PARENTAL BEHAVIORS AND ADOLESCENT SELF-ESTEEM IN THE UNITED-STATES AND GERMANY

Past comparative studies on socialization practices in the United States and Germany have focused almost exclusively on patterns of perceived parental behavior. Few have tested the relationship between parenting and adolescent outcomes. In contrast, other noncomparative U.S. research has found consistent relationships between parental behaviors and adolescent characteristics, particularly self-esteem. This study compared samples of U.S. and German adolescents on two measures of self-esteem and several measures of perceived parental behaviors. Parents were perceived to engage in similar levels of these behaviors in each culture. Consistent with previous research, parenting behaviors (e.g., support and control) were significantly related to self-esteem in U.S. adolescents. The same parenting behaviors were not related to self-esteem in German adolescents. A more general measure of the quality of the parent-adolescent relationship, however, was strongly related to self-esteem in the German sample, suggesting that the specific behavioral measures meaningful to U.S. adolescents did not capture the effect of the parent-adolescent relationship in German families. Implications for the need to be sensitive to cultural variations in socialization research are discussed.