A Longitudinal Study on the Relationships Between Maternal Parenting Style, Children's Victimization, and Self-Esteem

Dandan Cheng¹Cui Wang¹Minghui Xiong¹Ran Mo¹Yuxuan Nie²Junsheng Liu^3*

• ¹Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Jinan, China
• ²Suzhou University, Suzhou, Anhui, China
• ³East China Normal University, Shanghai, Shanghai Municipality, China

Background: Previous studies have established that parenting style and self-esteem affect children's risk of victimization. This study further investigates the longitudinal mechanisms by which maternal warmth and rejection, along with self-esteem, influence children's likelihood of victimization. Method: This study used a longitudinal design to examine the relationships between two key dimensions of maternal parenting styles (warmth and rejection), victimization, and self-esteem during middle and late childhood. It involved 607 third-and fourth-grade students and their mothers. A multi-informant approach assessed children's victimization, self-esteem, and mothers' parenting styles across three assessments over three years (T1, T2, and T3). Results: Self-esteem and maternal rejection negatively predicted each other, as did self-esteem and victimization at corresponding time points. By contrast, maternal warmth positively predicted self-esteem, and victimization was positively associated with maternal rejection. Additionally, victimization negatively predicted maternal warmth. The developmental cascade analysis demonstrated that self-esteem at T2 mediated the relationship between victimization at T1 and maternal rejection at T3. Similarly, self-esteem at T2 also mediated the relationship between maternal warmth at T1 and victimization at T3. Conclusions: These findings confirm the significant role of maternal parenting styles in fostering children's self-esteem and reducing victimization, highlighting the dynamic interactions among key variables.