Abstract
This study reviews in detail the literature on identity development in children and adolescents, drawing on the theoretical framework of George Herbert Mead and Erik Erikson. Particular attention is paid to identity development in young black children in Britain, the United States, and Jamaica. Literature on self-concept and self-esteem in young children is also reviewed in detail, and a chapter is devoted to measurement problems in this area. An attempt is made to integrate accounts of self-esteem and self-concept within the concept of global identity. The ways in which young children acquire evaluative meanings of colour are considered, with special consideration of the development of feelings about their personal ethnicity in relation to self-esteem in young black children aged between four and seven. The argument is developed that devaluation of one's ethnic group is a manifestation of poor self-esteem. The development of the Williams Colour Meaning Test and the Pre-School Racial Attitudes Measure in America is described, the race-of-tester effect being discussed in detail. An adaptation of the Ziller method of measuring self-esteem, suitable for use with children aged 4 to 7 is also described. A study is described using the Colour Weaning Test, the Pre-School Racial Attitudes Measure and the Ziller self-esteem measure in 414 children aged 4 to 7 in England and Jamaica. The subjects in England (white English, black Jamaican, black West Indian, Cypriot, African and Asian) attended nursery and infant schools in London. The Jamaican subjects attended an infant school in a rural area. The results showed that black West Indian subjects, both in England and Jamaica, displayed considerable white bias in their evaluation of colour and ethnicity. The evaluation of colour and ethnicity was significantly related to the measurement of self-esteem in predicted directions, in both English and West Indian children. African children displayed the least white bias in the evaluation of colour and ethnicity. In the subjects in England, a high proportion of black and Asian children in a classroom was associated with a more positive evaluation of colour and ethnicity in the West Indian subjects; in contrast, white children in a minority in a classroom showed enhanced rather than diminished ethnic identity. These and other findings are considered at some length in a discussion of ways of enhancing identity and the development of self-esteem in young black children in Britain.