Parental behaviors in relation to child self-esteem development: The contribution of parental warmth, rules and parent-child agreement

Abstract

Introduction: This study aimed to examine the relationship between parental warmth and rules and children’s self-esteem. Specifically, it investigated not only the perceptions of parents and children individually, but also the level of agreement between them. Given that self-esteem is a key factor in child development, understanding what influences its formation is highly relevant. The central hypothesis was that higher agreement between parents and children, particularly regarding warmth and rule-setting, would enhance the positive effects on children’s self-esteem. Method: A quantitative, secondary data analysis was conducted using data from the German Family Panel (pairfam). The dataset included 450 participants, of whom 338 were retained for analysis following listwise deletion. Multiple linear regression models were conducted in JASP to test the hypotheses. Results: The findings showed that the only significant predictor was the child-reported warmth, which was positively associated with self-esteem. However, there were no significant main effects for parental warmth or rules reported by the parents. There were also no significant effects for agreement on both warmth and rules. Discussion: The findings suggest that children’s self-esteem seems primarily shaped by their own perception of parental warmth, rather than by agreement between parent and child. Despite several limitations, this study offers valuable insights into how children's subjective experiences of parenting may be more psychologically impactful than objective agreement between parent and child. This highlights the importance of prioritizing the child’s emotional perspective in both parenting practices and future research on self-esteem development.