Child-Invested Contingent Self-Esteem and Parenting: Exploring Differentiations by Child Successes or Failures and Ethnicity/Race

Abstract

Child-invested contingent self-esteem (CSE), or the extent to which parents derive their self-esteem from their children’s accomplishments, has wide implications for parents and the parenting context. This study investigates links between CSE and parenting behaviors and beliefs and differentiates between CSE based on children’s success versus failure. It also examines whether associations vary across ethnicity/race. Recruited through Qualtrics, participants were 1077 parents (50% fathers; 65% White, 16% Latinx, 13% Black; 6% Asian American) of children (55% boys) in 6th–12th grade. Structural Equation Modeling shows that parents who based their self-esteem on their children’s failures tended to also practice negative parenting behaviors and hold negative parental beliefs. However, parents who based their self-esteem on children’s successes reported positive behaviors and beliefs. Interactions suggest that CSE-success counteracts negative associations between CSE-failure and parenting, at least for White and Black parents. Additional differences across ethnicity/race and related implications are discussed.