Self-esteem.

Adverse parenting practices have adverse effects on child outcomes, ranging from
lower academic success (Dornbusch, Ritter, Leiderman, Roberts, & Fraleigh, 1987) to
delinquency behavior (Steinberg, Fletcher & Darling, 1994) to adjustment difficulties
(Shumow & Lomax, 2009). There is considerable evidence linking poor parenting
practices to increases in adolescent adjustment symptoms (e.g. Barnes, Reifman, Farrell,
& Dintcheff, 2000). It is likely that there is an explanatory mechanism driving this
relationship. The current study tests the hypotheses that associations between adverse
parenting behaviors are both directly associated with adjustment problems, and indirectly
associated with maladjustment via changes in self-views.
A staggered cohort longitudinal design was employed that included a total of 453
(215 boys, 238 girls) 9th graders and 464 (231 boys, 233 girls) 10th graders at the first
assessment in spring, 2013. At the onset of the study, adolescents completed scales
describing parental monitoring (Small & Kerns, 1993), parental psychological control (Barber, 1996), and parental connectedness (Arnold, Nott, & Meinhold, 2012).
Adolescents also described indices of self-esteem (Rosenberg, 1965), self-efficacy
(Schwarzer & Jerusalem, 1995), and adjustment behaviors (Achenbach & Rescorla,
2001).
Results from the direct effects models revealed parenting practices have a direct
effect on adolescent adjustment. Mediation models revealed indirect links between
parenting practices and adolescent adjustment via self-esteem. Greater parental
psychological control and less parental connectedness was linked to decreases in selfesteem
one year later, and lower levels of self-esteem were in turn, associated with
increases in adolescent adjustment problems.
This study provides insight on the impact that parenting practices have on
adolescents both directly and indirectly. Parents should understand that even though
adolescents are seeking autonomy and separation, practicing attentive and meaningful
parenting is just as important during adolescence as it is during any other periods of
development.

Coherence of self-concept refers to the ability to stabilize on a clear set of views
about oneself. This aspect of self-structure is closely linked self-esteem, and similar
evidence in emotion research suggests an intricate connection between the self-system
and emotion. Evidence suggests that emotions of seemingly opposing valence such as
happy and sad can co-occur (i.e., mixed emotion). This study validated a new set of
emotional stimuli particularly to elicit mixed emotion and used these stimuli with a
mouse task that allowed participants to report positive and negative emotions
simultaneously. The study examined possible individual differences in discrete emotional
response associated with self-esteem as well as a possible connection between selfconcept
coherence and a differential ability to harbor mixed emotions; specifically that
individuals with high coherence in self-concept would tend to disambiguate their emotional response, but those with low coherence would be more susceptible to cooccurring
positive and negative emotion.