Social support networks and self-esteem of idiocentric and allocentric children and adolescents

People who have an idiocentric value orientation tend to emphasize their own goals and needs over those of the groups to which they belong, and to be independent and self-reliant. Allocentric individuals tend to be cooperative, interdependent, and to have a stronger need to affiliate with others than idiocentrics. A goal of this study was to investigate how children's social relationships and self-esteem vary as a function of their allocentrism. Participants were 419 children between 9 and 18 years of age from a variety of ethnic backgrounds (French Canadian/Quebecois, Greek, Arabic, and Caribbean). As expected, allocentric children reported more social support from their peers than did idiocentric children. In addition, idiocentrics and allocentrics differed in their reported sources of intimacy and companionship, for example from best friends, mothers, and relatives. Also, the self-esteem of idiocentric children, but not of allocentric children, was predicted by social support from their best friend. Implications are that idiocentric and allocentric individuals seek out different members of their social networks to satisfy various needs, and to strengthen their self-esteem.