Parents’ Response to Children’s Performance and Children’s Self-Esteem: Parent–Child Relationship and Friendship Quality as Mediators

Weina Li, Fenge Tan, Zongkui Zhou, Yukang Xue, Chuanhua Gu and Xizheng Xu
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Weina Li: Department of Management, Hunan Police Academy, Changsha 410138, China
Fenge Tan: Key Laboratory of Adolescent Cyberpsychology and Behavior, Central China Normal University, Ministry of Education, Wuhan 430079, China
Zongkui Zhou: Key Laboratory of Adolescent Cyberpsychology and Behavior, Central China Normal University, Ministry of Education, Wuhan 430079, China
Yukang Xue: Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology, University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, NY 12222, USA
Chuanhua Gu: Key Laboratory of Adolescent Cyberpsychology and Behavior, Central China Normal University, Ministry of Education, Wuhan 430079, China
Xizheng Xu: Department of Management, Hunan Police Academy, Changsha 410138, China

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 10, 1-15

Abstract: Previous research has revealed that parents’ success-oriented response to children’s performance promotes children’s self-esteem, while failure-oriented response damages their self-esteem. However, the potential mediating mechanisms are unclear. Therefore, the present study investigated whether parent–child relationship and friendship quality mediated the relation between parents’ response to children’s performance and children’s self-esteem. For this purpose, 859 children in Central China completed the Parents’ Response to Children’s Performance Scale, Buchanan Scale of Closeness to Parents (CPS), Friendship Quality Questionnaire (simplified version), and Self-Perception Profile tests. Structural equation modeling (SEM) revealed that: (1) parents’ success-oriented response was positively associated with parent–child relationship, friendship quality, and children’s self-esteem. Parents’ failure-oriented response was negatively associated with parent–child relationship and children’s self-esteem, but it was positively associated with friendship quality. (2) Parent–child relationship and friendship quality were identified as the serial mediators between parents’ success- or failure-oriented response and children’s self-esteem. These findings suggest that parents’ failure-oriented response should be reduced and parents’ success-oriented response should be increased to develop children’s self-esteem and establish a sound social network system for children.

Keywords: children; parents’ response to children; parent–child relationship; friendship quality; self-esteem (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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