Parental Bonding and Its Effect on Students' Emotional Intelligence, Self-Determination and Self-Esteem

Abstract

The role of parental bonding is crucial to adolescents’ development of personality, acceptable behavior, emotionality, and disposition. This study endeavored to determine the effect of senior high school students’ parental bonding on their emotional intelligence, self-determination, and self-esteem. Two hundred eighty-three adolescent senior high school students from a college in Iligan City Philippines, were given a measure of parental bonding instrument, the emotional intelligence inventory, the self-determination scale, and the state self-esteem scale. Statistical tests used were Pearson- r and regression. Results indicated that paternal care had a positive effect on adaptability (p<.001), total E.Q. (p<.001), performance self-esteem (p<0.05), and appearance self-esteem (p<0.05). A negative effect of paternal overprotection on self-awareness (r=-.237, p=.001) and perceived choice (r=-.287, p=.001) was found. In addition, maternal overprotection negatively affected self-awareness (r=-.186, p=.001), perceived choice (r=-.257, p=.001), and social self-esteem (r=-.237, p=.001) of the adolescent students. These findings highlight the importance of parental bonding in molding the adolescents’ emotional intelligence, self-determination, and self-esteem.

Keywords

• adolescents
• attachment
• parent
• overprotection
• relationship