INFAD (Apr 2018)
Perceived parenting practices, self-esteem, optimism and resilience in future teachers
Abstract
The first expectations created by adolescents regarding their professional future arise based on their family context. At this moment in life, adolescents decide about their future and make their decisions with the help of their families. The purpose of this study was to investigate relationships between perceived parenting practices and choice of profession, self-esteem, optimism and resilience in adolescents attending a technical teacher training course. Two hundred adolescents with an average age of 15.8 years took part in this study. The instruments used were: a sociodemographic questionnaire, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem scale, the Life Orientation Test, the Resilience Scale and the Family Interaction Quality Scales. The majority of students in this study are female, have few siblings and live with their parents. When asked about the university course they would like to take in the future, the absolute majority (51%) chose degree courses providing teacher training. With regard to the reason why they chose to take a technical teacher training course, “making a dream come true” was the most frequent answer given by the respondents, followed by identification with this area. When asked about the characteristics of a good teacher, they mentioned dedication to the profession, dedication to students (involving aspects such as patience and affection). With regard to behaviours to be avoided by teachers, emphasis was placed on behaviours such as shouting, sarcasm, lack of teaching ability and arrogance. Significant and positive correlations were found between parenting practices perceived by the adolescents and scores for optimism, resilience and self-esteem, thus revealing the importance of parent involvement for the development of the personal strengths of these young people who, from an early age, defined an objective in life and are on their way to achieving it.
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