Development of Self-Concept in Childhood and Adolescence: How Neuroscience Can Inform Theory and Vice Versa

Abstract

How do we develop a stable and coherent self-concept in contemporary times? Susan Harter's original work, The Construction of Self (1999; 2012), argues that cognitive and social processes are building blocks for developing a coherent sense of self, resulting in self-concept clarity across various domains in life (e.g., [pro-]social, academic, and physical). Here, we show how this framework guides and can benefit from recent findings on (1) the prolonged and nonlinear structural brain development during childhood and adolescence, (2) insights from developmental neuroimaging studies using self-concept appraisal paradigms, (3) genetic and environmental influences on behavioral and neural correlates of self-concept development, and (4) youth's perspectives on self-concept development in the context of 21st century global challenges. We examine how neuroscience can inform theory by testing several compelling questions related to stability versus change of neural, behavioral, and self-report measures and we reflect on the meaning of variability and change/growth.

Keywords: Adolescence; Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Neuroimaging; Self-concept; Theory.

Fig. 1.

Classical twin modeling typically includes two methodology approaches of assessing genetic and environmental effects. First, genetic influences are indicated by a higher within twin-pair correlation in monozygotic (MZ) twins than dizygotic (DZ) twins. High within twin-pair correlations in both MZ and DZ twins are suggestive of shared environmental influences. As a next step, structural equation ACE modeling can offer estimates of the relative contributions that are explained by additive genetic factors (A), common shared environment (C), and unique non-shared environment/measurement error (E).

Fig. 2.

A visualization of the social/self brain network including the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), precuneus, temporoparietal junction (TPJ), and superior temporal sulcus (STS).

Fig. 3.

Intraclass coefficients (ICCs) of studies from our laboratory described in this review based on the longitudinal Brain Time study (8–28-year-olds) (Blankenstein et al., 2019; Bos et al., 2018; Peper et al., 2018; Schreuders et al., 2018), Leiden Consortium Individual Development (L-CID) study (7–14-year-olds) (Dobbelaar et al., 2023; van der Meulen et al., 2023; van Drunen et al., 2024), and Self-Concept (10–24-year-olds) study (Achterberg et al., 2022; Becht et al., 2018; van der Cruijsen et al., 2023). All studies had at least three measurements and one- to two-year intervals between measurements.