Changes in the Reciprocal Relationship Between Parenting and Self-Awareness During Adolescence: A Longitudinal Analysis of National Big Data

Abstract

PurposeThis study aimed to identify the reciprocal relationship between parenting and self-awareness during adolescence. Design and methodsThis study analyzed longitudinal data from the Korea Children and Youth Panel Survey at three time points over a four-year period. Individuals (n = 2092; mean age 12.95 years) in their first year of middle school participated at the beginning of the survey. Repeated measurements were performed for the same participants in their third year of middle school and first year of high school between 2010 and 2016. Participants completed 18 self-awareness (self-esteem and self-identity) items and 21 parenting (positive and negative) items at three different time points. The autoregressive cross-lagged model was used to examine the causal relationship between parenting and adolescents' self-awareness. ResultsPositive parenting and adolescents' self-awareness influenced each other. In terms of the magnitude of the effects of the two variables, the impact of adolescents' self-awareness on positive parenting was greater than that of positive parenting on adolescents' self-awareness. Adolescents' self-awareness at the previous time points negatively predicted negative parenting at the later time points. However, negative parenting at the previous time points was not a significant predictor of adolescents' self-awareness at the later time points. ConclusionsIn this study, the impact of adolescents' self-awareness on parenting was greater than was the case vice versa. This result could be regarded as reflecting adolescents' developmental characteristics. Practice implicationsIntervention programs directly focusing on improving adolescents' self-awareness may be more effective than parenting interventions to improve self-awareness in adolescents.