Developing and Testing the Adolescents' Self-Esteem Causal Model Based on the Parent-Child Relationship and Basic Psychological Needs: With Mediating Role of Self-Concept

This research aims to develop and test the adolescents' self-esteem causal model based on the parent-child relationship and basic psychological needs with the mediating role of self-concept.

The descriptive-correlation research was of the structural equation type. The statistical population consisted of all the second-year high school students of Meibod City in 2019-2020, and 461 people from the target population were selected as the sample size using the available sampling method and participated in the research virtually. The data was collected using Coopersmith's self-esteem, parent-child relationship by Fine et al., Rogers`s basic psychological needs and self-concept questionnaires. Finally, the data of 398 participants, which were analyzable, was collected in order to investigate the research hypotheses using the structural equation modeling method and SPSS25 and AMOS24 software.

The results of structural equation modeling confirmed the fit of the hypothetical research model. Also, the results obtained from the path coefficients in the structural model showed that the parent-child relationship and basic psychological needs have a positive and significant effect, and self-concept has a negative and significant effect on the self-esteem of adolescents.  In addition, self-concept mediates the relationship between the parent-child relationship and basic psychological needs with self-esteem in adolescents. The variables of the parent-child relationship, basic psychological needs, and self-concept explain a total of 62% of the variance of self-esteem in adolescents.

Therefore, considering the role of improving the parent-child relationship, and satisfying the basic psychological needs and self-concept in the formation of self-esteem of adolescents, it is necessary to inform parents and adolescents about the characteristics of adolescence and its effects in the later stages of life.