The Process Linking Child-Invested Contingent Self-Esteem and Conditional Regard: The Roles of Maternal Anger and its Regulation

Abstract

Parents whose self-esteem is contingent on their children’s achievements tend to exert more control over their children by displaying decreased affection and regard after failure in school (parental academic conditional negative regard). The current study examined parental anger and dysregulated anger expression as possible mechanisms in the respective association. In total, 221 mothers reported their child-invested contingent self-esteem, habitual dysregulated anger expression, anticipated anger after child failure, and their explicit use of conditional negative regard; their 12- to 14-year-old adolescent children reported perceived conditional negative regard. The moderated mediation analysis revealed that anger after child failure partially mediated the effect of child-invested contingent self-esteem on maternal explicit use of conditional negative regard, which, in turn, predicted adolescents’ perception of conditional negative regard. The effect of anger was moderated by dysregulated anger expression, and anger was only positively related to conditional negative regard when expressed as medium- to highly-dysregulated. The results support our hypotheses and provide an explanation for parental application of conditional negative regard apart from socialization goals or a lack of knowledge about its suboptimal nature. Furthermore, our results underscore the importance of parents’ self-esteem concerns and strategies for anger regulation. We discuss the practical implications of an anger-driven, reactive type of conditional regard.

What if parental love is conditional …? Children’s self-esteem profiles and their relationship with parental conditional regard and self-kindness

“…In line with well-known socialisation theories (e.g., attachment theory and sociometer theory ), it is conceivable that parents influence their children’s SE via PACR. At the same time, there are also well-founded theoretical considerations that parents react with conditional regard to their children’s contingent SE [ 32 ] or use PACR because their own SE is contingent on their children’s performance [ 109 ]. Consequently, it can be concluded that increased PACR is related to low-insecure rather than optimal-secure SE.…”

Parental conditional regard: A meta‐analysis

“…For example, covariates might include intrapersonal characteristics such as children's big five personality characteristics or interpersonal factors such as grandparents' levels of conditional regard. The extent to which parents' self‐esteem is linked to their children's achievement can interact with parental conditional regard (Steffgen et al, 2022). Such parental characteristics and perceptions can be further explored in both longitudinal and experimental research.…”

The role of mothers’ child-based self-worth in their parenting practices

“…For example, when an individual's self-esteem is based on academic competence, one may act in a less supportive and caring way toward others, as they may be preoccupied with the promotion of their own self-worth (Park & Crocker, 2005). Indeed, research shows that parents' tendency to uphold their child-based self-worth is associated with their use of conditional regard (e.g., Otterpohl et al, 2020;Steffgen et al, 2022) and psychological control (e.g., Ng et al, 2014;Wuyts et al, 2015).…”