Childern's Sex, Age, Self-Esteem and Entertainers Idolization

아동의 성, 연령, 자아 존중감과 연예인 우상화 현상

The current study was designed to expand oar understanding of children's entertainer idolization phenomenon by investigating the relationship between Korean teens'entertainer idolization and their self-esteem. Four hundred and fifty five children (244 11 year-olds, 211 14 year-olds) were randomly selected from 4 elementary schools and middle schools located in Inchon and Seoul, Korea. A set of reliable and valid self-reporting questionnaire was used: Adolescent Idolization of Pop Singer (Raviv, 1996 translated into Korean), which include questions about how children express their entertainer idolization, the reason for the idolization and the influence of the idols on children's lives, was selected to measure children's entertainer idolization and Self-Esteem Questionnaire for Korean Children and Adolescence (Kyung-Yeun, 1999 Korean) was used to measure children's self-esteem in academic achievement, peer-related, physical-appearance, family-related. and personality dimensions. The major results of the study were: (1) The singers and male entertainers were the most popular among Korean teens. (2) The results of two sample comparisons showed that 14-year olds and girls expressed their entertainer idolization more actively than their counter paras (11-year olds and boys, respectively). (3) Entertainers'personal characteristics were found to be the most important factor that influence idolization. (4) The relationship between entertainer idolization and self-esteem was stronger in the case of 11-year olds than in the case of 14-year olds.