Perceived Parental Approval and Self-Esteem in College Students

This current study looked at whether college students’ self-esteem is related to their perceptions of how well they meet their parents’ approval, the type of contingencies of self-worth they have and the degree to which they incorporate important others into the self-concept. College students (N = 126) were asked to complete measures of global self-esteem, contingencies of self-worth, relational-interdependent self-construal, self-ratings on personal attributes, and parental approval and disapproval beliefs. There was no significant findings to suggest that college students’ self-esteem is related to parental approval or disapproval beliefs, suggesting that emerging adults are becoming more independent and autonomous during this time and do not base their feelings of self-worth on their parents’ approval