The Role of Parental Involvement and Feedback in Adolescents’ Level and Contingency of Academic Self-Worth

• In Event: Heterogeneity in Self-Esteem Development: New Theoretical Insights and Longitudinal Evidence

Abstract

Contemporary models of self-esteem distinguish between individuals’ level of self-esteem and the fragility of self-esteem (Crocker & Wolfe, 2001; Kernis, 2003). Research in adolescence, a key life period for the development of self-esteem, has shown that higher levels of self-esteem relate to better developmental outcomes and that fragile self-esteem, in contrast, relates to developmental problems. A central indicator of fragile self-esteem is contingent self-worth, which involves a tendency to hinge one’s self-esteem on the attainment of certain standards. Specifically in the domain of academics, a domain with strong relevance for adolescents’ identity, contingent self-esteem refers to a conditionally approving attitude towards the self, where adolescents feel worthy only when they achieve achievement standards. Because academic contingent self-worth predicts higher risk for ill-being, it is important to identify developmental antecedents of this unhealthy form of self-esteem and to examine how these antecedents differ from those involved in healthy self-esteem.

Although cross-sectional research has begun to show that parenting is related to adolescents’ contingent self-esteem, most research has focused on general and broad dimensions of parenting rather than including domain-specific and more fine-grained parental variables. Moreover, there is a lack of longitudinal studies examining dynamic associations between parental variables and adolescents’ academic self-esteem at the level of within-person change. The current study aimed to address these two lacunae by adopting a longitudinal approach and by considering both (a) parents’ degree and style of involvement in academics and (b) parents’ style of providing performance-relevant feedback. On the basis of Self-Determination Theory (Ryan & Deci, 2017), it was expected that parents’ style of academic involvement would matter more than parents’ degree of involvement. More specifically, it was expected that an autonomy-supportive style of involvement would relate positively to higher levels of academic self-esteem and that a controlling style would relate positively to academic contingent self-esteem. Based on Dweck’s social-cognitive perspective (Dweck & Leggett, 1988) it was expected that process-oriented parental feedback would relate positively to higher levels of academic self-esteem and that person-oriented feedback would relate positively to contingent self-esteem.

To test these hypotheses, we used data from the TALENT project, a large-scale longitudinal study conducted in the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium. Participants were early adolescents (N = 3415; mean age = 12.65 years; 49.8% female) followed through the first two years of secondary education (Grades 7-8) with four measurement waves separated by 6-month intervals. At each wave, participants completed well-validated measures of their level of academic self-esteem and academic contingent self-worth. They also provided maternal and paternal ratings of parents’ involvement in school and feedback style.

Multilevel analyses showed that there was significant variance in both the level and contingency of academic self-esteem at the within-person level (i.e., 38 and .37%, respectively). Parents’ degree of involvement, autonomy-supportive involvement, and process-oriented feedback were related positively to level of academic self-esteem at the level of within-person change. In contrast, controlling involvement and person-oriented feedback were related positively to contingent self-worth. Most associations were consistent across maternal and paternal ratings.

Authors

• Bart Soenens, Ghent University
  Presenting Author

• Michiel Boncquet, Ghent University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Maarten Vansteenkiste, Ghent University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jeroen Lavrijsen, KULeuven
  Non-Presenting Author

• Karine Verschueren
  Non-Presenting Author