TY - JOUR
T1 - Longitudinal self-concept development in adolescence
AU - van der Cruijsen, Renske
AU - Blankenstein, Neeltje E.
AU - Spaans, Jochem P.
AU - Peters, Sabine
AU - Crone, Eveline A.
N1 - Funding Information: This work was supported by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO-VICI 453–14-001 E.A.C.). We thank Laura van der Aar for her input when setting up the study and co-collecting the first data-wave. Furthermore, we thank Dr. Andrik Becht for his help in the process of data analyses. Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press.
PY - 2023/2/8
Y1 - 2023/2/8
N2 - This longitudinal behavioral neuroimaging study tested two hypotheses concerning self-concept development in adolescence: domain-specific self-concept and similarity between own (direct) and perceived peers' (reflected) opinions of the self. Participants (N = 189; 10-24 years) evaluated their traits in academic, physical appearance and prosocial domains from direct and reflected perspectives in an functional magnetic resonance imaging session across three time points (TP1: n = 160; TP2: n = 151; TP3: n = 144). Behaviorally, we observed a mid-adolescent dip in self-concept positivity, which was strongest for the academic domain, showing domain differentiation in mid-adolescence. Self-evaluations were associated with activity in, e.g. medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and temporal-parietal junction (TPJ). mPFC showed an adolescent-emerging peak in activation, pronounced more for direct than reflected self-evaluations. TPJ activation was generally stronger for reflected self-evaluations, and activation linearly increased with age for both reflected and direct self-evaluations. Longitudinal prediction analyses showed that positivity of self-evaluations predicted increases in self-concept clarity and less fear of negative evaluation 1 and 2 years later, highlighting the developmental benefits of acquiring a positive self-concept. Together, we show that adolescent self-development is characterized by dissociable neural patterns underlying self-evaluations in different domains, and from reflected and direct perspectives, confirming adolescence as a formative phase for developing a coherent and positive self-concept.
AB - This longitudinal behavioral neuroimaging study tested two hypotheses concerning self-concept development in adolescence: domain-specific self-concept and similarity between own (direct) and perceived peers' (reflected) opinions of the self. Participants (N = 189; 10-24 years) evaluated their traits in academic, physical appearance and prosocial domains from direct and reflected perspectives in an functional magnetic resonance imaging session across three time points (TP1: n = 160; TP2: n = 151; TP3: n = 144). Behaviorally, we observed a mid-adolescent dip in self-concept positivity, which was strongest for the academic domain, showing domain differentiation in mid-adolescence. Self-evaluations were associated with activity in, e.g. medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and temporal-parietal junction (TPJ). mPFC showed an adolescent-emerging peak in activation, pronounced more for direct than reflected self-evaluations. TPJ activation was generally stronger for reflected self-evaluations, and activation linearly increased with age for both reflected and direct self-evaluations. Longitudinal prediction analyses showed that positivity of self-evaluations predicted increases in self-concept clarity and less fear of negative evaluation 1 and 2 years later, highlighting the developmental benefits of acquiring a positive self-concept. Together, we show that adolescent self-development is characterized by dissociable neural patterns underlying self-evaluations in different domains, and from reflected and direct perspectives, confirming adolescence as a formative phase for developing a coherent and positive self-concept.
KW - TPJ
KW - adolescence
KW - fMRI
KW - longitudinal
KW - medial prefrontal cortex
KW - self-concept
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85147783271&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsac062
DO - https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsac062
M3 - Article
C2 - 36639935
SN - 1749-5016
VL - 18
JO - Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience
JF - Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience
IS - 1
M1 - nsac062
ER -