From foreword: Few psychological variables affecting the lives of children are given as much emphasis by mental health professionals and the general public as self-esteem. Psychoanalyst Harry Stack Sullivan viewed the concept of self as the bedrock of the human personality, and a deterioration in self-esteem has long been associated by both clinicians and researchers with a wide range of difficulties - from depression and delinquency to eating disorders and school failure. The message has not been lost on parents and teachers, who constantly search for ways to improve the motivation and well-being of their children by helping them enhance their self-concept. As one popular book on the subject tells its readers, self-esteem is no less than the mainspring that slates every child for success or failure as a human being.Careful observations of the child tend to reinforce the validity of such views-and thus the importance of this unusually rich volume.