“What do you want to be when you grow up?” The majority of children around the world respond to this question with enthusiasm, listing occupations such as artist, astronaut, or archaeologist. Their ability to do so is remarkable when we consider that it requires not only an awareness of themselves but also a representation of who they want to be in the future. In other words, they need to possess a stable mental representation of their current and future selves. These representations constitute their self-concept, which consists of thoughts, feelings, and beliefs about who they are physically, socially, psychologically, and morally.

Individuals are not born with a self-concept. Rather, their self-concept emerges during early childhood and continues to develop into adulthood due to the maturation of ...