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Shaela

This document discusses factors that can influence a child's self-concept and self-esteem according to several studies. It identifies the main factors as parental control, support (praise, criticism, affection), and participation (time spent with the child and including them). Too much or too little of these can impact a child's views of themselves. Specifically, it notes that boys' self-esteem is more affected by control while girls' is more related to support and participation from parents. The document analyzes several research studies on this topic.

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60 views

Shaela

This document discusses factors that can influence a child's self-concept and self-esteem according to several studies. It identifies the main factors as parental control, support (praise, criticism, affection), and participation (time spent with the child and including them). Too much or too little of these can impact a child's views of themselves. Specifically, it notes that boys' self-esteem is more affected by control while girls' is more related to support and participation from parents. The document analyzes several research studies on this topic.

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Name: Shaela Crespin Class: PSYCH 1100

Topic: Self Unit/Chapter: Unit 2/Chapter 8


Question: How can parents alter their child’s self-concept/ self-esteem?

Self-concept is your own perception of yourself based on your skills and habits; self-

esteem is how you feel about yourself and your own thoughts on the person you are; Self-worth

is “the moral aspect of self-evaluation and is typically couched in such terms as being “good”,

“worthy”, “righteous” and living up to standards of moral conduct.” (Gecas and Schwalbe,

1986). These three conceptions of self are very important to your mental health and can change

depending on the type of environment you are in. Family is a big factor in determining your self-

perspective and there are many factors involved with family that can change it for better or

worse.

One of the main factors that alter a child’s self-conception is control. Control is “the

degree to which parents attempted to limit their child’s autonomy and direct his or her activities.”

(Gecas and Schwalbe, 1986) In the “Parental Behavior and Adolescent Self-Esteem” article, it

concluded that between the boys and the girls that were tested, boy’s self-esteem was more

affected by parents controlling them too much. With too much control, the child won’t learn

necessary independence skills and won’t have the space they need to grow.

Another behavior that has major control over children’s self-esteem is support. Praising,

criticism, physical affection, punishment, helping, showing affection, and showing approval are

all considered as support (Felson and Zielinski, 1989; Gecas and Schwalbe, 1986). As descried

in “Children’s Self-Esteem and Parental Support”, support is “Behavior manifest by a parent

toward a child that makes the child feel more comfortable in the presence of the parent and
confirms in child’s mind that he is basically accepted and approved as a person by the parent”.

Research shows that girl’s self esteem is more closely related to support from parents (Gecas and

Schwalbe, 1986). When I started reading these articles, I thought punishment was going to be a

big one for lowering the child’s self-worth, but it doesn’t strongly affect boys nor girls (Felson

and Zielinski, 1989). However, criticizing kids too often can do damage to their “self-esteem,

moods, and willingness to try new things. Same thing with going too far to the other end of the

spectrum; giving too much praise or giving it for the wrong reasons can also do damage

(McLaughlin, 2015).

Participation is also a factor that was brought up a lot in all three articles. Participation is

“parents spending time with their children and sharing activities with them.” (Gecas and

Schwalbe, 1986). Showing kids that their wants, needs, and opinions matter are going to affect

them for the better in the long run (McLaughlin, 2015). Along with support, participation is also

more related to girl’s self-esteem than it is to boys. As is says in “Parental Behavior and

adolescent Self-Esteem”, “Girls are more likely to have high self-esteem when they believe they

can communicate with parents, when their parents show physical affection, when their parents do

not criticize them often, and when they do not feel their sibling is favored”.

I found in both “Parental Behavior and Adolescent Self-Esteem” and “Children’s Self-

Esteem and Parental Support” that the father’s actions had more affect on self-worth than the

mother; however, for girls, the father’s affect was just barely above the mothers. I also found that

the child’s self-esteem can influence the parent’s behavior as well. It can change the amount of

praise a child gets, along with punishment and criticism. Reports show that a mother’s actions

are more influenced from her daughters self-esteem than her sons (Felson and Zielinski, 1989).
There are many factors that can change how a child views themselves and can especially

alter their self-esteem as they get older. The biggest three are control, support, and participation.

Control is taking over their lives and choosing everything for them. Support is showing affection

and appreciation. Lastly, participation is listening to them and being a part of their lives. As it

says in “Children’s Self-Esteem and Parental Support”, “Children are likely to attend to and

remember parental behaviors that are consistent with the way they already feel about

themselves”. If a child already has low self-esteem, we don’t want to make it even lower by not

giving them the distance, support, or participation they deserve.


References

Gecas, V., & Schwalbe, M. L. (1986). Parental behavior and adolescent self-esteem. Journal of
Marriage and the Family, 48(1), 37. doi:10.2307/352226

Felson, R. B., & Zielinski, M. A. (1989). Children's self-esteem and parental support. Journal of
Marriage and the Family, 51(3), 727. doi:10.2307/352171

McLaughlin, K. M. (2015, September 16). 8 parenting mistakes that affect your child's self-
esteem. Retrieved March 06, 2021, from https://pickanytwo.net/parenting-mistakes-that-
affect-your-childs-self-esteem/

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