Atzaba-Poria, Naama and Pike, Alison (2015) Through a cultural lens: links between maternal and paternal negativity and children's self-esteem. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 46 (5). pp. 702-712. ISSN 0022-0221

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Abstract

We set out to document how maternal and paternal negativity are related to children’s self-esteem during middle childhood in English and Indian families living in Britain. Although self-esteem is related to parental practices and parenting is a universal construct, the specifics of what may be associated with specific parenting practices varies across cultures. We hypothesized that due to distinct gender-based power structures, among the English families, maternal negativity would be related to lower child self-esteem, whereas among the Indian families, paternal negativity would be associated with lower child self-esteem. Children (aged 7-9.6) reported on their own self-esteem, whereas each parent reported on his or her parenting. We examined whether the correlations between parental negativity and children’s self-esteem were similar for, or specific to, English (n = 59) and Indian (n = 66) cultural groups, and whether parental negativity is related to children’s self-esteem in a similar way for mothers and fathers. British families living in West London participated in the study. For the Indian children, higher levels of paternal negativity were related to lower self-esteem, whereas, for the English children, higher levels of maternal negativity were related to lower self-esteem. Specificities in relationships (mother-child vs. father-child) and in cultural correlates are discussed.

Item Type:	Article
Schools and Departments:	School of Psychology > Psychology
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion
Depositing User:	Lene Hyltoft
Date Deposited:	30 Jul 2015 13:05
Last Modified:	02 Jul 2019 22:35
URI:	http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/55850

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