Mothers’ Goals Influence Their Responses to Children’s Performance: An Experimental Study in the United States and Hong Kong

Ng, Jkf; Ng, Florrie Fei Yin; Pomerantz, Eva M.

doi:10.1111/cdev.13554

Cited by 10 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…The study found that failure-oriented responses may hurt children's self-worth and inhibit their emotional function [12]. Additionally, some experimental and longitudinal studies have found that parents' response to children's performance predicts children's self-esteem [6,9,10]. Therefore, we hypothesize that parents' success-oriented response might positively predict children's self-esteem, while parents' failure-oriented response might negatively predict children's self-esteem.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 88%

“…According to social-cognitive developmental perspective theory, children may infer parents' goals from their responses [8]. When parents use success-oriented responses more frequently, children assume that their parents care about their self-worth [9], which helps them focus on their self-esteem and feel appreciated and loved. According to self-determination theory [6], those feelings may satisfy children's basic need for relatedness and love, promoting children's essential psychological function development.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…On the other hand, parents who value children's efforts and self-improvement may be more likely to adopt failure-oriented responses [9], as these parents believe that adopting failure-oriented responses help their children realize what they need to improve and the importance of effort [7]. However, such responses may also pressure the children and make them think they can never do well enough, thereby increasing self-doubt and emotional distress [9] and decreasing self-esteem. The study found that failure-oriented responses may hurt children's self-worth and inhibit their emotional function [12].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Parents’ Response to Children’s Performance and Children’s Self-Esteem: Parent–Child Relationship and Friendship Quality as Mediators

Tan

Zhou

et al. 2022

IJERPH

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Previous research has revealed that parents’ success-oriented response to children’s performance promotes children’s self-esteem, while failure-oriented response damages their self-esteem. However, the potential mediating mechanisms are unclear. Therefore, the present study investigated whether parent–child relationship and friendship quality mediated the relation between parents’ response to children’s performance and children’s self-esteem. For this purpose, 859 children in Central China completed the Parents’ Response to Children’s Performance Scale, Buchanan Scale of Closeness to Parents (CPS), Friendship Quality Questionnaire (simplified version), and Self-Perception Profile tests. Structural equation modeling (SEM) revealed that: (1) parents’ success-oriented response was positively associated with parent–child relationship, friendship quality, and children’s self-esteem. Parents’ failure-oriented response was negatively associated with parent–child relationship and children’s self-esteem, but it was positively associated with friendship quality. (2) Parent–child relationship and friendship quality were identified as the serial mediators between parents’ success- or failure-oriented response and children’s self-esteem. These findings suggest that parents’ failure-oriented response should be reduced and parents’ success-oriented response should be increased to develop children’s self-esteem and establish a sound social network system for children.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Parents’ Response to Children’s Performance and Children’s Self-Esteem: Parent–Child Relationship and Friendship Quality as Mediators

Tan

Zhou

et al. 2022

IJERPH

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“…By constantly encouraging children, parents ensure the satisfaction of their children's competence and autonomy needs. Therefore, the children will experience greater pleasure and efficacy while performing their tasks and be happier and prouder of their accomplishments [4,15]. Additionally, this has a good predictive value for the children's eventual subjective well-being [6].…”

Section: Parents' Response and Children's Subjective Well-beingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Parents’ Responses and Children’s Subjective Well-Being: The Role of Parent–Child Relationship and Friendship Quality

Li,

Song,

Zhou

et al. 2024

Sustainability

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The current study examined the psychological mechanism that underlies the relationship between parents’ response style and children’s subjective well-being and its boundary conditions, the mediating role of the parent–child relationship, and the moderating role of friendship quality. Using the Parents’ Responses to Children’s Performance Scale, the Buchanan Scale of Closeness to Parents, the Friendship Quality Questionnaire, and the Campbell Index of Well-being, our study investigated 686 pupils who were randomly selected from three public schools in central China. Employing Mplus 8.3 for pathway analysis, we found the following results: Failure-oriented responses negatively predict children’s subjective well-being (β = −0.16, p < 0.001), while success-oriented responses positively predict children’s subjective well-being (β = 0.13, p < 0.01). Both failure-oriented (ab = 0.18, SE = 0.03, 95% CI = [0.13, 0.25]) and success-oriented responses (ab = −0.10, SE = 0.02, 95% CI = [−0.14, −0.06]) predict children’s subjective well-being through the mediating effect of the parent–child relationship. Friendship quality has a moderating effect on the mediating path (β = −0.09, p < 0.05), such that when friendship quality is lower, the parent–child relationship has a higher mediating effect between the parents’ responses and children’s subjective well-being. This study offers empirical evidence that parents’ responses to children’s performance significantly contribute to children’s subjective well-being. Moreover, it offers actionable insights for enhancing children’s subjective well-being. The enhancement could be achieved by fostering positive parent–child relationships and enhancing the quality of children’s friendships, thereby positively impacting their well-being.

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“…Even today, parents act on these ideas. When reminded of the importance of self-esteem, parents readily dole out more praise (Ng et al, 2021).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

How to raise children’s self-esteem? Comment on Orth and Robins (2022).

Brummelman¹

2022

American Psychologist

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Since the 1960s, self-esteem has become a cornerstone of Western child-rearing. After reviewing a large body of rigorous longitudinal research, Orth and Robins (2022) conclude that self-esteem brings modest but significant benefits across all ages. However, the authors did not intend to suggest strategies for raising children’s self-esteem. The aim of my commentary is to identify such strategies. Without guidance on how to raise children’s self-esteem safely and sustainably, well-intentioned strategies, such as inflated praise, may inadvertently undermine self-esteem or even breed narcissism. Instead, interventions should be based on a theoretically informed and empirically supported understanding of the determinants of self-esteem. By targeting these determinants, interventions may be able to raise children’s self-esteem safely (i.e., without breeding narcissism) and sustainably (i.e., leading to lasting improvements in self-esteem and its presumed outcomes). Evaluating these interventions through randomized controlled trials will help build a theory of when and why self-esteem interventions work. Ultimately, this work will provide nuanced and dependable guidance to parents, teachers, and professionals on how to raise children’s self-esteem.

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Mothers’ Goals Influence Their Responses to Children’s Performance: An Experimental Study in the United States and Hong Kong

Cited by 10 publications

References 37 publications

Parents’ Response to Children’s Performance and Children’s Self-Esteem: Parent–Child Relationship and Friendship Quality as Mediators

Parents’ Response to Children’s Performance and Children’s Self-Esteem: Parent–Child Relationship and Friendship Quality as Mediators

Parents’ Responses and Children’s Subjective Well-Being: The Role of Parent–Child Relationship and Friendship Quality

How to raise children’s self-esteem? Comment on Orth and Robins (2022).

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