Self esteem of elementaryschoolers and parental behaviour

The aim of this study was to establish the relationship between dimensions of perceived parental behaviour and dimensions of self esteem. Participants were 98 (57girls and 41 boy) 7-th and 8-th graders. Instruments that we used were: PBQ, Parental Behaviour Questionnaire (Brkovic, Kerestes, Kuterovac Jagodic & Lugomer-Armano, 2005) and SPPC, Self-Perception Profile for Children ( Susan Harter, 1985). Sex differences in perception of parental behaviour were found in three dimensions of perceived parental behaviour: mothers psychological controle, mothers behavioral control and fathers psychological controle. Boys perceive their mother and father more psychologically controlling while girls percive their mothers more biheviorally controlling. Sex differences on dimensions of self esteem were found in dimensions of behaviour conduct, athletic competence and physical appearance. On the scale of behaviour conduct girls score significantly higher than boys, while boys score significantly higher on dimensions: athletic competence and physical appearance. The number of correlations between the dimensions of perceived parental behaviour and dimensions of self esteem is higher for girls than for boys. Fathers behaviour is more important for boys development of self esteem, while for girls mothers and fathers behaviours are equally important for the development of their self esteem.