Evaluating the Self-esteem of Myopic Children Over a Three-Year Period: The COMET Experience

Abstract

Lens assignment and myopia progression were not associated with self-esteem in the COMET cohort. These children had high levels of self-esteem, suggesting that having myopia does not negatively impact self-esteem. Follow-up reports will monitor self-esteem and related factors in this cohort of myopic children over the course of adolescence and early adulthood.

The Adolescent and Child Health Initiative to Encourage Vision Empowerment (ACHIEVE) Study Design and Baseline Data

“…All other subscales were similar between the two studies (Table 4), which indicates that the self-perceptions of the two samples of myopic children are similar to each other and to a normative sample. 17,18 The ACHIEVE Study sample was recruited from a wide geographic distribution and is therefore ethnically diverse and representative of a large proportion of the U.S. population. Three clinical trials evaluating a variety of treatments for myopic children were recently reported.…”

“…The Spectacle Survey helps to examine the effect of contact lens wear on children's self-perception based on whether the children are initially bothered by spectacle wear. This report provides the first description of two surveys developed for the ACHIEVE Study, the Pediatric Refractive Error Profile (PREP) and the Spectacle Survey, and it provides information regarding a standardized survey that has been used in previous studies of myopic children to describe their self-perception, 17,18 the SPPC.…”

Do glasses change children’s perceptions? Effects of eyeglasses on peer- and self-perception

“…Physical differences from others may affect peer appraisals and/or children may think that peer appraisals are influenced by their glasses (called ''meta-stereotypes''; Vorauer, Hunter, Main, & Roy, 2000). Four studies have directly assessed the association between eyeglasses and children's self-concept (Dias, Hyman, Manny, & Fern, 2005;Lyon, Rainey, & Bullock, 2002;Terry, Soni, & Honer, 1997;Walline et al, 2009), baseline results of two were reported in previous publications (Dias, Manny, Hyman, & Fern, 2002;Walline et al, 2006;Walline, Jones, & Prinstein, 2005). Lyon and colleagues (2002) studied self-concepts reported by children aged eight to fourteen and found no evidence that having eyeglasses affects the global self-concept of children, although this study lacked statistical power.…”

“…Most young children show good compliance with spectacle wear (Dias et al, 2005;A. M. Horwood, 1998).…”

Factors Influencing Hearing Aid Use in the Classroom: A Pilot Study

“…This reduction in self-confidence is likely a result of increased social pressure as children advance through primary school (Elkayam & English, 2003). Low levels of self-confidence have been shown to result in reduced use of prescribed eyeglasses in school-age children (Castonon Holguin et al, 2006;Dias, Hyman, Manny, Fern, & COMET Group, 2005). It is reasonable to posit that children in this age range who have hearing loss might show a similar decline in consistency of hearing aid use that is reflective of this reduction in self-confidence.…”