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Relations of Parenting Styles and Friendship Quality to Self-Esteem, Life Satisfaction and Happiness in Adolescents

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Abstract

This study aims to examine the effects of mother’s and father’s perceived parenting style and friendship quality on several indicators of adolescents’ well-being. High school students (n = 401) completed scales assessing their perception of their mother’s and father’s parenting style (authoritarian, authoritative and permissive), quality of friendship, self-esteem, general satisfaction with life and subjective happiness. The results showed that the perceived parenting style of both parents as well as the quality of friendship had significant effects on adolescent’s well-being, while the interaction effects of friendship quality and either parent’s parenting style were not significant. Adolescents of authoritative and permissive mothers reported higher self-esteem and life satisfaction than adolescents who had authoritarian mothers. Also, adolescents who considered their mothers authoritative were happier than those with authoritarian mothers. Adolescents who perceived their fathers as authoritative or permissive showed higher results on all assessed indicators of well-being than adolescents whose fathers were authoritarian. Furthermore, adolescents with a higher quality of friendship reported more happiness, life-satisfaction and self-esteem. The obtained results highlight the importance of the role of parents and peers in fostering positive development in adolescence.

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  1. Ivo Pilar Institute of Social Sciences, Marulicev trg 19, 10000, Zagreb, Croatia

    Zora Raboteg-Saric & Marija Sakic

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  1. Zora Raboteg-Saric
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  2. Marija Sakic
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Correspondence to Marija Sakic.

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Raboteg-Saric, Z., Sakic, M. Relations of Parenting Styles and Friendship Quality to Self-Esteem, Life Satisfaction and Happiness in Adolescents. Applied Research Quality Life 9, 749–765 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-013-9268-0

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