小学6 年生245 人と中学2 年生356 人を対象に、思春期に伴って起こる心身の不安や心配事、親・友だち・学校の先生・近所の人との人間関係について調査し、「自分が好き」という自己への肯定的感情との関連を明らかにした。その結果、自己への肯定的感情を持っていたのは、小学生39％、中学生24％であった。肯定的感情群と否定的感情群を比較したところ、小学生の自己への感情には心身の不安や心配事の有無、周囲との人間関係の影響は見られなかったが、中学生の肯定的感情には「不安や悩みを聞いてくれる学校の先生がいる」「話をする近所の人がいる」など周囲のおとなの存在が関与しており、否定的感情には「心や体の心配事がある」「友だちとの関係で悩んだ経験がある」「親の愛情が感じられない」等が関与していた。このことから、①「自分が好き」という肯定的感情を持つ人は、小学校から中学校にかけて減少する。②小学校から中学校にかけて減少する自己への肯定的感情を支えるには、親はもちろん教師や近所の人等が彼らの話に耳を傾けることと、小学校から中学校にかけて起こるであろう第二次性徴による心身の変化や、友だち・親との関係について考える機会の必要性が示唆された。A survey on 245 sixth-graders and 356 eighth-graders was conducted regarding their physical and mental anxieties and concerns accompanied by puberty and their relationship with parents, friends, schoolteachers, and neighbors, in order to clarify the connection between these and the high self-esteem (to like oneself). The results showed that 39% of the sixth-graders and 24% of the eighth-graders had high self-esteem. The high self-esteem groups and the low self-esteem groups in both age brackets were then compared. While neither mental and physical anxieties and concerns nor relationships with surrounding people had obvious connections with the degree of self-esteem in the primary school level, the junior high school level showed that high self-esteem was contributed by "schoolteachers who listen to their concerns and problems" and "neighbors who are on speaking terms with them", and that low self-esteem was connected to "presence of mental and physical anxieties", "experiences of troubled relationship with friends", and "lack of recognition of parental love". These findings suggested that, 1) high self-esteem, or positive feeling for oneself, deteriorated as the grades increased (from sixth to eighth), 2) an otherwise lowering self-esteem could be sustained by commitment of parents, teachers, and neighbors, and the preventive learning during primary school on how to address the mental and physical changes associated with the secondary sexual characteristics and the troubles of friendship.