The role of parents' self‐esteem, mastery‐orientation and social background in their parenting styles

Abstract

In order to examine the extent to which parents' levels of education, financial resources, self-esteem, and their mastery-orientation versus task-avoidance are associated with their parenting styles and parental stress, data from two studies were analyzed. In Study I, parents of 105 6 to 7-year old children were asked to fill in scales measuring their parenting styles and parental stress, mastery-orientation, financial resources, and their level of education. In Study II, 235 parents were asked to fill in the same scales. An identical pattern of results was found in the two studies. Parents' self-esteem and their use of mastery-oriented strategy were found to be associated with authoritative parenting and low parental stress, whereas parents' low level of education was related to an authoritarian parenting style. The results further showed that the impact of parents' self-esteem on authoritative parenting and parental stress was partly mediated by their use of a mastery-oriented strategy.

Parents Who Abuse: What Are They Thinking?

“…In addition, Aunola et al (1999) found that parents' socioeconomic background in a Finnish population was related to more authoritarian parenting strategies and to less positive parenting. This suggests that one's social background can be influential in parenting behaviors.…”

“…Parental Self-Esteem and Self-Efficacy It is also important to consider parental self-esteem as parents with higher levels of self-esteem are likely to engage in more positive parenting strategies such as expression of affection, rational guidance, encouragement, and supervision (Aunola et al 1999). Mothers who are at higher-risk for abuse have shown decreased levels of selfesteem and self-efficacy (Teti and Gelfand 1991).…”

“…Differences have been shown between the parenting styles and psychosocial factors of mothers and fathers such as mothers showing a more authoritative style (versus authoritarian style by fathers) and higher levels of parental stress and depression (Aunola et al 1999). This lack of research with fathers impedes the field's ability to create interventions that would effectively address the abuse risk factors with fathers.…”

Self-Esteem and Relationship Satisfaction during the Transition to Motherhood

“…Short-and long-term impacts of the transition to parenthood on mothers' self-esteem and relationship satisfaction may have consequences for the lives of mothers, fathers, and their children. Both self-esteem and romantic relationship satisfaction have been associated with psychological adjustment (Dush & Amato, 2005;Orth, Robins & Widaman, 2012), positive parenting behavior (e.g., Aunola, Nurmi, Onatsu-Arvilommi, & Pulkkinen, 1999;Kitzmann, 2000) and beneficial influence on child development (e.g., Davies & Cummings, 1994;Grych & Fincham, 1990;Jones & Prinz, 2005). These findings stress the importance to study how selfesteem and relationship satisfaction develop across the transition to parenthood.…”

Preliminary evaluation of a self-directed video-based 1-2-3 Magic parenting program: A randomized controlled trial

“…Their key components include: (1) psycho-education about underlying maladaptive parental thinking patterns; (2) parental emotional self-regulation; (3) adaptive parental communication styles in interactions with their child; and (4) an emphasis on controlling children's externalizing behaviors. It is thought that the latter, such as temper tantrums, can be better managed through consistency in responding and correctly applied time-out (Aunola & Nurmi, 2005; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2009;Tully, 2008;Wade, Macvean, Falkiner, Devine, & Mildon, 2012). All of these together should, in the longer term, improve outcomes for parent and child.…”