By KAZUYUKI ITO/ Staff Writer
September 9, 2021 at 18:50 JST
Children kayaking as part of a nature workshop in Takashima, Shiga Prefecture, in May (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
Having your child spend time in nature, see what you do at work firsthand, and visiting a zoo, sports event or concert all boost self-esteem by the time they're 17, a new survey shows.
The education ministry on Sept. 8 announced the results of a research report based on its annual Longitudinal Survey of Babies Born in the 21st century.
The report confirmed that elementary school kids who had more hands-on experiences in natural, social and cultural contexts became high school students with higher self-esteem.
The effect was the same regardless of differences in family incomes.
“We were able to confirm the fact through a solid analytical method that hands-on experiences are important for children to grow up,” a ministry official said.
The health and education ministries conduct annual follow-up surveys on the Longitudinal Survey of Babies Born in the 21st century, which has targeted more than 20,000 babies born in 2001 and their parents.
The questions in the survey differ every year. In the 2013 survey, the education ministry focused on questions asking about the number of hands-on experiences in natural, social and cultural context for 12-year-old sixth-grade elementary school students.
The ministry then compared that data with a self-esteem evaluation in 2018 when they became 17-year-old second-year high school students.
According to the survey, children whose parents answered in 2013 that their kids had more experiences with nature, such as camping, climbing and playing in rivers, scored higher points in their “self-esteem” in 2018, which was graded based on how much value, positivity and satisfaction they felt for themselves.
Kids with fewer such experiences had lower scores.
Scores in self-esteem were also higher for kids who had more hands-on experience with agriculture, work and volunteer activities. Firsthand cultural experiences also boosted self-esteem, such as going to zoos, botanical gardens and museums, enjoying music concerts and theatrical plays and watching sports events.
As family environment is also considered to affect children's self-esteem, the ministry also compared the results by family income levels and found that more hands-on activities raised children’s self-esteem levels later in life even if they came from low-income families.
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