Self-Esteem and Parental Identification

Abstract

The relationship between self-esteem and parental identification was investigated. The hypothesis that self-esteem is positively correlated with parental identification was supported for female college students by two out of three self-esteem measures. For male subjects one social self-esteem measure correlated negatively with maternal identification and a self-concept measure correlated positively. No relationship between self-esteem and paternal identification existed for males: hence the hypothesis was refuted. The importance of social self-esteem in the feminine self-concept and its basis in parental identification is emphasized in the discussion.