Parental authority, nurturance, and two-dimensional self-esteem.
This study examined the relations of parental permissiveness, authoritativeness, authoritarianism, and nurturance with two dimensions of self-esteem - self-liking and self-competence. In a sample of 207 two-parent families, university students and both their parents provided independent reports on all the above variables. Covariance structure analysis was used to eliminate reporter-specific bias and unreliability in predicting student self-esteem from parenting behavior. The results revealed highly redundant positive associations of mothers' and fathers' authoritativeness and nurturance with both self-liking and self-competence. The pattern of these associations suggests that the significance of parental authoritativeness for the child's self-esteem is due mainly to the nurturance it provides. Contrary to expectation, mothers' and fathers' authoritarianism was also positively associated with self-liking. As discussed, however, this is likely to be an artifact of the specific measures and testing methods used.
Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. tafarodi@psych.utoronto.ca
Romin W
RW
Tafarodi
Nicole
N
Wild
Caroline
C
Ho
D000293:Adolescent; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001318:Authoritarianism; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology*; D010552:Personality Assessment; D010553:Personality Development; D012649:Self Concept; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult