Procedia

Social and
Behavioral
Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 00 (2010) 000–000
Sciences
Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 29 (2011) 758 – 761
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International Conference on Education and Educational Psychology (ICEEPSY 2011)

Parenting Styles and Self-esteem

Hamidreza Zakeria*, Maryam Karimpourb
a
Department of Educational psychology,University of Shiraz, Shiraz, Iran
b
The University of Islamic Azad, Marvdasht, Iran and member of youth researchers Institute

Abstract

This study was examined the relationship between parenting styles and self-esteem. Five-hundred-forty six Shiraz University
students (240 girls and 306 boys) were participants of the study. Steinberg's Parenting Styles Scale (2005) and Coopersmith’s
self-esteem scale (CSEI) were used as measures of the study. Simultaneous multiple regression of CSEI total score on the
parenting styles subscales, revealed that the "acceptance-involvement" and "psychological autonomy-granting" styles were
significant positive predictors of the self-esteem. Also, the results of analysis t-test showed that the mean score of girls was
significantly greater than boys in the "behavioral strictness-supervision" style.
© 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of Dr. Zafer Bekirogullari of Cognitive – Counselling,
©Research & Conference
2011 Published byServices
ElsevierC-crcs.
Ltd. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of Dr Zafer Bekirogullari.
Keywords: Self-esteem; Parenting styles; Students.

1. Introduction

The concept of self-esteem is one that is difficult to clearly define. To some it is confidence in our ability to
think; confidence in our ability to cope with basic challenges of life; confidence in our right to be successful and
happy; feelings of being worthy, deserving, entitled to assert our needs and wants, achieve our values, and enjoy the
benefits of our efforts (Hooks, 2003). Self-esteem encompasses all these characteristics. But it is most importantly a
personal judgment of self and sense of worth primarily based upon externally imposed criteria (Alford, 1997).
Externally imposed criteria include societal judgments or assumptions, family values, or perceived success and
failures in various areas of life. Self-esteem is described as a personal evaluation that an individual makes of her or
himself, their sense of their own worth, value, importance, or capabilities (Myers & Myers, 1992; Rosenberg &
Rosenberg, 1978). It can encompass a positive or negative orientation toward oneself. Rosenberg (1965) described
self-esteem as a favorable or unfavorable attitude toward the self. Self-esteem refers to an individual’s sense of his
or her value or worth (Huit, 2004), or the extent to which a person values, approves of, appreciates, prizes, or likes
him or herself (Blascovich & Tomaka, 1993). Self-esteem is generally defined as “a personal judgment of
worthiness that is expressed in the attitudes the individual holds toward himself” (Coopersmith, 1967). According to

* Corresponding author. Tel: +98-711-6248485; fax: +98-711-6248485.

E-mail address: Hzakeri55@yahoo.com.

1877-0428 © 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of Dr Zafer Bekirogullari.
doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2011.11.302
 Hamidreza Zakeria and
Zakeri, Maryam Karimpour
Karimpour/ Procedia –/ Social
Procedia
and- Social and Behavioral
Behavioral Sciences 00Sciences 29 (2011) 758 – 761
(2011) 000–000 759

researches, family factors as one of the external factors influenced self-esteem. Therefore, the present study focused
on parenting styles as an important external (family) factor.

Darling and Steinberg (1993) conceptualized the parenting styles as a constellation of attitudes toward the child
that are communicated to the child, and that, taken together, create an emotional climate in which the parents’
behaviours are expressed. According to Steinberg, Lamborn, Dornbusch, and Darling (1992) there are three styles of
parenting including: “acceptance-involvement”, “psychological autonomy-granting” and “behavioral strictness-
supervision”. Acceptance-involvement is based on one’s perception of amount of paying attention and
responsiveness of parents; these parents are warm, firm, involved, and sensitive to their children’s changing needs,
and set realistic standards and clear rules (Jaffe, 1998). Psychological autonomy-granting parenting styles refer to
parent’s tolerance against children’s opinions, and they use democratic discipline in parent-child relationship also
the parents don’t push their children to compliant the rules. In behavioral strictness-supervision style, parents shape,
control and evaluate the behaviours and attitudes of the child in accordance with a set of standards of conduct,
usually the absolute standards (Baumrind, 1996), and child is not allowed to express his opinions and there is little
opportunity to think about situations or employ reasoning (Knight, et al., 2000).

Many studies suggest that the interaction between parents and children is related to children’s self-esteem
(Growe, 1980; Buri, Kichner & Walsh, 1987; Felson & Zielinski, 1989; Gecas, 1971; Buri, 1989; Gecas &
Schwalbe, 1986; Klein et al., 1996). Studies suggest that parenting styles is related to self-esteem (Growe, 1980;
Buri el al., 1987; Buri et al., 1988; Felson & Zielinski, 1989; Buri, 1989; Buri et al., 1992; oh, 2004). Previous
studies suggested that children’s self-esteem would be positively related to permissive parenting styles (Buri, et al.,
1988; Buri, 1989; Kelein, et al., 1996; Park, et al., 2002). However, the results of the studies on parental authority or
control and self-esteem were not consistent. While some studies found that parental control has no relationship
(Gecas, 1971) or negative relationship (Growe, 1980) with self-esteem, other studies found that parental authority is
positively related to self-esteem (Buri, et al., 1988; Buri, 1989). Namely, DeHeart, Pelham, & Tennen (2006)
examined relationship between parenting style and implicit self-esteem. The results showed that people who
reported that their parents engaged in more caring behaviors would have higher implicit self-esteem and people who
reported that their parents were more overprotective than most would have lower implicit self-esteem. In addition,
they found that different aspects of parenting are differentially related to implicit and explicit self-esteem. Also,
Growe (1980) examined the relationship between parental behavior and children’s self-esteem. Scholte et al., (2001)
found that supportive parenting is positively related to self-esteem. Thus, self-esteem and parenting styles or
parental behaviors are highly correlated.

The present study examined the effect of parenting styles on self-esteem. The main question of the study was
which one of the parenting styles predicts the self-esteem? Also, the effect of gender variable in this relationship
was examined.

2. Methods

Participants of this study were 546 Shiraz university students (240 girls and 306 boys) that selected by
multi-stages cluster random sampling; from different colleges of Shiraz university. Means age of the students was
18.02 (SD=1.50).

2.1. Measures

2.1.1. Parenting style scale (Steinberg, 2005)

Steinberg’s Parenting Scale (2005) is comprised of 24 items scale and three subscales: "acceptance-
involvement", "psychological autonomy-granting" and "strictness-supervision". The reliability of the measure
examined by internal consistency Chronbach alpha method. Alpha coefficient for "acceptance-involvement" was
0.81, for "psychological autonomy-granting" was 0.70 and for "behavioral strictness-supervision" was 0.67. The
760 Hamidreza Zakeria
Zakeri, and Maryam
Karimpour/ Karimpour
Procedia / Procedia
– Social - SocialSciences
and Behavioral and Behavioral Sciences
00 (2011) 29 (2011) 758 – 761
000–000

validity of the measure examined to factor analysis method. Result of exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis
confirmed the validity of measure for use in Iran.

2.1.2. Coopersmith’s self-esteem scale (CSEI)

The CSEI is a 46 item scale developed by Coopersmith (1967) to measure self-esteem. It uses a five-point Likert
response format ranging from one (“not true at all”) to five (“true nearly all the time”), with a total score range
from 0 to 230 in present study Persian version of CSEI was used. The reliability of the measure examined by
internal consistency Chronbach alpha method. Alpha coefficient for self-esteem total score was 0.89. The validity
of the measure examined to factor analysis method. Result of exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis
confirmed the validity of measure for use in Iran.

3. Results

The results revealed positive and significant correlations between "acceptance-involvement" and "psychological
autonomy-granting" parenting styles and self-esteem (Table 1).

Table1. Correlation matrix of self-esteem and parenting styles

Variable 1 2 3 4
1- Acceptance-involvement 1
2- Psychological autonomy-granting 0.36* 1
3- Behavioral strictness-supervision 0.11** -0.001 1
4- Self-esteem 0.53** 0.40** -0.03 1
* p<0.05 ** p<0.001

Simultaneous multiple regression of self-esteem total score on the parenting styles subscales, revealed that the
"acceptance-involvement" and "psychological autonomy-granting" styles were significant positive predictor of the
self-esteem, whereas the "behavioral strictness-supervision" style didn't had a significant predict power for the self-
esteem (Table 2).

Table2. Multiple regression of parenting styles on self-esteem

Criterion Variable Self-esteem
Prediction Variables R R2 B β t P<
Acceptance-involvement 1.54 0.45 11.37 0.001
Psychological autonomy-granting 0.58 0.34 0.87 0.24 6.19 0.001
Behavioral strictness-supervision -0.22 -0.01 1.38 N.S

The results of analysis t-test showed that the mean score of girls was significantly greater than boys in the
"behavioral strictness-supervision" style. However, there wasn’t significant difference between girls and boys in
"acceptance-involvement" and "psychological autonomy-granting" parenting styles and self-esteem (Table 3).

Table3. Comparison of girls and boys participants in study variables

Girls Boys
Variable t P<
M SD M SD
Acceptance-involvement 25.56 5.44 25.04 5.12 1.14 N.S
Psychological autonomy-granting 30.44 5.11 30.43 4.86 0.02 N.S
Behavioral strictness-supervision 14.52 3.01 13.12 2.91 5.38 0.001
Self-esteem 134.52 18.33 135.42 18.00 0.56 N.S

4. Discussion

The results of this study support the general research pertaining to relationships between parenting style and self-
esteem among adolescents (Growe, 1980; Felson & Zielinski, 1989; Buri et al., 1992; oh, 2004). Acceptance-
 Hamidreza Zakeria and
Zakeri, Maryam Karimpour
Karimpour/ Procedia –/ Social
Procedia
and- Social and Behavioral
Behavioral Sciences 00Sciences 29 (2011) 758 – 761
(2011) 000–000 761

involvement and psychological autonomy-granting styles were significant positive predictors of the self-esteem. The
parents who behave with their children based on more acceptance and less control, develop high self-esteem in their
children. They are warm, supportive, and involved to their children. Hence, these parents provided to high personal
evaluation and sense of self-worth in them. On the other hand, self-esteem is described as a personal evaluation that
an individual makes of her or himself, their sense of their own worth, value, importance, or capabilities (Myers &
Myers, 1992; Rosenberg & Rosenberg, 1978). Thus, the positive effects acceptance-involvement and psychology
autonomy-granting styles on self-esteem are conformed. These findings are agreement with the researches Buri, et
al., 1988; Buri, 1989; Scholte et al., 2001 and oh, 2004. In relation to gender differences, the results showed there
was a significant difference between means scores of girls and boys in behavioral strictness-supervision, so that the
means scores of girls is higher than boys in this style.

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