Perceived parental behaviour, self-esteem and happiness

Background: This study set out to determine to what extent recalled parenta l rearing styles (authoritarian, authoritativeness, permissiveness), person ality (extraversion, neuroticism, psychoticism, lie), and self-esteem predi cted self-rated happiness in a normal, nonclinical, population of young peo ple in their late teens and early 20s. Methods: Each participant completed a few questionnaires: the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (revised), the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, the Parental Authority Questionnaire and the O xford Happiness Inventory. It was predicted that sex, extraversion, neuroti cism, self-esteem and both maternal and paternal authoritativeness would be significant predictors of happiness. Results: Regressional and path analys is showed self-esteem to be the most dominant and powerful predictor of hap piness. The effect of sex on happiness was moderated by neuroticism, which related to self-esteem, which directly influenced happiness. Stability, ext raversion and maternal authoritativeness were significant predictors of sel f-esteem accounting for one-third of the variance. Conclusion: The results are considered in terms of the distinct literature on the relation between personality and happiness and on the relation between parental styles and s elf-esteem Self-esteem was both a direct and a moderator variable for young people's self-reported happiness. Extraversion had both direct and indirec t predictive power of happiness, whereas neuroticism predicted happiness me diating through self-esteem. Maternal authoritativeness was the only direct predictor of happiness when paternal and maternal rearing styles were exam ined together, suggesting that a reasonable discipline exercised by mothers towards their children was particularly beneficial in enhancing the offspr ings' self-esteem.