engleski

The Role of Parents’ Depression and Parental Behaviour in Relationship between Economic Adjustment and Adolescent Self-Esteem

Based on the application of the expanded Family Stress Model to children’s life (Conger et al., 2010), the aim of this paper was to explore direct and indirect, via depression of parents and parental behaviour, effects of family’s economic adjustment on adolescent self-esteem. Data used to test the proposed effects were collected within the research project “Parents' work, family economic hardship and well-being of parents and children”. In this study, we used data collected from 267 children (102 boys) ranging from 11 to 19 years, from seven primary and four secondary schools from the City of Zagreb and its surroundings, as well as their mothers and fathers. The children filled out the Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg et al., 1989) and Parental Behaviour Questionnaire (Keresteš et al., 2012). Both parents completed the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995), and provided information about the family’s economic adjustment (Elder et al., 1992). Results of the serial mediation analyses, conducted using PROCESS MACRO for SPSS (Hayes, 2012), have shown that there was a direct effect of family’s economic adjustment on adolescent self-esteem. Pronounced family’s economic adjustment, due to economic hardship, was associated with lower adolescent self-esteem. The serial indirect effect of family’s economic adjustment on adolescent self-esteem, via parents’ depression and parental punishment, was not significant. However, pronounced family’s economic adjustment estimated by mother, indirectly through the mother's use of punishment, contributed to lower adolescent self-esteem. The findings of the study point to different processes by which economic adjustment affects the self-esteem of adolescents.

economic adjustment ; depression ; parental punishment ; self-esteem ; adolescents

nije evidentirano