Emotional security in the family relates to adolescents' self-concept

What is it about?

This research tried to study if interparental destructive conflict (the conflict between parents in which they show negative affect, insults or physical agression and does not get a solution) had an impact on their adolescent children that went beyond the family realm. So we studied the intensity, frequency, stability, and other dimensions of interparental conflict as their children perceived it, adolescents' emotional security (if they thought that their family was a secure base for them) or their emotional insecurity (their preocuppation for their family or their supposed unconcern for their family) and related these dimensions (conflict and emotional security/insecurity) with their multidimensional self-concept (self-esteem, general self-concept, academic self-concept, relationships with parents or with same sex and opposite sex peers). For measuring adolescents' self concept, we followed a model that includes relationships with others in the family and outside adopting a multidimensional approach to self-concept. Studies have shown the clear relationships between interparental destructive conflict and adolescents' emotional insecurity, and between interparental conflict and adolescents' self-concept and self-esteem, but what are the relationships between interparental conflict, emotional security and insecurity in the family and adolescents' multidimensional self concept? Our participants were 196 Spanish adolescents of both sexes with a mean age of 15.24 years. Results showed that the most significant variable for adolescents' multidimensional self-concept was their emotional security or insecurity. We found relationships between emotional security in the family and better relationships with parents, and, most especially, the spill over effect of emotional insecurity in the family to other realms of the adolescents' lifes. Adolescents of both sexes who were more emotionally disengaged (supposed unconcern for their family) had lower scores in general self-concept, general academic self-concept, self-esteem, and relationships with parents. Boys who were more emotionally disengaged from their families had lower scores in same sex and opposite relationships with peers. But we also found that girls who were more emotionally secure in their families had higher scores in relatioships with same sex peers.

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Photo by SAMANTA SANTY on Unsplash

Photo by SAMANTA SANTY on Unsplash

Why is it important?

It contributes to our knowledge about the role that emotional security plays in dimensions that go beyond the family realm. Our results do not intend to blame parents for what their children think about themselves but point out to a family dimension, emotional security/insecurity, with implications for interventions such as spreading information about the importance of emotional security and its threats, and supporting families and parents so they improve their skills to solve their differences constructively instead of destructively. These may become resources to favoring adolescents’ development. But, our results also show that what an adolescent thinks about him/herself also depends on other dimensions that we did not study.

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