Parental Conflict and its Effects on Youth Self Esteem (A Study at University of Punjab)

Abstract

This research was conducted to probe the effects of parental conflict on youth self esteem. Objective of study was to explore reasons behind parental conflict, to measure the level of parental conflict on behavior of children, to find out change in the behavior of children, to identify the role of parents in the self esteem of children, to know how parent conflict and self esteem of children are related. Some 200 students from different departments of university of Punjab were selected by using appropriate sampling techniques. Questionnaire was designed to measure the level of impact of parental conflicts on children’s self esteem. Perceived inter-parental conflict and parental style discrepancies in nurturance and in authoritarianism were significantly and negatively related to self-esteem, but the best predictors of self-esteem were the parental styles themselves. Warm nurturing parents were more likely to have high self-esteem children and demonstrated less conflict in marital partnerships. Correlations between marital conflict and self-esteem may reflect parental characteristics.