8-10 years old living in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. They will be instructed to “draw a picture to describe who you are” and write a small paragraph (5-10 sentences) to describe their drawings. The texts will be used to cross-validating the salience of the drawings. This triangulation method is highly recommended by several researchers using this methodology to limit over-interpretation and distortion of the data (Bland, 2018; Boles & Winsor, 2019; Literat, 2013). Data will be analyzed using inductive thematic analysis following steps recommended by Braun and Clarke (2006) for both drawings and textual descriptions. These steps include (1) familiarizing with data, (2) generating initial codes, (3) generating themes, (4) reviewing themes, and (5) defining and naming themes. Data will be coded in the original language (Vietnamese) by two independent coders. The codes and themes will subsequently be translated into English to communicate the findings to the scientific community.

We seek to answer the questions “What are the Vietnamese children’s self-concepts like?” and “Are there gender differences in their self-descriptions?” Because this is an exploratory study, we do not have a specific proposition. However, based on our literature review, we may expect themes, such as physical activities and interactions with family members, teachers, and friends to be represented in children’s drawings and expect these to vary across gender groups. To our knowledge, there has been no previous research on the self-concept of children in middle-to-late childhood in Vietnam that employs a qualitative approach including drawings as a method of data collection. Thus, this novel study may provide important and unique insights into what Vietnamese school-age children’s self-concepts currently are like. In addition, the study will provide insights into the utility of a drawing-based method to assess children’s self-concepts.

Authors

• Vi Nguyen, Tufts University
  Presenting Author

• Theo Klimstra, Tufts University