The intergenerational continuity of parental conditional regard and its role in mothers’ and adolescents’ contingent self‐esteem and depressive symptoms

Predictors and outcomes of sports coaches' athlete-invested contingent self-worth

Some sports coaches not only invest considerable time and energy in their athletes, but also attach their self-worth to the successes and failures of their athletes. Grounded in Self-Determination Theory, the present study aimed to examine the theoretical predictors and outcomes of such Athlete-Invested Contingent Self-worth (AICS). Results from a cross-sectional study (Study 1; N = 740, Mage = 34.37 years) and an experimental vignette-based study among youth sports coaches (Study 2; N = 318, Mage = 38.94 years) indicated that AICS was positively related to a controlling coaching style and negatively related to a structuring style. Study 1 showed that a perceived evaluative club board was positively related to AICS, and Study 2 further demonstrated that poor performance was negatively associated with AICS and that an evaluative climate was related to AICS through experiences of need frustration. The discussion focuses on the pitfalls of coaches' contingent self-worth for the development of their athletes.

What if parental love is conditional …? Children's self-esteem profiles and their relationship with parental conditional regard and self-kindness

BACKGROUND

Numerous studies have demonstrated that low, unstable, or contingent self-esteem negatively affects youth development and is linked to adolescent psychopathology. However, most previous studies have applied variable-oriented approaches, and less is known about the natural combination of self-esteem facets in school-aged adolescents, how parental conditional regard affects self-esteem profiles, and how these profiles relate to self-kindness, self-judgement, and life satisfaction.

METHODS

By employing a longitudinal person-oriented approach (i.e., latent profile analysis and latent transition analysis) on two-wave longitudinal data from 587 German secondary school students (52.3% female, Mage=13.52 years), this study aims to (1) identify adolescents' self-esteem profiles based on the level, stability, and contingency of self-esteem; (2) examine the impact of parental conditional regard on the self-esteem profiles explained using self-determination theory; and (3) examine these profiles' relationship with self-kindness, self-judgement, and life satisfaction.

RESULTS

Four self-esteem profiles were derived: optimal-secure (~ 8%), good (~ 18%), average (~ 36%), and low-insecure (~ 38%). The results reveal a concerningly high proportion as well as a high stability of low-insecure self-esteem (~ 98%) and indicate the strong negative influence of parental conditional regard on the development of optimal-secure self-esteem. Furthermore, the results demonstrate strong correlations between optimal-secure self-esteem, highly developed self-kindness, and high life satisfaction.

CONCLUSIONS

Using a longitudinal person-oriented approach, it was possible to identify a group with highly vulnerable self-esteem, characterised by particularly low self-kindness, strong self-judgment, and lower life satisfaction. The findings of this study support the need for prevention and intervention targeting adolescents with low-insecure self-esteem.

Facing academic problems: Longitudinal relations between parental involvement and student academic achievement from a self-determination perspective

BACKGROUND

The relation between parental involvement and student achievement has been of research interest for many decades. Although the idea of reciprocal processes between parent and child was proposed 40 years ago, very few efforts have been made to investigate reciprocal relations between parental involvement and student achievement.

AIMS

Using self-determination theory, this study investigated the longitudinal associations of the manner of parental involvement (i.e., autonomy-supportive or controlling) in children's academic problems with children's academic achievement. This study further addressed the recently intensely debated methodological issue of examining reciprocal relations by comparing a random-intercept cross-lagged panel model (RI-CLPM) with the traditional cross-lagged panel model (CLPM).

SAMPLE AND METHODS

A RI-CLPM and a traditional CLPM were applied to 5-year longitudinal data including 1465 secondary school students (M_age at T1 = 10.82 years, SD = 0.62). In both models, we controlled for students' gender, school type, socioeconomic status and cognitive ability.

RESULTS

The results show that the RI-CLPM fitted the data better than the CLPM. Trait-like stability was found for both forms of parental involvement and academic achievement. At the between-person level, controlling involvement related to lower achievement, whereas no correlation between autonomy-supportive involvement and achievement was found. At the within-person level, there were positive reciprocal relations between autonomy-supportive involvement and achievement, whereas controlling involvement was not associated with achievement.

CONCLUSIONS

This study contributes substantially to the understanding of the relations between parental involvement in children's academic problems and children's academic achievement by simultaneously taking between-person differences and within-person processes into consideration.

Parental conditional regard: A meta-analysis

INTRODUCTION

Parental conditional regard involves parents giving or withdrawing affection and approval, depending on children's and adolescents' compliance with parental expectations, to shape behaviors and traits. Research grounded in self-determination theory suggests parental conditional regard harms psychological development. Using self-determination theory as a theoretical foundation for investigating outcomes associated with parental conditional regard, the present study consolidated meta-analytic associations between parental conditional regard and four theoretically important individual difference correlates: introjected self-regulation, contingent self-esteem, depressive symptoms, and relatedness.

METHODS

Following PRISMA guidelines, a systematic literature search was conducted using the PsycINFO, ProQuest, and EBSCO databases for English-language, peer-reviewed published studies and unpublished studies. Eligible studies reported an association between parental conditional regard and the four theoretically derived correlates or another correlate of interest in pre-adolescent children, adolescents, or young adults. The results were based on a random-effects model for meta-analyses and the Q statistic for moderator analyses.

RESULTS

Across 31 samples in total, greater parental conditional regard was significantly associated with more introjected regulation (r = .33), contingent self-esteem (r = .29), and level of depressive symptoms (r = .22); and less relatedness (r = -.24). Moderator results for parental conditional regard type found parental conditional regard's association with introjected regulation was significantly stronger for studies measuring giving regard (parental conditional positive regard) than withdrawing regard (parental conditional negative regard). The association of parental conditional regard with depressive symptoms was significantly stronger for studies measuring parental conditional negative regard than parental conditional positive regard.

CONCLUSIONS

The meta-analytic results provide theoretical and empirical support for the connections between self-determination and the impact of parental conditional regard.

Instrumentality Gives Girls the Edge: Gender-Differential Relations Between Instrumentality, Achievement Motivation, and Self-Esteem

Gender differences in school are often discussed in reference to a particular type of masculinity, negative masculinity, which is often conceptualized as detrimental to success. Another type of masculinity, instrumentality, has rarely been studied in schools even though instrumental characteristics are often exalted outside the academic context. The current study focuses on potential benefits that students may reap from instrumentality. The extent to which an instrumental self-concept is directly and indirectly associated with achievement motivation and self-esteem was examined for adolescent boys and girls in a structural equation model (SEM). A sample of German ninth graders (N = 355) completed self-report measures pertaining to their gender role self-concept, hope for success, fear of failure, and global and academic contingent self-esteem. The SEM revealed that instrumentality was associated with lower fear of failure and higher hope for success for both male and female adolescents. High scores in instrumentality were associated with greater self-esteem and lower academic contingent self-esteem. The association between instrumentality and global self-esteem was stronger for adolescent girls, and the indirect association between instrumentality and fear of failure through global self-esteem was significant only for girls. Results indicate that instrumentality can be an asset for students and that female students especially reap the benefits of an instrumental self-concept. The results are discussed in reference to the dangers of emphasizing solely the association between negative masculinity and academic failure, and the importance of studying relations with gender role self-concept separately for male and female adolescents.

Clarifying the connection between parental conditional regard and contingent self-esteem: An examination of cross-lagged relations in early adolescence

OBJECTIVE

Relations between parental conditional regard (PCR) and children's motivational and emotional functioning have been demonstrated by past research. However, most available studies relied on cross-sectional correlational data, leaving open the causal direction of these relations. In the present article, we sought to contribute to this topic and examined the longitudinal connection between PCR and adolescents' contingent self-esteem (CSE) over time.

METHOD

Hypotheses were tested in two longitudinal studies with differently gifted samples of German high school students (N = 188 and N = 202 students, respectively). Data were gathered at three time points in Study 1 and at two time points in Study 2. In both studies, adolescents answered questionnaires regarding positive and negative PCR in the academic domain as well as general CSE (and additionally academic CSE in Study 2).

RESULTS

Cross-lagged analyses revealed several significant paths from CSE to PCR, and some paths from PCR to CSE, indicating the presumed reciprocal relationship between these constructs.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings suggest that children high in CSE may lead their parents to engage in PCR and that these effects may be more pronounced than vice versa. Possible reasons for these findings and their implications are discussed.