The relation of parenting styles with self-esteem as mediated by early maladaptive schemas among adolescents from matrilineal Khasi Society of India

This study sought to investigate the relation of Baumrind’s (1971) three parenting styles: Permissive, authoritarian, and authoritative with Rosenberg’s (1965) Self-Esteem (SE) as mediated by Young’s (2014) Early Maladaptive Schemas (EMS) among adolescents from matrilineal Khasi society in India. Purposive sampling method was used to collect data from school students in the State of Meghalaya. A total of 622 students, aged 15-21 years (male 37%; female 63%) participated in the study. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software was used to analyze data. Results showed that both parents’ authoritative style, and mother’s permissiveness positively predicted SE; while authoritarianism of both parents did not predict SE. Mother’s parenting style predicted more EMS schema domains than the father’s. None of the EMS had negative association with SE. Hayes’ PROCESS bootstrapping method was used for mediation analysis. The domain impaired autonomy and performance (IAP) negatively mediated the relation of all three parenting styles of both parents with SE. The findings suggest the primacy of maternal care in child rearing; that parents need to provide adequate emotional warmth, acceptance, encouragement, freedom, and security for adolescents’ to develop in SE; and that parenting styles, SE, and EMS are also affected by sociocultural factors. Furthermore, gender difference in SE was nonsignificant; mother’s parenting styles were higher than the father’s in all three parenting styles; male participants perceived their parents as permissive, while females perceived them as authoritative; males were higher in the domain disconnection and rejection than females. Implications, limitations, and recommendations were discussed