Purpose: To assess self-concept

Age: 7-18 years

Time: 10-15 minutes

Administration: Individual and group

The Piers-Harris Children’s Self-Concept Scale, 2nd Edition (Piers-Harris 2) provides an overall view of an individual’s self-perception and helps identify children, adolescents, and teenagers who may require further testing and possibly treatment.

Items are presented as descriptive statements, and the respondent answers yes or no, indicating whether or not the statement applies to himself or herself. The resulting total score reflects how the individual perceives himself or herself overall, while scores for each separate subscale provide details that allow for more in-depth interpretation.

The Piers-Harris 2 is composed of 60 items covering six subscales:

• Physical Appearance and Attributes
• Freedom from Anxiety
• Intellectual and School Status
• Behavioural Adjustment
• Happiness and Satisfaction
• Popularity

Two subscales that account for biased responding and random answering are also included.

The Piers-Harris 2 is used in both schools and clinics. It is often administered as routine classroom screening, to identify children who might benefit from further evaluation, and in clinical settings, to determine specific areas of conflict, typical coping and defence mechanisms, and appropriate intervention techniques.