Introduction
Self-esteem is one of the basic foundations for the existence of every human being as individuals with higher self-esteem are capable of achieving more in life, for one being able to overcome emotional fragility. Self-esteem is essential because it affects how individuals make choices and decisions in life. For instance, individuals with high self-esteem tend to focus on personal growth and development while individuals with low self-esteem focus on not making mistakes in life. Many studies suggest that family factors are correlated with self-esteem; therefore, the current study focused on parenting styles as one of the external factors. Past researches have proven that low self-esteem can be deeply rooted, with origins in traumatic childhood experiences such as prolonged separation from parents figures or excessive parenting styles (Oswalt, 2010).
The concept of self-esteem is indefinable. To some it is confidence in ability to think; confidence in dealing with life challenges; confidence of being happy; feelings of being deserving and confidence in achieving our values in life (Hooks, 2003). Self-esteem consists of these characteristics. Alford (1967) described self-esteem as the confidence in personal judgement of self and sense of deserving based on external basis: family values, societal judgments, or perception of life. It can lead to a positive or negative orientation toward individuals. In this current study, self-esteem is defined as a personal judgment of worthiness that is expressed through the attitudes of individuals toward the self. Darling and Steinberg (1993) defined parenting styles as parents’ behaviors that are formed specifically for their children which create an emotional relationship between children and parents. According to Baumrind (1971), parenting styles are categorized into three classifications: authoritative, authoritarian and permissive. Authoritative parenting style is based on attemptions to control a child’s behavior by discussing rules and reasoning, parents tend to be supportive, responsive and considerate. Youth raised with this parenting style are usually cheerful, friendly and self-reliance. In contrast, authoritarian parenting style control and shape the behavior and attitude of a child with the inclusive of a set of expectations and the opinions of the child usually insignificant to the parents. In permissive parenting style, parents are responsive but fail to set limits for their children. This parenting style tend to raise children who are rebellious, impulsive and low in self-control.
Many studies have shown that parenting behaviors are correlated with self-esteem of an individual. One study has shown that youth raised with authoritative parenting style have higher self-esteem and life-satisfaction due to parents are more engaging and reasoning with their children. (Milevsky et al., 2006). Deshpande and Chhabriya (2013) studied parenting styles and its effect on self-esteem of adolescents. Their findings included that parents who are acceptance resulted in higher self-esteem adolescents than illiberal and ignorant parents. This has proven that paternal support is strongly related to self-esteem of adolescents. In addition, minor punishment from parents can be seen as motivator and guidance to their children as they understand the motives behind the punishments. Driscoll (2013) studied the relationship between self-esteem and parenting styles at four different age points of life. Children ranging from age of 12 to 14 have the lowest self-esteem due to having to deal with various changes of body and relationship with family. In general, authoritative parenting style resulted in children with higher self-esteem at all four age points in comparison to children from authoritarian families. Furthermore, students from authoritarian families tend to do well with conformity and obedience to adult standards but they struggle to show sense of deserving. However, not all studies on parenting styles and self-esteem are consistent. Chao (1994) has stated that authoritarian parenting styles or “controlling method” may have different implications for Chinese and may not be applicable due to cultural differences.
According to Curtis and Newman (2004), parenting behaviors have a direct impact toward children. Therefore, it is essential to educate parents and children about the significance of parenting styles and how it will greatly influence the next generation. Besides, most studies are done revolving around the Western countries and there is still a lack of understanding in Asian countries. As a result, new information will be acquired from this study to examine the differences between Western and Asian countries.
Previous studies assumed both parents utilize the same parenting styles by focusing on maternal parenting style and did not take paternal parenting style into consideration. Therefore, the purpose of the current study is to examine the variations of parenting behaviors by categorising into paternal and maternal parenting styles (eg. authoritative and authoritarian) and its relationship with self-esteem of adolescents.
As stated in past studies, it is proven that parenting styles have a significant relationship with the adolescents’ self esteem. The main question of the current study is does the differentiation of paternal and maternal parenting styles affect the self-esteem of adolescents?
Method
Study Design
The research study was done in a closed-ended questionnaire and the participants conducted the questionnaires through Google Forms, an online survey website created by Google. This research focused on the differences between paternal and maternal parenting style and its effect on adolescents’ self-esteem. The independent variables were categorized into four classifications: Paternal authoritarian, maternal authoritarian, paternal authoritative and maternal authoritative where as the dependent variable was adolescents’ self-esteem.
Participants
This research consisted of 100 participants, with 72% (n=72) of female and 28% (n=28) of male. 91% (n=91) of the participants are currently studying Psychology in Sunway University, while the 9% (n=9) are studying Biology with Psychology in the same university. The 100 participants lie between the age of 18 to 25, having a mean age of 19.57. 57% (n=57) of the participants have a complete family with married parents, 27% (n=27) of the parents are single, follow by 11% of divorced parents and 5% (n=5) of widows, refer to Table 1.0 for better illustration purpose.
Table 1.0
(pending)
Measures
The Parental Authority Questionnaire (PAQ) was used in the current study. John R.Buri designed the 30-item instrument for the purpose of measuring parental authority and disciplinary practices from the perspective of the child of all ages. The PAQ has three subscales based on parental authority prototypes: permissive — indulgent parents with low demandingness and high responsiveness (P: items 1, 6, 10, 13, 14, 17, 19, 21, 24, 28); authoritarian — controlling parents with high demandingness and low responsiveness (A: items 2, 3, 7, 9, 12, 16, 18,25, 26, 29); and authoritative — falling in between the scales, parents are caring and understanding (F: items 4, 5, 8, 11, 15, 20, 22, 23, 27, 30). The PAQ score can be calculated by adding scores on each subscale range from 10 to 30, higher score represents a higher level of a specific parenting style. Participants are required to each item on a 1 to 5 scale, with 1 being strongly disagree and 5 being strongly agree. One example of items is listed as follows: “As I was growing up, my mother did not allow me to question any decision she had made.” Buri (1989) stated that the PAQ has good internal consistency with alphas of the subscales ranging from .74 to .87 and stability in test-retest reliabilities that range from .77 to .92. According to Buri (1987), the PAQ also has good construct validity.
The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSE) was created by Morris Rosenberg in 1962. The was designed to measure the self-esteem of different social groups. The scoring system is different from PAQ. Responding “strongly agree” or “agree” on items 2, 5, 6, 8, 9 and “strongly disagree” or “disagree” on items 1, 3, 4, 7, 10 reflect in low self-esteem. Examples as follows: “On the whole, I am satisfied with myself”, “At times I think I am no good at all”. The scale can be calculated by summing up the individual 4-point items, but apply “reverse-scoring” to negatively worded items. (eg: items 2, 5, 6, 8 and 9). The RSE has a coefficient of reproducibility of .92 which shows good internal consistency and excellent stability with the correlations of .85 and .88. According to Rosenberg (1962), the RSE also shows a construct validity.
Procedures
Participants were required to give consent by agreeing with the terms and conditions of the questionnaires. Consent forms were given to individuals who agreed to participate. Participants were asked to complete the questionnaires and data was gathered with the help of Google Form. This activity was conducted in a computer lab of Sunway University.