Abstract
Studies consistently suggest that emotional intelligence and parenting styles are associated with self-esteem, although validation has relatively been based on correlation analysis. Using a sample of 252 respondents in Nigeria, the present study examined the relationships among parenting styles, emotional intelligence, and self-esteem with the aim of generating knowledge that transcends the nature and extent of their correlations. A bivariate analysis identified significant correlations: emotional intelligence (i.e., self-emotion appraisal, others’ emotion appraisal, uses of emotion, and regulation of emotion), authoritative parenting, and authoritarian parenting significantly positively correlated with self-esteem. There was no significant correlation between emotional intelligence and parenting styles. Results of the independent-samples t test indicated that emotional intelligence and self-esteem differed by gender. Specifically, women were more likely than men to report high self-emotion appraisal, others’ emotion appraisal, and uses of emotion. Similarly, women were more likely than men to report high self-esteem. Using multiple regression analysis, emotional intelligence and parenting styles were associated with self-esteem: being a student, emotional intelligence (i.e., self-emotion appraisal and uses of emotion), and authoritative parenting were associated with self-esteem. Emotional intelligence accounted for a larger effect on self-esteem than did parenting styles. In general, findings lend credence to the relevance of authoritative parenting in the development of self-esteem and suggest that, among components of emotional intelligence, uses of emotion and self-emotion appraisal may be considered in facilitating improvement of self-esteem among young adults at the developmental stage of increasing self-esteem. Implications of findings for research, education, and practice are discussed.
Highlights
Self-emotion appraisal, others’ emotion appraisal, uses of emotion, regulation of emotion, authoritative parenting, and authoritarian parenting were significantly positively associated with self-esteem
Emotional intelligence variables were significantly related to each other in the way in which parenting styles variables were significantly positively associated with each other, there was no significant relationship between emotional intelligence and parenting styles variables
Findings indicate that emotional intelligence, authoritative parenting, and authoritarian parenting significantly positively correlated with self-esteem
Summary
The strengths of their associations range from small to moderate, contradictory conclusions are pervasive, partly because analytical choices that informed the conclusions are primarily correlational Questions about their complex relationships remain unanswered: predictive validity in the context of competing variables, bidirectional association, and reciprocal predictive relationships among them remain unexplored; questions about relative stability versus developmental dynamism of selfesteem in terms of its association with progressively evolving emotional intelligence remain unanswered; and analytical considerations to disentangle the conceptual overlap between selfesteem and emotional intelligence remain largely ignored. Self-Esteem Self-esteem relates to negative or positive attitude towards self and concerns how individuals perceive and evaluate themselves (Rosenberg, 1965) It is an affective, psychological, and personality dimension of the self and encompasses a constellation of judgment about physical attributes, psychological competence, social interaction, coping skills, and mental abilities about self (Cheung et al, 2015a; Körük, 2017). A meta-analysis of studies indicates that self-esteem is negatively associated with aggression (Teng et al, 2015) and depression and anxiety (Orth & Robins, 2013; Sowislo & Orth, 2013)
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