Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 26, 2026

Assessing the Coherence of Parents' Short Narratives Regarding their Child Using the Five-Minute Speech Sample Procedure
Published on: September 19, 2019
The long-term impact of parents' childbearing decisions on children's self-esteem
W G Axinn1, J S Barber, A Thornton
1Department of Sociology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 48106-1248, USA. baxinn@umich.edu
Abstract:
We examine the long-term impact of parents' childbearing decisions on children's self-esteem. We focus on subjective aspects of the home environment in the creation of children's internalized sense of self-worth. Unique 23-year family panel data combining measures of mothers' childbearing, mothers' childbearing intentions, and children's self-esteem allow us to examine the overall links between parents' childbearing and children's self-esteem. The results demonstrate that parents' childbearing intentions can have a significant long-term impact on their children's self-esteem. Children who were unintended by their mothers have significantly lower self-esteem 23 years later. Our findings indicate that giving birth to an unintended child can have a long-term negative impact on subjective aspects of the child's well-being, at least in terms of self-esteem. Unintended childbearing has received an increasing amount of research attention in recent years.
Related Concept Videos
Sources of Self-Esteem I: Family Experience
Influence of Parents and Peers on Identity
Parental Influence on Identity Development
Parents serve as primary guides and managers in an adolescent's life, offering support instrumental in decision-making and personal growth. This guiding role...
Relationship with Parents: Attachment
Self-Evaluation: Self-Enhancement and Self-Verification
Benefits of Self-Esteem
Self-Esteem
