engleski

Adolescents’ positive self-concept: Is parental behavior important for all its aspects?

Self-concept is a construct that refers to an individual’s perception of “self” that remains relatively consistent and stable over time, contexts and developmental phases (Harter, 1990). Positive self-concept is self-motivating and is a ected by the ful llment of own needs and expectations. Adolescents with positive self-concept and high selfesteem o en use more e ective and appropriate problem-solving skills and, hence, are less likely to develop di erent disorders, including anxiety, depression, delinquent behavior or eating disorders compared to adolescents with negative self-concept and low self-esteem. Development of self-concept and self-esteem is in uenced by a variety of factors, such as interactions and relationships with signifi cant others, i.e., parents, teachers and peers (Burnett & Demnar, 1996 ; Humphrey, 2003).  e aim of this study was to determine which parental behaviors best explain di erent aspects of positive selfperception of adolescents. In sample of 926 elementary and high school students the following instruments were applied: Th e Self-Perception Profi le for Adolescents (Harter, 1985) and Th e Parental Behavior Questionnaire (PBQ-29) (Keresteš, Kuterovac-Jagodić & Brković, 2009). Th e Self-Perception Profi le for Adolescents is based on the assumption that adolescents can perceive one’s competence and functioning in multiple domains while simultaneously assessing one’s global self-worth. It includes following selfperception domains: Academic-scholastic competence, Social acceptance, Athletic competence, Physical appearance, Job competence, Romantic appeal, Behavioral conduct, Close friendship and General self-worth. Th e results of Th e Parental Behavior Questionnaire are formed on seven subscales: Acceptance, Autonomy, Psychological control, Monitoring, Positive Discipline, Negative Discipline and Permissiveness. Adolescents separately assessed mother’s and father’s behavior. Results have shown that parental behavior explains the greatest percentage of variance for behavior conduct, general self-worth and self-perception in close relationships. For adolescents’ self-perception is more important mother’s behavior. Higher mothers’ acceptance proved to be very important for adolescents’ positive self-perception in diff erent domains.

self-concept; parental behavior; positive parenting

nije evidentirano