Stability of parental nurturance as a salient predictor of self-esteem

The relationship of parental nurturance to self-esteem for seven distinct adolescent and early-adulthood age groups (N = 784) was investigated. Analysis showed that even though mothers' and fathers' nurturance together were more strongly related to self-esteem during the junior high school years (R2 values greater than 50% were obtained in each of the junior high samples) than during the high school and college years (R2 values less than 40% were obtained in each of these samples), parental nurturance still remained a robust predictor of self-esteem during these latter years. These results were discussed within the context of (a) the stability at different ages of the bases upon which one's judgments of self-esteem are made, and (b) parental nurturance as a stabilizing influence during the transitional years of adolescence and early adulthood.