Individuals' (e.g., young children's) relative awareness of their own individual personhood, internally (that is, distinguishing self from nonself, psychologically, as well as differentiating specific aspects of self from other aspects of self) as well as externally (that is, distinguishing self from nonself as a physical organism). In the course of normal development children gain over time an increasing awareness of self, the world, and interpersonal relationships. At any given age some children have a more differentiated sense of self than do others.
Coping subtheory postulates that the more aware children are of themselves (physically and psychologically) as distinct from others (e.g., parents) and all that is not self, the greater the potential they have for being able to distinguish negative/rejecting messages given by parents from messages that children give themselves. This social-cognitive (
mental representation) capacity is thought in
PARTheory to provide a resource for helping children cope more effectively than most with the destructive effects of perceived rejection . (See
coping, affective)
