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Influence of Parenting Styles and Peer
Attachment on Life Satisfaction Among
Adolescents: Mediating Role of Self-Esteem
Mudasir Aziz
1
, Waheeda Khan
2
, Faseeh Amin
3
,
and Mohammad Furqan Khan
4
Abstract
Both parenting and peer relationship are essential in the formation of self-esteem among the adolescents which lead to overall
psychological development. Life satisfaction is another outcome that describes the subjective well-being of any person and the
quality of one’s life. Literature has already suggested the importance of parenting and peer relationships in the development of
self-esteem which may lead to life satisfaction among adolescents. However, the relationship between three styles of parenting as
well as peer attachment and life satisfaction mediated by self-esteem seems to be missing from the literature. This work is an
important attempt toward fulfilling this research gap with respect to adolescents. The data were collected from 500 respondents
which resulted in 412 functional responses. Structural equation modeling method was used to test the relationship in the study.
The results revealed that both authoritative and permissive parenting have a positive influence on self-esteem in comparison to
the negative influence of authoritarian parenting. Peer attachment also has an affirmative impact on self-esteem. Self-esteem also
positively influences life satisfaction. Mediation results revealed that self-esteem partially mediates the association between three
parenting styles, peer attachment, and life satisfaction. This study may offer unique insights to family counselors, couple coun-
selors, and family educators about the role of different parenting styles and peer attachment with respect to the development of
children’s self-esteem and life satisfaction. These results are also important for psychologists, sociologists, and other specialists
with respect to understanding these factors for the well-being of adolescents.
Keywords
self-esteem, parenting style, life satisfaction, peer attachment
Life satisfaction among the young population is in essence
more than an epiphenomenon (Lavriˇc & Naterer, 2020). Satis-
faction with respect to the adolescents’ life is a pertinent factor
from the psychological perspective (Teismann et al., 2018) as it
is associated with the lower rate of suicides and a good life
(Diener, 2006). It is an important factor that can lead to vital
outcomes like emotional conditions as well as psychosocial
states (Lavriˇc & Naterer, 2020). Many research works have
postulated and revealed the constructive and affirmative influ-
ence of life satisfaction on adolescent’s mental, learning, phys-
ical, and social functions (Grant et al., 2009; Huebner et al.,
2004; Tuncay & Karababa, 2020). Life satisfaction is thus an
essential aspect of an adolescent’s life, and many studies have
explored and examined the influence of several variables influ-
encing their life satisfaction (Lavriˇc & Naterer, 2020). This
makes it vital to explore the causes that can predict life satis-
faction in adolescents (Seligman, 2011). Among such factors as
revealed by different studies, some demographic variables
(e.g., ethnicity, gender, age) do not exhibit a strong association
with life satisfaction and in some cases do not share any rela-
tionship with life satisfaction among the adolescents (Piko &
Hamvai, 2010). But the literature also reveals many factors that
predict adolescents’ life satisfaction such as one’s self-rated
well-being (Proctor et al., 2009), self-esteem (Arslan, 2019),
and one’s satisfaction in relation to their appearances (Lu et al.,
2015). Also the health-promoting behavior factor positively
correlates with life satisfaction (Piko & Keresztes, 2006),
whereas a negative association exists between life satisfaction
and the frequency of alcohol consumption, smoking, and drug
use (e.g., marijuana; Proctor et al., 2009). Young people who
belong to small, better societal class and homogenous living
1
SGT University, Gurgaon, Haryana, India
2
School of Behavioural Sciences, SGT University, Gurgaon, Haryana, India
3
Central University of Kashmir, Ganderbal, Jammu and Kashmir, India
4
Jammu and Kashmir Entrepreneurship Development Institute, Srinagar,
Jammu and Kashmir, India
Corresponding Author:
Faseeh Amin, Central University of Kashmir, Ganderbal, Jammu and Kashmir
191201, India.
Email: faseeh200n@yahoo.co.in
The Family Journal: Counselin g and
Therapy for Couples and Families
1-11
ªThe Author(s) 2021
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/10664807211009807
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environment are more satisfied with their lives (Evans et al.,
1999). On the contrary, adolescents belonging to lower socio-
economic classes show a weak but affirmative association with
life satisfaction (Ash & Huebner, 2001; Piko & Hamvai, 2010).
But one of the critical factors that can influence life satisfaction
among adolescents is the family setup (Lavriˇc & Naterer, 2020)
as studies show a positive correlation between adolescents’ life
satisfaction and their family functioning (Grossman & Rowat,
1995; Piko & Hamvai, 2010). Some studies, however, show a
negative association between adolescents’ life satisfaction and
broken family functioning including parental conflicts
(Grossman & Rowat, 1995). Parental attachment as well as
relationship with the peers has been considered as fundamental
aspects for the adolescent development (Lim, 2020). A study
conducted by Nickerson and Nagle (2004) revealed that the
peer attachment in adolescents has a strong influence on their
life satisfaction from various perspectives in comparison to the
parental attachment. Similarly, peer attachment was also found
to be a predictor of the life satisfaction in the early adolescence
period (Ma & Huebner, 2008). This implies that both parenting
styles and peer attachment share a strong association with the
self-esteem.
From parenting perspective, self-esteem of the children is
closely correlated with the parent–child interactions (Buri
et al., 1987; Klein et al., 1996), and studies do suggest that
self-esteem is associated with the parenting style (Oh, 2004).
However, some of the results with respect to self-esteem and
parenting have been inconsistent (Zakeri & Karimpour, 2011)
which make it essential to further explore the association
between them in the current work. Literature also offers evi-
dence that hints at the existence of an affirmative and associa-
tive relationship between peer attachment and self-esteem
among adolescents (Laible et al., 2004; Wilkinson, 2004).
Self-esteem among adolescents is formed by their own judg-
ment and people’s appraisal (Baldwin & Hoffman, 2002), and
any experience with their peers who are considerate, reliable,
and receptive can lead to the development of an affirmative
self-worth (Bowlby, 1988). On the other hand, there is also
evidence that implies that the path from parental attachment
and parenting style toward life satisfaction goes through
self-esteem (Chen et al., 2017; Hesari & Hejazi, 2011), but
such studies are limited. Similarly, the path from peer attach-
ment toward its various outcomes also goes through
self-esteem (Lim, 2020). Furthermore, the research in recent
times has consistently emphasized the mediating character of
self-esteem between various constructs and life satisfaction (Lu
et al., 2015).
Hence, based on the research gaps discussed above, this
work examines the pathway from three styles of parenting
(authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive) and peer attach-
ment to life satisfaction mediated through self-esteem. Surpris-
ingly, it seems from the literature that authors have not studied
the influence of three parenting styles as well as peer attach-
ment on life satisfaction when mediated through self-esteem.
The following section of this manuscript discusses the litera-
ture review of the studies concerning the variables in the study.
The next segment discusses the research methodology
followed by the data analysis. The last segment describes the
discussions, implications, and future work directions.
Literature Review
Parenting Styles
Permissive, authoritative, and authoritarian are the three par-
enting styles put forward by Baumrind (1967, 1971, 1991),
which are in essence related to the parenting authority. Author-
itative type of parenting is a domineering style that attempts to
control the activities of children based on some logic and issue,
and parents support the two-way communication with their
childrenandoftenexplaintothemaboutsuchpolicy
(Baumrind, 1971). This style consists of more parenting direc-
tives and a positive motivation for children and also includes
logical communication, affective relationship, and approach-
ability. This particular style tends to make a child self-reliant,
self-sufficient, and self-controlling (Lavriˇc & Naterer, 2020).
On the contrary, authoritarian style of parenting is character-
ized by high degree of control and detached parenting
(Baumrind, 1971). Parent–child relationship is less affectionate
in this style as parents try to shape, direct, and appraise the
child’s conduct and attitude with respect to some behavioral
benchmark, which is typically quite absolute, set by a higher
body, and is motivated by theological conventions (Baumrind,
1971). Permissive parental style is characterized by reasonably
warm, lenient, nondemanding, and less controlling parents who
exhibit assenting, nonpunitive, and accepting behavior with
respect to their children’s impulses, needs, and activities
(Baumrind, 1971).
Parenting Styles and Life Satisfaction in Adolescents
Most research works have revealed that an affirmative relation-
ship exists between authoritative parenting and life satisfaction
(Lavriˇc & Naterer, 2020). A study on adolescents by Suldo and
Huebner (2004) also showed a similar relationship between
authoritative parenting and life satisfaction. Studies have also
found that the authoritative parenting highly associated with
both self-esteem and life satisfaction in comparison to permis-
sive or authoritarian style (Milevsky et al., 2007; Raboteg- ˇ
Sariˇc
&ˇ
Sakic´, 2014). Work carried out by Raboteg- ˇ
Sariˇc and ˇ
Sakic´
(2014) showed that the significant difference exists between
adolescent’s life satisfaction with respect to authoritative and
authoritarian parenting. Study conducted by Leung et al. (2004)
also confirmed that authoritative style leads to life satisfaction
among adolescents. Both life satisfaction and self-esteem were
positively related with authoritative parenting in a study by
Mart´ınez and Garc´ıa (2007). Henceforth, there is greater evi-
dence that implies that the effect of authoritative style is greater
than the authoritarian style of parenting on life satisfaction
(Lavriˇc & Naterer, 2020). Milevsky et al. (2007) confirmed
that authoritative style has a greater influence on life satisfac-
tion than any other style of parenting. Earlier works have
revealed that life satisfaction shares a relatively moderate
2The Family Journal: Counseling and Therapy for Couples and Families XX(X)
relationship with both permissive and authoritarian parenting
in contrast to the strong association with authoritative parenting
(Lavriˇc & Naterer, 2020). Furthermore, a lot of previous works
have shown that life satisfaction among adolescents and the
style of parenting share a significant relationship (Di Maggio
& Zappulla, 2014; Gilman & Handwerk, 2001; Lavriˇc&
Naterer, 2020).
Self-Esteem
Self-esteem could be described as a person’s broad sense of
their worth or significance (Ma¨kikangas & Kinnunen, 2003).
Self-esteem has also been illustrated as a person’s affirmative
or pessimistic attitude in relation to them and also includes
one’s assessment of their personal beliefs and opinions that
actually convey a personal judgment of the individualistic
worth or value (Rosenberg, 1965). The outcome framework
of self-esteem postulates that the self-esteem is determined
by the societal relationships that include the theories of attach-
ment and sociometer (Lim, 2020). Sociometer framework
reveals that an individual’s self-esteem is related to their
experience of the communal approval and denial (Leary, 2005).
Peer Attachment
Peer attachment can be best described as the emotional bond or
relationship that is formed between peers and is a sign of
affective association characterized by dependence and confi-
dence (Freeman et al., 2004). From societal perspective, peer
attachments in adolescence mark sharing of the emotions and
the personal issues and providing support to each other outside
the parental relationships (Ju & Lee, 2018). Normal adoles-
cents share their feelings with someone who they feel is
attached to them (Freeman et al., 2004), and they also consider
peer attachment as a strong foundation for societal competence
(Ju & Lee, 2018) and social support (Ellis & Zarbatany, 2007).
Life Satisfaction
Personal well-being of a human being is closely associated with
their life satisfaction (Suldo et al., 2006), and the latter is often
considered as the parameter for assessing one’s life’s worth
(Diener & Diener, 1995). Life satisfaction doesn’t just signify
that a person’s life is successful and satisfying, but it is one of
the underlying factors for achieving greater life objectives
(Lyubomirsky et al., 2005). Similar findings were also found
during the exhaustive review of studies in relation to life satis-
faction among young people (Proctor et al., 2009).
Hypothesis Formulation
Parenting and self-esteem. The proponents of the attachment
model describe that the relationship quality is directly con-
nected to the self-esteem concept (Bowlby, 1982). Research
works have shown that self-esteem is more strongly correlated
with authoritative parenting in contrast to the authoritarian
style (Pinquart & Gerke, 2019). Studies in the Western context
also show that the caring style of parenting is more related with
self-esteem among adolescents (Perez-Gramaje et al., 2019).
Parental warmth is an important factor for the development of
self-esteem during adolescence (Orth, 2018), and parental neg-
ligence can be a cause for lower self-esteem in adolescents
(Lim, 2020). Permissive parenting nurtures autonomy in chil-
dren as well as strong decision making (Hesari & Hejazi,
2011), but on the contrary, Reitman et al. (2002) propose per-
missive style leads to lower self-esteem among them. Author-
itative style leads to exhibition of greater levels of self-esteem
and control among the children (Wennar, 1994). Hesari and
Hejazi (2011) propound that self-esteem is crucial for the
development during the adolescence phase and parents are a
major factor for shaping their self-worth. Excessive parenting
control (Herz & Gullon, 1999) and low autonomy (Z. Y. Chen
& Dornbusch, 1998) are inversely related with self-esteem in
adolescents.
Thus, we can propose that
Hypothesis 1: Authoritative parenting style shares a rela-
tionship with self-esteem.
Hypothesis 2: Authoritarian parenting style shares a
relationship with self-esteem.
Hypothesis 3: Permissive parenting style shares a
relationship with self-esteem.
Peer attachment and self-esteem. Life satisfaction is positively
related with peer attachment (Ju & Lee, 2018) as children share
their problems with their peers which results in lower levels of
guilt (Millings et al., 2012), strong development (Ju & Lee,
2018), and a sense of belongingness (Rosenberg, 1986). Highly
satisfying relationship (e.g., with peers) can lead to more coping
capabilities and, more importantly, self-esteem (Benson et al.,
2006). Laible et al. (2004) also found an associative relationship
existing between peer attachment and self-esteem.
Hypothesis 4: Peer attachment shares a relationship
with self-esteem.
Self-esteem and life satisfaction. Studies have postulated that
self-esteem levels within an individual are strongly associated
with their life satisfaction (C¸ ivitci & C¸ ivitci, 2009). It has been
observed person’s higher degree of life satisfaction is closely
related with their elevated self-esteem (W. Chen et al., 2017;
Gilman & Huebner, 2003). An important study conducted in
China also found that self-esteem positively predicts life satis-
faction (Zhang et al., 2018).
Hypothesis 5: Self-esteem shares a relationship with life
satisfaction.
Self-esteem as a mediating variable. The role of self-esteem as a
mediator has found support in different research frameworks
linking self-esteem, and different social interactions (Harris &
Aziz et al. 3
Orth, 2019; Marshall et al., 2015), life satisfaction (Arslan,
2019), parenting (Hesari & Hejazi, 2011; Lim, 2020), and peer
attachment (Lim, 2020). Moreover, enhancement of the emo-
tional capacities indirectly influences life satisfaction through
self-esteem development (Ruvalcaba-Romero et al., 2017).
Thus, in this article, we also propose that self-esteem acts as
a mediating factor between life satisfaction (outcome variable)
and four independent variables, that is, authoritative parenting,
authoritarian parenting, permissive parenting, and peer
attachment.
Hypothesis 6: Self-esteem mediates the relationship
between authoritative parenting and life satisfaction.
Hypothesis 7: Self-esteem mediates the relationship
between authoritarian parenting and life satisfaction.
Hypothesis 8: Self-esteem mediates the relationship
between permissive parenting and life satisfaction.
Hypothesis 9: Self-esteem mediates the relationship
between peer attachment and life satisfaction.
Theoretical Framework
The contemporary paradigms of psychology deem it compul-
sory to address the factors that can make people happy and
psychologically sound (Ruvalcaba-Romero et al., 2017). Over
the last decade, the psychological research has been increas-
ingly focused on life satisfaction (W. Chen et al., 2017), as it is
one of the essential factors for the person’s good mental
well-being (Suldo & Shaffer, 2008). Life satisfaction for ado-
lescents is an important outcome as it shapes their personality
and the future development. Various factors or antecedents
have been researched which predict life satisfaction among
adolescents like demographic variables, personal variables,
environmental attributes, or even cultural aspects. Demo-
graphic factors in relation to the life satisfaction have been
considered as weak predictors, whereas moderate association
with respect to environmental characteristics and life
satisfaction has been discovered (W. Chen et al., 2017). Par-
ental and peer attachment relationships have been found to be
strongly influencing life satisfaction in many studies (Pan et al.,
2016). Previous researchers have also studied the influence of
three parenting styles on life satisfaction. But this study makes
an addition by also taking into account the influence of peer
attachment on life satisfaction. Moreover, the framework in
this work has included the mediating role of self-esteem in the
relationship between life satisfaction and three parenting styles
and peer attachment. The following framework (Figure 1)
shows the proposed relationship between the variable under
study in this work.
Method
The research design applied in this work was causal (studying
cause and effect relationship between variables in the study),
and a survey method was used for collecting the responses from
the subjects. The data were collected with the help of a ques-
tionnaire that was drafted in English. However, the question-
naire was shared with two prominent psychologists for
modifying the instrument with respect to comprehension level
of the respondents. The questionnaire was also shared with one
English expert for any suggestions that were incorporated in the
instrument. The respondents chosen for this research work
were the adolescents targeted from five high schools in the
union territory of Jammu and Kashmir in India. A total of
500 adolescents were targeted for this study, but only 412
functional responses were left after cleaning of the data.
Measures
Life satisfaction, authoritative style of parenting, authoritarian
style of parenting, and permissive style of parenting were mea-
sured with three items each adopted from the study of Lavriˇc
and Naterer (2020). Self-esteem in this study was measured
with six items, and peer attachment was measured with four
items adopted from the study of Ju and Lee (2018). The reason
for adopting measures from these two studies was due to the
Figure 1. Conceptual framework. Source: Authors’ own.
4The Family Journal: Counseling and Therapy for Couples and Families XX(X)
fact that these works were based on youth population, and these
measures have also been adopted in the previous studies on
adolescents. All the items were measured on a 5-point
Likert-type scale.
Respondent’s Profile
The average age of the respondents chosen for this was
18.3 years. The sample included 63%males and 37%females.
Majority of the respondents, that is, 47%belonged to the family
income group of Rs. 1,00,000–3,00,000, 27%of the subjects
belonged to the family income group of Rs. 3,00,000–5,00,000,
and the remaining respondents belonged to the family income
group of Rs. 5,00,000–10,00,000.
Factor Analysis
Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was run on the data set using
Statistical Package for the Social Sciences Version 21.0 in
order to confirm whether the items would load on their respec-
tive constructs (factors) or not. The value for sampling ade-
quacy measure, that is, Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin is .854, and
10,863.7 is the value for Bartlett’s test of sphericity
(df ¼231 at p¼.000). The following table (Table 1) shows
the factor loadings of all the variables which are above .50 and
all the items loaded on their respective factors.
Data Analysis
Measurement Model
After running EFA, it is necessary to run (confirmatory factor
analysis (CFA) to reconfirm whether all the items load on their
respective constructs as per the theory or not. The measurement
model (Figure 2) was obtained after running CFA using
Analysis of Moment Structures (AMOS) Version 21.0. The
model indices are a good fit as shown below:
Chi-square/degrees of freedom (CMIN/DF) ¼2.17, good-
ness of fit index (GFI) ¼0.923, adjusted GFI ¼.893, normed
fit index (NFI) ¼.964, comparative fit index (CFI) ¼.980,
Tucker-Lewis index (TLI) ¼.975 and root mean square error
of approximation (RMSEA) ¼.05.
Reliability and Validity
The values for the standard loading (Table 2) obtained after
CFA are above .70 for all the factors, and average variance
extracted (AVE) for every construct is above .50 (Table 3)
which establishes convergent validity in the study (Fornell &
Larcker, 1981).
Also, the values of AVE for all the factors are greater than
the value of square of their intercorrelation coefficient
(Table 3) which suggests discriminant validity (Anderson &
Gerbing, 1988). Similarly, the reliability (Table 3) is also
Table 1. Rotated Component Matrix.
Statements Items Factor Loadings
I am satisfied with my family life. LS1 .820
I am satisfied with my life in general. LS2 .869
I am satisfied with my friends. LS3 .817
My parents pay attention to my concerns in school. AT1 .938
My parents explain to me why I should obey their rules. AT2 .943
I am allowed to take part in creating the family rules. AT3 .836
I think I am a good-natured person. SE1 .872
I think I am a skilled person. SE2 .837
I think I am a valuable person. SE3 .874
Sometimes I think I’m useless.
a
SE4 .857
Sometimes I think I’m a bad person.
a
SE5 .848
In general, I feel like I am a failure.
a
SE6 .865
My parents shout at me if I misbehave. AR1 .851
If I don’t meet my parents’ expectations, I am scolded. AR2 .899
I am slapped if I misbehave with my parents. AR3 .856
My parents usually fulfill my wish If I complain about it. PM1 .892
I am given rewards (gifts, treats, etc.) in order to behave well. PM2 .869
My parents threaten me with punishments that are never implemented in practice. PM3 .851
I want to stay with my friends for a long time. PA1 .813
It is fun when I spend time with my friends. PA2 .917
I try to have the same ideas and emotions which my friends have. PA3 .917
We tend to speak honestly about our problems to each other. PA4 .926
Source. The authors.
Note. Extraction method: principal component analysis. Rotation method: varimax with Kaiser normalization. AT ¼authoritarian parenting; AR ¼authoritative
parenting; PM ¼permissive parenting; PA ¼peer attachment; SE ¼self-esteem; LS ¼life satisfaction.
a
Reversely keyed items. Rotation converged in six iterations.
Aziz et al. 5
confirmed in the study as composite reliability for each con-
struct is above .60 (Fornell & Larcker, 1981).
Structural Model Analysis
The hypothesis testing was done using structural model analysis
that shows the relationship between the study variables. The
results from path analysis (Figure 3) after running structural equa-
tion modeling in AMOS Version 21.0 show moderate values for
the model fit indices as CMIN/DF ¼3.2, TLI ¼.952, CFI ¼.960,
GFI ¼.868, NFI ¼.943 and RMSEA ¼.07.
Path Analysis Results
The results from the path analysis (see Table 4) suggest that all
the hypotheses in the study are supported. A negative and
significant relationship exists between authoritarian parenting
(b¼.14, p¼.001) and self-esteem. But there is a positive
and significant relationship between authoritative parenting
(b¼.23, p¼.001), permissive parenting (b¼.14,
p¼.002), peer attachment (b¼.27, p¼.001), and
self-esteem. Similarly, the relationship between self-esteem
and life satisfaction is also affirmative and significant
(b¼.40, p¼.001).
Figure 2. Measurement model. Source: The authors.
Table 2. Standard Loadings.
Items Construct Standardized Loading
SE1 SE .995
SE2 SE .849
SE3 SE .760
SE4 SE .699
SE5 SE .688
SE6 SE .990
PA1 PA .822
PA2 PA .953
PA3 PA .955
PA4 PA .932
AT1 AT .983
AT2 AT .995
AT3 AT .766
AR1 AR .899
AR2 AR .928
AR3 AR .850
PM1 PM .900
PM2 PM .893
PM3 PM .769
LS1 LS .829
LS2 LS .948
(continued)
Table 3. Convergent and Discriminant Validity.
Factors CR AVE PM SE PA AT AR LS
PM .891 .733 .856
SE .933 .705 .306 .840
PA .955 .841 .184 .376 .917
AT .943 .848 .194 .289 .285 .921
AR .922 .797 .452 .389 .285 .240 .893
LS .905 .761 .358 .432 .406 .359 .464 .872
Source. The authors.
Note. The bold values in the diagonal of the above matrix are square root of the
AVE. AT ¼authoritarian parenting; AR ¼authoritative parenting;
PM ¼permissive parenting; PA ¼peer attachment; SE ¼self-esteem;
AVE ¼average variance extracted; CR ¼composite reliability; LS ¼life
satisfaction.
6The Family Journal: Counseling and Therapy for Couples and Families XX(X)
Mediation
The mediating role of self-esteem between life satisfaction
(dependent variable) and four independent variables, that is,
authoritative parenting, authoritarian parenting, permissive
parenting, and peer attachment was assessed with the help of
bootstrapping approach (Baron & Kenny, 1986). The impact of
authoritative parenting on life satisfaction reduced from .30
(direct relationship between authoritative parenting and life
satisfaction) to .26 (with mediation) which means that this
relationship is partially mediated by self-esteem. Similarly, the
impact of authoritarian parenting on life satisfaction (see
Table 5) reduced from .21 (direct relationship between
authoritarian parenting and life satisfaction) to .18 (with
mediation) which implies that this relationship is partially
mediated by self-esteem. The impact of permissive parenting
on life satisfaction reduced from .17 (direct relationship
between permissive parenting and life satisfaction) to .14 (with
mediation) which means that this relationship is partially
mediated by self-esteem. The impact of peer attachment on
turnover intentions reduced from .26 (direct relationship
between peer attachment and life satisfaction) to .22 (with
mediation) which means that this relationship is partially
mediated by self-esteem (see Table 5).
Conclusion
Discussion
The present work made an important attempt to study the influ-
ence of three parenting styles and peer attachment on life
Figure 3. Structural model. Source. The authors.
Table 4. Structural Model Estimates.
Hypotheses From To Standardized (b) Unstandardized (b) Result
Hypothesis 1 Authoritative parenting Self-esteem .23 .29 (p¼.001) Supported
Hypothesis 2 Authoritarian parenting Self-esteem .14 .18 (p¼.001) Supported
Hypothesis 3 Permissive parenting Self-esteem .14 .18 (p¼.002) Supported
Hypothesis 4 Peer attachment Self-esteem .27 .36 (p¼.001) Supported
Hypothesis 5 Self-esteem Life satisfaction .40 .28 (p¼.001) Supported
Source. Data compilation by the scholar for the present study.
Table 5. Mediation Results.
Hypotheses Relationship I.V (M.V) D.V Direct Without Mediation Direct With Mediation Indirect Result(s)
Hypothesis 6 AT (SE) LS .30 (.001) .26 (.001) .001 Supported
Hypothesis 7 AR (SE) LS .21 (.001) .18 (.001) .002 Supported
Hypothesis 8 PM (SE) LS .17 (.001) .14 (.003) .007 Supported
Hypothesis 9 PA (SE) LS .26 (.001) .22 (.001) .001 Supported
Source. The authors.
Note.I.V¼Independent variable; M.V ¼mediating variable; D.V ¼dependent variable. AT ¼authoritarian parenting; AR ¼authoritative parenting;
PM ¼permissive parenting; PA ¼peer attachment; SE ¼self-esteem; LS ¼life satisfaction.
Aziz et al. 7
satisfaction when mediated by self-esteem. The earlier studies
had tested the effects of these three parenting styles on life
satisfaction without any mediator variable. A study conducted
by Lavriˇc and Naterer (2020) examined the relationship
between three parenting styles and life satisfaction without any
mediator. Thus, this article has made important contributions to
the literature. The results suggest that both authoritarian and
permissive parenting styles show similar effects in terms of
strength on self-esteem, but the effect of authoritative parenting
is stronger on self-esteem. Moreover, the influence of the
authoritarian style on self-esteem is negative unlike the
permissive style of parenting. These findings are somewhat
similar to the findings from the study conducted by Lim
(2020) which showed a relationship between self-esteem and
dysfunctional parenting. Another study also showed a strong
relationship between authoritative parenting and self-esteem
(Hesari & Hejazi, 2011). In the Indian context, authoritarian
parenting has also been found to be negatively influencing the
self-esteem, and both authoritative and permissive parenting
resulted in higher levels of self-esteem among the adolescent
(Sharma & Pandey, 2015). But, further studies need to be con-
ducted for generalizing these results even in the Indian context.
The current results also showed that peer attachment positively
impacts self-esteem. A study conducted by Lim (2020) showed
a relationship between peer attachment and self-esteem but in a
different direction. The current work findings also revealed a
positive and strong relationship between self-esteem and life
satisfaction. These findings are in congruence with the work of
Arslan (2019) which showed a similar association between the
two factors. The mediation analysis showed that self-esteem
partially mediated the relationship between life satisfaction
among adolescents and four predictor variables, that is, author-
itative parenting, authoritarian parenting, permissive parenting,
and peer attachment. Self-esteem has also been found to med-
iate the relationship between authoritative parenting and
aggression in an Iranian study (Hesari & Hejazi, 2011).
Similarly, in another study on adolescents, self-esteem acted
as a mediator between life satisfaction and social exclusion
(Arslan, 2019).
Implications
These finding have important practical and social implications,
especially for parents and their children. It becomes imperative
that parents must be responsive toward the apprehensions of
their children so that their self-esteem is not damaged which
would be detrimental to children’s life satisfaction. However,
children need to put under some restrictions, but parents need
to make them understand the importance of such rules. Chil-
dren may also be allowed to take part in the process of
rule-creation exercise to a certain degree. Authoritative parent-
ing has the highest influence on self-esteem as revealed by the
study findings. This suggests that the parenting style that
involves children in rule-making exercise with a concern for
them and providing explanations for the restrictions needs to be
adopted by parents in building their children’s self-esteem. The
permissive parenting style also builds self-esteem to a lesser
extent as suggested by results. This means the use of rewards
for good behavior, holding off punishment, and even giving up
to the children’s demands by the parents can also result in
building children’s self-esteem to some extent. However, the
authoritarian style of parenting has a negative influence on the
self-esteem of the children. This means physical abuse, criti-
cism, and yelling by the parents harm the self-esteem of the
children which needs to be avoided. This work also offers many
directives for psychologists, family counselors, couple counse-
lors, and sociologist on the role of different factors that can
increase adolescent well-being. It can help counselors under-
stand the effective parenting style for enhancing adolescents’
self-esteem which would ultimately increase their
life contentment. It can also provide insights into the interven-
tions and support required during parenting for increasing ado-
lescent well-being. At the same time, it also helps them
understand as to how peer-to-peer contacts can lead to higher
levels of self-esteem which is a perquisite for life satisfaction
among adolescents. But more studies need to be carried out to
generalize this study.
Future Work
This article has considered only three parenting styles and left
out the dysfunctional and uninvolved style of parenting from
the study. Scholars can consider them in their future endeavors.
This study was carried out in one region of India, and thus,
authors can include more regions in their future work. Future
authors can also increase the sample size for attaining general-
izations of this work. Prospective work can also look at the
possibility of examining parenting styles from sociocultural
context, ethnic variables, gender, or even societal class
(Lavriˇc & Naterer, 2020; Utting, 2007). Future studies can also
include more outcomes of parenting styles and peer attachment
and also include more than one mediator in their studies. Future
research in this domain can also consider the moderating
effects of culture in the framework involving parenting styles
and their outcomes.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to
the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, author-
ship, and/or publication of this article.
ORCID iD
Faseeh Amin https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9791-3321
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