The Association between Parental Involvement Behavior and Self-Esteem among Adolescents Living in Poverty: Results from the K-CHILD Study

It is not yet known why some adolescents living in poverty show high self-esteem, while others do not. Parental involvement may be an important determinant to promote self-esteem among adolescents living in poverty. The aim of this study is to explore better parenting involvement behavior to promote self-esteem among adolescents living in poverty. Participants included fifth-, eighth-, and 11th-grade students living in Koichi prefecture, Japan. The participants were part of the Kochi Child Health Impact of Living Difficulty (K-CHILD) study, in 2016 (n = 10,784). Participants completed a questionnaire with questions about socioeconomic status and 14 parental involvement behaviors, including 9 specific kinds of parental interactions with their child (e.g., talking about school life), and 5 elements related to parental care for their child’s physical health (e.g., access to health care). The numbers of parental involvement behaviors, parental interactions with their child, and parental care for their child’s physical health were treated as continuous and quartile, to see the association. Overall, the study showed that the larger the number of parental involvement behaviors, the higher the self-esteem score of their off-spring (p < 0.01) among both adolescents living in poverty and not living in poverty, in which interaction between poverty and parental involvement behaviors was not significant. Both parental interaction with their child and parental care for their child’s physical health were associated with higher self-esteem, in which parental interaction with their child had a larger effect than parental care for their child’s physical health. To empower adolescents in poverty, caregivers need to provide both parental interaction with the child and parental care for the child’s physical health.

Adolescent characteristics and parenting style as the determinant factors of bullying in Indonesia: a cross-sectional study

Background The incidence of adolescents bullying in Indonesia has increased. The purpose of this study was to analyze the correlation of demographic characteristics, parental interactions and parenting style as the potential determinants of bullying behavior in adolescents. Method The research design used was cross-sectional. The study population consisted of adolescents in Indonesia who accessed the Google form, and adolescents who study at a junior high school and a vocational high school in Surabaya. The study sample totaled 705 adolescents based on consecutive sampling with a study period of 3 months. The independent variables were demographic characteristics, parental interactions and parenting style, while the dependent variable was bullying behavior. The data collection method used was a questionnaire filled in by the adolescents through a Google form and a questionnaire sheet. The statistical analysis used the chi-square test for the adolescent’s characteristics and Spearman’s rank correlation with α = 0.05. Results The results showed that the characteristics of the adolescents, namely age and place of residence, were related to bullying behavior. A permissive and authoritarian parenting style had a positive correlation with being a bullying perpetrator, while only permissive parenting style had a positive correlation with being a bullying victim. Conclusion Adolescents experience bullying behavior as both the perpetrators and victims. Adolescents living in rural areas are more likely to commit bullying as the perpetrators. A parenting style that is either too rigid or too free has a high risk of being a bullying behavior factor as the perpetrator. Parents are expected to apply an authoritative parenting style in order to prevent the risk of bullying in adolescents.