The ‘Parent’ in the Parenting Style: A Correlational Study Exploring the Impact of Parenting on Self-Concept of the Adolescent

Abstract

The present research attempts to explore the dynamics of parent child relationship. The investigation aims at understanding the impact of parenting style and its correlates such as personality, life satisfaction and self-esteem on the self-concept of the adolescent.  A sample of 50 parents through purposive sampling was selected and evaluated on standardized measures of parenting styles, personality factors, self-esteem and life satisfaction. The adolescent child of the same parent was evaluated on standardized measure of self-concept. Statistical treatment of data involved descriptive statistics and drawing correlations to explore the relationship between parenting styles and its impact on self-concept. Qualitative insights into the data were gained through personal interviews with the participants. Overview of results indicated authoritative parenting style and agreeableness as strong antecedent of self-concept with conscientiousness and openness to experience strongly mediating authoritative parenting style. Life satisfaction and self-esteem exerted moderating effects on the self-concept of adolescent. In conclusion, parent child relationship dynamics revealed the imperativeness of ‘parent’ in the parenting style with robust impact on the sense of ‘self’ and well-being of the child.