Parental behavior and contextual variations in adolescent self-esteem.

Abstract

The present study examines the affect of contextual frames of reference on the level of self-esteem expressed by adolescents and on the relationship between certain parental behaviors and adolescent self-esteem. Five contexts were considered as frames of reference: classroom, family, friends, in heterosexual relations, and with adults. It was found that adolescents' self-esteem was highest in the friends context and lowest in the classroom. This variation was especially pronounced on the power dimension of self-esteem, and less on the self-worth dimension. Friends also ranked as the context in which adolescents felt "the most real", while in the classroom they felt least "real". Parental support (and to some extent control) was found to be significantly related to adolescent self-esteem only when adult frames of reference were used, i.e., family, classroom, and with adults. These were not antecedents of self-esteem when the contextual referent for the adolescent was his peers. This research suggests that social context is an important independent variable on self-esteem and cannot be assumed to be constant when dealing with self-variables.