The Mediating Model Of The Influence Of Parents' Interpersonal Relationship On Children's Self-esteem

Self-esteem is an important research concept in social psychology and developmental psychology,which has an important impact on people’s life,study,work and well-being.Researchers have found that the family plays an important role in the formation and development of children’s self-esteem.This study explored the impact of parental interpersonal relationship on children’s self-esteem from inter-generational levels,and examined the mediating role of children’s interpersonal relationship and the moderating role of parent-child conflict.In this study,in order to test the relationship among parental interpersonal relationship,children’s interpersonal relationship,children’s self-esteem,parent-child conflict,and data from the China Family Panel Studies(CFPS)in 2010,2012,and 2014 was used.Two sub-studies were conducted.Study 1,which was a cross sectional study,explored the influence of parental interpersonal relationship on children’s self-esteem,as well as the mediating role of children’s interpersonal relationship,the moderating role of parent-child conflicts,and whether there was gender difference.Study 2 was a longitudinal study,which tested the long-term effects of parental interpersonal relationship on children’s self-esteem.The subjects in study 1 were children aged 10-15(M = 12.44)and their parents,while the subjects in study 2 were children aged 10,12 and 14(M = 12.44)and their parents(The sample size will be explained in detail later).The results were as follows:(1)Both Study 1 and Study 2 found that maternal interpersonal relationship can significantly positively predict children’s self-esteem,but paternal interpersonal relationship can not significantly predict children’s self-esteem.(2)In both study 1 and study 2,parental interpersonal relationship can significantly positively predict children’s interpersonal relationship.Children’s interpersonal relationship can significantly positively predict children’s self-esteem.Children’s interpersonal relationship plays a mediating role between parental interpersonal relationship and children’s self-esteem.Although paternal interpersonal relationship can’t directly significantly predict children’s self-esteem,the children’s self-esteem can be indirectly predicted through the mediating role of children’s interpersonal relationship.(3)The results of Study 1 and Study 2 show that,the mediation of children’s interpersonal relationship between parental interpersonal relationship and children’s self-esteem wasn’t significantly moderated by parent-child conflict.(4)Study 1 found that among the effects of parental interpersonal relationship affecting children’s self-esteem through children’s interpersonal relationship,parents had a greater impact on girls than boys,and mothers have greater influence than fathers.