Perceived parental behaviour, self-esteem and happiness.
BACKGROUND
This study set out to determine to what extent recalled parental rearing styles (authoritarian, authoritativeness, permissiveness), personality (extraversion, neuroticism, psychoticism, lie), and self-esteem predicted self-rated happiness in a normal, nonclinical, population of young people in their late teens and early 20s.


METHODS
Each participant completed a few questionnaires: the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (revised), the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, the Parental Authority Questionnaire and the Oxford Happiness Inventory. It was predicted that sex, extraversion, neuroticism, self-esteem and both maternal and paternal authoritativeness would be significant predictors of happiness.


RESULTS
Regressional and path analysis showed self-esteem to be the most dominant and powerful predictor of happiness. The effect of sex on happiness was moderated by neuroticism, which related to self-esteem, which directly influenced happiness. Stability, extraversion and maternal authoritativeness were significant predictors of self-esteem accounting for one-third of the variance.


CONCLUSIONS
The results are considered in terms of the distinct literature on the relation between personality and happiness and on the relation between parental styles and self-esteem. Self-esteem was both a direct and a moderator variable for young people's self-reported happiness. Extraversion had both direct and indirect predictive power of happiness, whereas neuroticism predicted happiness mediating through self-esteem. Maternal authoritativeness was the only direct predictor of happiness when paternal and maternal rearing styles were examined together, suggesting that a reasonable discipline exercised by mothers towards their children was particularly beneficial in enhancing the offsprings' self-esteem.
Furnham
A
A
Department of Psychology, University College London, UK. a.furnham@ucl.ac.uk
Cheng
H
H
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008131:London; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D016487:Parenting; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D000297:Psychology, Adolescent; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012649:Self Concept; D012737:Sex Factors