Self‐esteem has implications for a wide variety of psychological problems. This study sought to determine whether parenting practices at ages 3 and 4 years contributed to 5‐year‐old children's self‐perception, a precursor to later self‐esteem. Data came from a longitudinal study in which preschool twin or triplet children were tested within a month of their birthdays; complete data were available for 263 children tested at ages 4 and 5 years and for 211 children tested at ages 3 and 5 years. As part of testing at ages 3 and 4, children and parents engaged in a puzzle task for 10 min; their behaviors were coded by trained raters. Parenting variables of verbal warmth, positive affect, permissive discipline, and sensitivity were coded. At age 5, children's self‐perception was assessed using the Pictorial Scale of Perceived Competence and Social Acceptance for Young Children. Results showed that parental positive affect and sensitivity at age 4 predicted increased maternal acceptance at age 5, and permissive discipline predicted decreased peer acceptance scores for girls, but not boys. Additionally, parental verbal warmth at age 3 predicted higher peer acceptance scores at age 5. Finally, boys who experienced increases in parent positive affect from ages 3 to 4 showed higher peer acceptance scores at age 5. This study provides evidence that parenting is an important factor in the development of preschool children's self‐perception.

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Personality traits covary to form a General Factor of Personality (GFP). Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), the associations between the GFP and both self-reported and rater-based physical attractiveness were examined. While it was predicted that the GFP would exhibit positive associations with each measure of physical attractiveness, it was also predicted that the nature of the associations would vary. Indeed, the GFP was positively correlated with both measures of physical attractiveness, yet each measure accounted for unique variance in the GFP. Additional tests examining the relative importance of the GFP (in comparison to the individual traits), in explaining variance in attractiveness suggested that the GFP is more important in explaining variance in rater-based than self-reported attractiveness. The differences in associations were buttressed by tests using the Add Health sibling subsample. The results of genetic analyses showed that the GFP covariation with the rater-based measure of physical attractiveness was exclusively due to additive genetic factors. Nonshared environment explained the majority of the covariation between the GFP and self-reported attractiveness. The results may shed light on the proximate and ultimate nature of the GFP.

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