Maternal parenting and the development of adolescent self-esteem: A longitudinal twin study.
- 1Institute for Positive Psychology and Education, Australian Catholic University, North Sydney, NSW, Australia.
- 2Department of Psychology, Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Saarland, Germany.
- 3Department of Behavioural and Cognitive Sciences, University of Luxembourg, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg.
Abstract
Adolescence is a critical period for self-esteem development, yet the extent to which perceived maternal parenting practices are prospectively associated with self-esteem after accounting for overlapping genetic and shared environmental influences remains unclear. Using longitudinal TwinLife data from 1524 German twins (323 monozygotic and 439 same-sex dizygotic twin pairs), this study examined perceived maternal warmth and psychological control from ages 13 to 15. Classical twin models decomposed genetic and environmental variance and covariance, and ACE-beta models estimated prospective associations with self-esteem at age 15. Univariate ACE models indicated developmental shifts in the genetic and shared environmental contributions to perceived parenting, whereas self-esteem showed a relatively stable pattern and substantial nonshared environmental variance. Bivariate ACE models showed a positive shared environmental correlation between warmth and self-esteem (rC = .78) and a negative genetic correlation between psychological control and self-esteem (rA = -.68). Within the ACE-beta parameterization, warmth at age 13 was prospectively associated with higher self-esteem at age 15 (β₂₁ = .28), whereas psychological control was associated with lower self-esteem (β₂₁ = -.17), after adjustment for prior self-esteem and covariates. These prospective associations are consistent with, but do not uniquely establish, directional effects of parenting on later self-esteem. The findings support maternal warmth and autonomy-respecting practices as plausible targets for promoting adolescent self-worth.
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BibTeX
@article{lim2026maternal,
title = {{Maternal parenting and the development of adolescent self-esteem: A longitudinal twin study.}},
author = {Jasmine Lim and Jiesi Guo and Christoph H Klatzka and Ziwen Teuber},
journal = {Journal of research on adolescence : the official journal of the Society for Research on Adolescence},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1111/jora.70298},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42898039},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Maternal parenting and the development of adolescent self-esteem: A longitudinal twin study.
AU - Jasmine Lim
AU - Jiesi Guo
AU - Christoph H Klatzka
AU - Ziwen Teuber
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/30
JO - Journal of research on adolescence : the official journal of the Society for Research on Adolescence
DO - 10.1111/jora.70298
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42898039
AB - Adolescence is a critical period for self-esteem development, yet the extent to which perceived maternal parenting practices are prospectively associated with self-esteem after accounting for overlapping genetic and shared environmental influences remains unclear. Using longitudinal TwinLife data from 1524 German twins (323 monozygotic and 439 same-sex dizygotic twin pairs), this study examined perceived maternal warmth and psychological control from ages 13 to 15. Classical twin models decomposed genetic and environmental variance and covariance, and ACE-beta models estimated prospective associations with self-esteem at age 15. Univariate ACE models indicated developmental shifts in the genetic and shared environmental contributions to perceived parenting, whereas self-esteem showed a relatively stable pattern and substantial nonshared environmental variance. Bivariate ACE models showed a positive shared environmental correlation between warmth and self-esteem (rC = .78) and a negative genetic correlation between psychological control and self-esteem (rA = -.68). Within the ACE-beta parameterization, warmth at age 13 was prospectively associated with higher self-esteem at age 15 (β₂₁ = .28), whereas psychological control was associated with lower self-esteem (β₂₁ = -.17), after adjustment for prior self-esteem and covariates. These prospective associations are consistent with, but do not uniquely establish, directional effects of parenting on later self-esteem. The findings support maternal warmth and autonomy-respecting practices as plausible targets for promoting adolescent self-worth.
SN - 1050-8392
SN - 1532-7795
ER -