Psychology

Self esteem is a cognitive characteristic whose status is highly influenced by the type of parenting style a child is brought up with in addition to the childs personality traits (Alarcon, 1997). It is therefore important to evaluate how parenting styles together with the childs personality affect the childs self esteem.

Parenting style and childs self esteem
There are four well known parenting styles. These include authoritative, authoritarian, permissive and uninvolved parenting (Alarcon, 1997, para 2). A child who is brought up through authoritative parenting stands higher chances of developing high self esteem. This is mainly because such parents allow their children to enjoy independence as well as a sense of individualism. In addition to giving necessary warmth and autonomy, such parents also set limits for their children. It is a lets talk it over parenting style and is effective in creating high self esteem (Alarcon, 1997, para 3).

An authoritarian parenting style is known to lead to low self esteem as the child is made to conform to the demands of the parent. There is no sense of autonomy and individuality and the child may suffer physical humiliation as a way of enforcing regulations. Such children are associated with low curiosity, unhappiness and withdrawal all of which indicate low self esteem (Alarcon, 1997).

A child who is brought up in permissive parenting style usually attains low self esteem. This is because the child is left to make their own decisions without even necessary regulations from the parent. Failure to set guidelines for the child and lack of restrictions makes the child immature and an underachiever. Uninvolved parenting equally results to low self esteem as the child feels rejected and the parent becomes uncaring. This leads to delinquent behaviors in the child.

In conclusion, it is important to note that a childs temperament influences the parenting style used. A difficult temperament leads to authoritarian parenting whereas an easy-going temperament is likely to make the parent use authoritative parenting style (Alarcon, 1997).